Comments on: Samurai swords for home defense

By: James

James — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:51:23 +0000

Great sword for home self defense. Its great to learn some form of self-defense especially if you are living with all girls house.

By: Christopher S. Penn

Christopher S. Penn — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 23:16:35 +0000

The question is, will Yum Brands be a subsidiary income source from them?

By: olivierBlanchard

olivierBlanchard — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:10:10 +0000

Great illustrations, Chris. You could just thrust though. A smooth quick extension to the throat or groin, and your troubles are over. But… then you would have a really big mess to mop up. That means new carpet or flooring, having to repaint the walls and the ceiling… And then there's the risk of contamination if any of your assailant's blood gets on you. None of these things are very nice.

So I have a better solution:

Chihuahuas are very compact, completely self-powered, 100% motivated, and capable of coordinating attacks on their own. I highly recommend keeping 2-3 of them around the house as a) an early warning system and b) the centerpiece of your home defense system. They can distract an intruder and even trip them up, and I have seen some chihuahua bites actually break the surface of the skin (almost painful on the ankle bone).

Just a thought.

By: Christopher S. Penn

Christopher S. Penn — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:46:40 +0000

It is about the tools to a lesser degree. It is about skill to a greater degree. The right tool for the right job, yes. The right training to make the tool effective in the job, more so.

By: DJ Waldow

DJ Waldow — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:41:02 +0000

Chris - I'm going to make the leap to Social Media on this one. Basically, your Samurai sword home defense example got me thinking...

Maybe it *is* about the (SM) tools we use. Hmmm.

Wonderful post. Juices flowing.

DJ Waldow
Director of Community, Blue Sky Factory
@djwaldow

By: Christopher S. Penn

Christopher S. Penn — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:11:12 +0000

If you seriously want one, I recommend the Hanwei/Paul Chen Practical Katana line. They're made to be actually used, rather than for decoration. I'd also strongly, strongly recommend enrolling in a school that can teach you how to safely use it.

By: chrisgriffith

chrisgriffith — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:01:19 +0000

I now feel compelled to buy a katana, just to say I have one.

By: Christopher S. Penn

Christopher S. Penn — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:40:19 +0000

You have the right and obligation to defend yourself with whatever you can. I'm not saying NOT to defend yourself, just that a katana is probably not the most ideal tool. For the average untrained person, getting to minimal competent proficiency with a firearm will likely take less time than with a sword, especially if you use a shotgun loaded with non-wall-penetrating ammunition, like birdshot.

I would encourage anyone and EVERYONE to learn at least the basics of self defense, both armed and unarmed. It's a good thing to know, and at the very, very least, at least you'll probably get a few decent workouts out of it.

By: chrisgriffith

chrisgriffith — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:33:00 +0000

What about self defense with a nail file?

By: Hittman

Hittman — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:43:21 +0000

A can of air freshener might work. A can of Easy Off Oven Cleaner *will* work.

By: Michael Sanford

Michael Sanford — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 22:19:21 +0000

Sage advice, Sensei.

I suspect that your last paragraph's addition of legal advice will probably cause more people to think twice than the photographs will.