Self Defense and Security Blog

Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is more than just a “family problem” — it is a crime!  In California, and many other states, it is a crime for any person to threaten, beat, sexually assault or otherwise harm another person, even if they are married. Battering is not exclusively a crime against women, but they are the majority of victims; thus this article is primarily directed to the battered wife or woman.  Although we have few statistics on the incidence of domestic violence, we do know that:

• Approximately 30 percent of female homicide victims in the United States are killed by their husbands or boyfriends.

• Females are much more likely than males to be killed by their spouse.

• Domestic violence affects at least one out of every four American families.

Why do they stay?

The most frequently asked question concerning a battering situation is why does she stay? While reasons range from children, love, guilt, fear, pride, embarrassment, financial dependence — or a combination thereof — it is very possible the woman may be locked into a violence cycle.

Three-phase theory of family violence

The family violence cycle consists of three phases: the tension-building phase, the acute-battering incident and the loving reconciliation.

• Tension-Building Phase

During this phase the woman senses her mate’s increasing tension. He is “edgy” and perhaps challenges her and tells her she is stupid, incompetent, etc. The woman may internalize her appropriate anger at the man’s unfairness and experience physical effects such as depression, tension, anxiety and headaches. As the tension in the relationship increases, minor episodes of violence increase, such as pinching, slapping or shoving.

• Acute-Battering Incident

The tension-building phase ends in an explosion of violence. The woman may or may not fight back. Following the battering, she is in a state of physical and psychological shock. The man may discount the episode and underestimate the woman’s injuries.

• Loving Reconciliation

During the last phase of the family violence cycle, both parties have a sense of relief that “it’s over.” The man is often genuinely sorry for what happened and is fearful that his partner will leave him. He apologizes and may “shower” her with love and praise that helps her repair her shattered self-esteem. He tells her he can’t live without her, so she feels responsible for his well-being and guilty for her actions and blames herself for what led up to the abuse.

Crime and Violence Prevention Center • California Attorney General’s Office

Increasing spiral of violence

Once violence has begun, it continues to increase in both frequency and severity. Understanding the psychological consequences of her violent relationship can help the woman take power and choose constructive alternatives, as well as aid those who intervene to help her.

If you become a victim of domestic violence

• Call the police or sheriff.

• Make sure you are safe from another beating. Whenever you believe you are in danger, leave your home and take your children with you. Also, take important papers such as your birth certificate, vehicle registration, etc.

• Get medical attention. Don’t try to treat yourself; you may be injured much more seriously than you realize.

• Seek assistance. Whether or not you file charges against your batterer, you may need to talk to a professional about your situation. Contact your local battered women’s shelter, women’s support group or victims’ assistance center.

• Save all the evidence (proof) you can. (You may even want to take photographs of your injuries.) Whether or not you file charges now, you may later change your mind and will then need proof that you have been assaulted.

A way out

Everyone has the right to be safe from threats and beatings — but you must take that first step. Once you recognize that it isn’t your fault and it is possible to change your situation, seek the help you need to correct your situation.

Help available

If you need help, look in the yellow pages of your telephone directory.  Remember that your local police and sheriff’s departments exist to help you. You should always have their numbers handy for an emergency situation. Other sources of help and/or referral are the Salvation Army or your private physician or attorney. Also, look in the yellow pages under “Attorney Referral Service”or “Legal Assistance” or “Bar Association” if you have a low income and need a lawyer.

I wanted to spotlight a worthwhile organization that helps our local community here in Jacksonville, as well as our state in solving crimes. It is commonly known as “Crimestoppers”. You may have seen their phone number pop on your TV screen at the end of one of those crime stories on your local evening news.

Crime Stoppers encourages members of the community to assist local law enforcement agencies in the fight against crime by overcoming the two key elements that inhibit community involvement: fear and apathy.

Crime Stoppers programs provide an anonymous tipline and in some cases Web Tips to encourage citizens in the community to volunteer vital information helpful to law enforcement agencies to fight against crime.

The Florida Association of Crime Stoppers is a not for profit association that provides training, assistance, and support to the twety-eight (28) Florida Crime Stoppers programs that service fifty-two (52) of Florida’s sixty-seven (67) counties.

Callers can remain anonymous and are eligible to recieve a cash reward if the information given leads to an arrest or grand jury indictment of a felony offender.

Crime Stoppers relies on volunteer Directors and tax deductible contributions from the public in order to operate the administration of the program.

Check them out on the web by going to their website at FloridaCrimestoppers.com

Just got through watching the evening news. We had another police involved shooting today. Making 24 for the year and 3 in the last 8 days. Justified for the most part, these have been more and more frequent. There are more and more break-ins, more muggings, more carjackings all of which have happened here in Jacksonville in the last 24 hours. These thugs are becoming more and more bold.

The current economic conditions are making these criminals more and more desperate. Crime is happening all around you whether you know it or not. these times call for us as law abiding citizens and just normal people to protect ourselves and our families from these blazen outlaws.

If I may use a phrase from my friend the Big Kahuna, you need to “tool up” to defend yourself from the “mooks”. Don’t get caught unprepared. The criminals are carrying weapons, shouldn’t you? I’m not saying that everyone should carry a .44 magnum Harry Callahan piece, but you need to be prepared just in case. These crimes will be getting more frequent. You don’t have to become a victim. Fight back. Join the war on crime.

Your house could benefit from window and door alarms, or a security camera. Your daughter could carry a lipstick pepperspray for those Friday evenings at the mall. Get your wife a keychain pepperspray or a stun gun for her purse. Put a stun baton in the pocket of your car door.

Don’t be a victim…..Be prepared!

I was talking with Ken the other day and he told me this story about his Stun Baton.

Ken loved his work. As the night watchman for a warehouse, he got paid to exercise. Spending seven hours a night taking laps of the facility gave him a good workout, and he enjoyed the relative peace and quiet of working overnights in the city.

Ken wasn’t crazy about the neighborhood he worked in, but he figured he was far better off being locked inside the warehouse overnight than running into some of those lowlifes on the street.

As he made his rounds one night, Ken heard a clattering from one of the storage lockers. He wrapped his hand around the handle of his Stun Baton, which hung in a holster from his hip. He convinced his boss to let him carry one after a friend of his who works as a prison guard shared stories of how the same piece of equipment had saved his life during a riot.

Ken crept around the corner and observed a looter busting his way through dozens of cardboard boxes, tossing precious looking items into a burlap sack. With a flashlight in one hand and his Stun Baton in the other, Ken approached the criminal.

“You there!” yelled Ken, “put your hands up!”

Mistaking the Stun Baton for a plain old nightstick, the looter tried to hustle past Ken toward the exit.

Big Mistake.

As the criminal ran past, Ken reached out with his Stun Baton, its twenty-inch length easily closing the gap between Ken and his target. Three seconds later, the Stun Baton had emptied
500,000 volts of energy into the looter’s quivering frame.

Ken managed to stop the criminal cold and recover a family’s prized personal belongings, all without breaking a sweat.

So much for his workout!

Yours in safety,

Dozier McKendree

P.S. Although popular with security companies, the Stun Baton offers extended reach protection for you while you are in your home or car - go to tlmpersonalsecurity

P.P.S. If you order either the 500,000v or 300,000v Stun Baton within the next five days, I will give you a FREE Stun Baton Holster…a $15.00 value. Just mention FREE Stun Baton Holster in the comments box when you check out. Don’t forget…if you don’t mention FREE Stun Baton Holster, we won’t know to send it to you.

Roxie hated the subway. She grew up in a small town in Oregon, so she enjoyed being outside at every chance she could get.

As an attorney in the big city, she often had to get to work at an hour that most folks were still dreaming in their beds. So she used the twelve-block walk from her apartment to her office as a chance to spend some quiet time enjoying her surroundings.

Still, she often felt a little nervous about walking those streets alone. So she picked up a Cell Phone Stun Gun.

It looks just like a regular phone, complete with a holster and a wrist strap. And nobody’s going to question a well-dressed businessperson walking down the street holding a cell phone.

Roxie’s intuition paid off one Thursday morning, when a junkie burst out from behind a dumpster and started screaming at her to hand over her purse. As she put her hands in the air, she used her thumb to disable the safety lock on the Cell Phone Stun Gun.

Roxie grabbed her purse with her other hand, tossing it past the criminal. As he bent over to pick it up, she jabbed the Cell Phone Stun Gun in the small of his back, shooting 180,000 volts of electricity through his body. She never even had to take it out of its carrying case.

With her attacker curled up on the ground, Roxie pulled out her real cell phone to call the police. Her colleagues always wondered why she carried two cell phones. They usually assumed that a powerful woman needed them both. Roxie grinned as she realized they didn’t know just how much power she really wielded.

Yours in safety,

Deihl McKendree

P.S. You can carry your own powerful weapon without an attacker suspecting - order your own Cell Phone Stun Gun at: tlmpersonalsecurity.

P.P.S. If you order within the next five days, I will give you a FREE Wildfire 15% 1.5 ounce Pepper Spray…a $12.95 value. Just mention FREE Wildfire 15% in the comments box when you check out.
Don’t forget…if you don’t mention FREE Wildfire 15% 1.5 oz., we won’t know to send it to you.

A few weekends ago, my family and I went to Disney World. We take these quick weekend trips because we can’t just get away for a week long vacation.

We stay in our favorite hotel almost every time. This time we found a disturbing note on the bulletin board in the lobby. It was a warning to the guests not to open their room door for anyone claiming to be housekeeping. There had been a few guests being disturbed by people posing as hotel staff.

We always use the security latch anyway, however this time I wished I had brought our door stop alarm. I would have felt better about our stay had I been able to put it under the door.

It is a small little item that does a large job. It can be used as a door stop to hold open any door, but it doubles as a burglar alarm when it is placed under a closed door. If a protected door is open, it gives off a 120 decibel blast. The trigger is pressure sensitive so it will work with almost any door.

Click here to see this great item.

Don’t be a victim, be prepared!

As I sit and watch my favorite TV show, The Andy Griffith Show, I realized something. Not only was it a great show, it exemplified life in rural America pretty well.

Every episode taught a lesson whether you knew it or not. These morals would be a welcome change to have back in this country. I’m from the old school. I am on the far right side of the fence.

There aren’t many places in this country where one can go to find the Mayberry type mentality. We have violence at every turn. Everything in the newspaper and on the 6 O’clock Newscast is doom and gloom.

Do yourself a favor. Don’t be a victim. Protect your family. Get your kids a personal alarm or a pepper spray to have at the bus stop, or carry with them when they go to the mall. It’s a brutal world out there and if you think it can’t happen to you, then you are already behind.

Keep your eyes open, know your surroundings, and always know your next step if something does happen.

Be prepared! Visit http://www.tlmpersonalsecurity.com and see how easy and inexpensive it is to protect yourself and your family.

Gun-toting Pa. mom gets back concealed gun permit

Found this story from the AP last night. Good for mom!

I attended a show this past weekend for safety products. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office made one of their training officers available to demonstrate the new C2 Taser. Let me tell you, I’m impressed. 14 people from the group of attendees volunteered to have the Taser demonstrated on them. The strongest of the victims lasted about 5 seconds before hitting the ground. It took about 3 seconds for most of the men to cry “Stop”! They all admitted it was absolutely something that could not be fought. Their muscles just would not function.

That is the premise that the Taser products work on. The electrical current is not necessarily a pain stimulus, although there is some pain involved. The pulses interrupt the brain’s signals to the muscles making it impossible to control them. The biggest and baddest of the volunteers hit the floor. They didn’t have a choice.

Research these little items. The C2 Taser deploys 2 small barbs designed to penetrate clothing. This distributes the electronic pulse through the body. There are several models to choose from. Some include a flashlight and even a laser sighting device.

Don’t be a victim on a police report. Get yourself one of these great items. They may keep you from becoming that victim.

I was watching one of those prison documentaries the other night and noticed one of the guards carrying my favorite device. It’s the stun baton. These things are fairly concealable, easy to carry, but pack a huge punch. These things can pack up to a 200,000 volt punch.

The Stun Baton has very little noticeable difference from the typical stun gun with one main exception. You don’t have to be quite as close to the attacker to use the weapon. The probes on the end of the baton are energized, but the shaft also is energized. In case an attacker decides that he needs to try to disarm you, once he grabs at the baton, he’ll shock himself.

Keep one in the little pocket on your car door. Keep one at the front and back door of your house. Keep one in your briefcase or purse. They are easy to use, very effective, and just plain impressive when you pull the trigger.
Don’t get caught not paying attention..Be Prepared.

We had an incident in our town this past week that made me wish I had special powers to find and punish the bad guys. We had a 96 year old woman beaten beyond recognition during a robbery. The two men and one woman broke into her house and demanded her credit card. She told them that she didn’t believe in credit cards and didn’t have one. After turning the place upside down and not finding anything of value, they decided they would beat her. She insisted that she didn’t have a card, but they wouldn’t stop. She was beaten in the face, kicked in the ribs and back. She lay in a pool of her own blood for two days until her son found her. Her hip was broken and she couldn’t move. She was face down until help arrived.

We live in a society that demands that we defend ourselves. There are a plethora of thugs, deadbeats and criminals just waiting to take advantage of someone that looks like an easy target. Make sure that you don’t become a statistic. You have the right to defend yourself. Make sure that you are always prepared for such an emergency.

Carry some sort of personal protection. Maybe a stun gun, or a Taser. Pepperspray is also a good alternative. It is imperative that you are prepared if a situation like the incident above happens. Don’t let your name appear in the box on the police report in the victim box. Be safe and be prepared.

All we hear is bad news from the financial world these days. Well guess what? The financial troubles will translate into more crime on the streets. You’ll be more of a target than ever for those that don’t have. The government will try even harder to take what you have and give it to the ones that they think deserve it.

You’ll be more of a target for the thug teenager on the street looking for that next drug fix, or that crack head needing another rock. You’ll be a potential victim for the joyrider, and even the mugger.

Don’t be that victim! Protect yourself. Don’t be a statistic on a police report. Carry some type of personal protection device. Not everyone is comfortable, or even able to carry a firearm.

There are alternatives. There are stun guns, pepper sprays, personal alarms and many other items that one could carry for defense. Check out some of the items that are available. We have over 500 personal protection items that could help you avoid being a victim.

From the Associated Press story on Oct 2, a New York police officer committed suicide over a stun gun case. The officer had ordered another officer to fire a Taser at a mentally distraught suspect who was out on a fire escape threatening other officers with an 8 foot fluorescent light bulb. When the officer fired the Taser, it immediately immobilized the man and he then fell to his death from that 8 story fire escape.

I write this article not about the police officer, although I convey my condolences to the family of the officer as well as the other victim, I write this to laud the effectiveness of the Taser line of EMD weapons. THEY WORK! They will disable even the baddest of the bad. I had a chance to attend a workshop recently where members of the audience volunteered to be shot with the new C2 Taser. 14 out of 14 were completely immobilized within 3 seconds and begged for the officer to shut it off.

If you are considering any form of self defense, look into this item. It has won me over, and no, I wasn’t one of the ones who volunteered, I believe in what I saw. I saw small thin women, and large burly officers all take the fall when the C2 was discharged.

Don’t be a victim. Be Prepared!

What is a bailout? One of its definitions is; an instance of coming to the rescue.

We’ve seen this happen with the financial markets in the recent past. It makes me sad to see that now businesses and the like will look to be “bailed out” every time something goes wrong.

I don’t want the government to bail us out. I don’t want the taxpayers of my country to have to have their taxes spent on fixing the mistakes of others.

When it comes to your personal safety, and the safety of your family, please don’t go about your daily routine always thinking that someone will come to the rescue in an emergency(bail you out). Be responsible for your own safety while doing your daily duties.

What would you do if someone came up to your car window and demanded your keys, or your wallet, or your child from the back seat? Would you wait there for a government bailout? Would you need congress to convene a special session to see if they could send a committee out to stop that mugger on the sidewalk, or the thug who was trying to kidnap your daughter at the bus stop? Absolutely not!

Please get some small inexpensive personal safety items and help keep your family safe. I’m not saying that a stun gun will prevent an attack, but it will surely increase your chances. A personal alarm can and will attract attention in a mall parking lot. Some peppersprays come with UV dye in them so that the creep gets marked so that after his face stops burning and he can open his eyes again, he can be identified as the attacker. There are many items you can carry easily and legally that will help you and your loved ones protect themselves.

Don’t be a victim. Don’t rely on the government for your security. Be proactive. Be Prepared!