Do you carry anything for personal security?

[mommyoffive]

Do you or your dd carry anything for personal security?   I am not talking a gun, but more along the lines of pepper spray or an alarm?  Are those allowed on college campuses? 

[Faith-manor]

I think every college kind of have their own rules. if memory serves, MSU here in Lansing does not allow anything like that.

I don't carry anything on me. I tend to be home most of the time, and not in areas with much crime. When I travel, I am usually traveling during day time.

[catz]

My college freshman does have a birdie alarm and that seems pretty common. She is in a big city.  

[regentrude]

No. Neither, to my knowledge,  did DD when she went to college in Chicaho.

[prairiewindmomma]

I carry pepper spray when taking local transit…several murders and many more serious assaults occur on or in stations along it a year….mostly random attacks by mentally ill &/or strung out persons. If my city did fare enforcement and actually staffed with safety personnel appropriately, I would feel better. As it is, I’ve been in sketchy situations and have seen too much go down to go without at least pepper spray. I’d consider a taser for myself if I was traveling after dark. Kids’ universities permit pepper spray, but not tasers….but the discipline for a taser is a $75 fine at each, so ymmv. 
 

That said, in other cities and states we have lived in, I wouldnt carry even pepper spray. It’s all about local dynamics.

[prairiewindmomma]

Fwiw, amazon sells 3 packs on keychains. I highly recommend going somewhere rural and spraying one sometime. You get a sense of range and duration. It goes fast, you can get caught up in crosswind or in an enclosed space and a guy who is feeling violent can absolutely still keep coming at you. It’s not a guaranteed solution, it’s nothing I would ever brandish about or threaten with…it’s just something that I hope would give me a fighting chance to escape if crazy comes my way.

[Laura Corin]

No.

[SKL]

Other than a blackbelt and a mean dog, not usually.  I always intend to be more prepared though.  I think pepper spray or similar is fair game.

[PeterPan]

I had my dd take a women's self defense class before I sent her off. Not saying she could defend herself with one class, but it probably made her more thoughtful about situations.

[Spryte]

I very occasionally carry pepper spray these days. Only in situations that seem to warrant it, which are not very many. We do have it available in a drawer by the door, in case anyone feels they may need to take it with them for night time activities or if we are traveling to areas it seems warranted.

I carried it through college and beyond while in a city known for crime — and I kept it at my bedside while living off campus there, too, after a break-in while I was home alone (I locked myself in my bedroom with the phone and a can of oven spray - funny not funny - and swore never to be in that position again). We recently visited there and both kids received their own pepper sprays with a lesson on its use.

[wintermom]

Just my brain - and my focus. I do have a 3rd degree black belt, but the first couple self-defence rules for me is "Avoid potentially dangerous situations," and then "Be aware of my environment." I'm continuously re-evaluating the situation and pre-planning stuff, like where is my quickest exit point, what can I use to put between me and a potential attacker, etc. My dd also learned all these rules and uses them.

There are going to be surprises and really bad things happen that I may not be able to predict or avoid, but I'm optimistic that I can be lucky if I work at it. 😉 

 

Edited June 11 by wintermom

[lewelma]

I had paper spray back in the early 1990s, it was not even in my state at the time and I had to mail order it. I was talking to some friends, and we all kind of laughed that we weren't even sure it worked. One of them offered to test it. Um. sure. He sprayed it into a corner of the room, opened his eyes, and put his whole face in the mist. And, yes I promise you that it worked! Boy did yell and jump around. His eyes swelled shut for hours.  It was quite a thing.

 

[SanDiegoMom]

No, though I'm thinking I will get my daughter some type of alarm when she goes off to college.

[wintermom]

14 minutes ago, lewelma said:

I had paper spray back in the early 1990s, it was not even in my state at the time and I had to mail order it. I was talking to some friends, and we all kind of laughed that we weren't even sure it worked. One of them offered to test it. Um. sure. He sprayed it into a corner of the room, opened his eyes, and put his whole face in the mist. And, yes I promise you that it worked! Boy did yell and jump around. His eyes swelled shut for hours.  It was quite a thing.

 

I'm imagining the full-on force of flying papers to inflict vicious paper cuts on attackers. I think it could work really well. 😉 

[MEmama]

No.

I don't feel I need it where I live, and anyway I'm not strong enough to overtake anyone. If I was attacked, there is zero chance I'd be able to reach for my purse (if I was even wearing one), open it up, dig around to find and grab pepper spray, open it and aim properly before the attacker was going to do whatever they had planned. Not to mention it's nasty stuff and I'd have to run pretty fast to get away from the mist. I've been attacked before; it's pretty hard for a small female to get away. People have a romanticized impression of what they are capable of when faced with large men (or rabid animals or teeth gnashing dogs or whatever).

Personal defence items aren't legal in Ireland.

[wintermom]

3 hours ago, wintermom said:

Just my brain - and my focus. I do have a 3rd degree black belt, but the first couple self-defence rules for me is "Avoid potentially dangerous situations," and then "Be aware of my environment." I'm continuously re-evaluating the situation and pre-planning stuff, like where is my quickest exit point, what can I use to put between me and a potential attacker, etc. My dd also learned all these rules and uses them.

There are going to be surprises and really bad things happen that I may not be able to predict or avoid, but I'm optimistic that I can be lucky if I work at it. 😉 

 

I just remembered that I do carry my cell phone with me for security purposes, plus a bunch of other reasons. I think it's likely one of the mose useful.

[Ginevra]

2 hours ago, wintermom said:

Just my brain - and my focus. I do have a 3rd degree black belt, but the first couple self-defence rules for me is "Avoid potentially dangerous situations," and then "Be aware of my environment." I'm continuously re-evaluating the situation and pre-planning stuff, like where is my quickest exit point, what can I use to put between me and a potential attacker, etc. My dd also learned all these rules and uses them.

There are going to be surprises and really bad things happen that I may not be able to predict or avoid, but I'm optimistic that I can be lucky if I work at it. 😉 

 

Well said. This is my plan, too. I will add that I do not wear shoes that would prevent me from getting away from a bad situation and/or defending myself using kicks/stomps. So, no skinny heels, no flip-flops, no frou-frou sandals. I won’t have fingernails that prevent me from using my hands to punch/grab/grasp, either. 
 

{Tangent: One time, at the law firm where I worked, I saw photos of a woman whose fingers had been badly injured in an auto accident due to her long fake fingernails bending back and tearing off. It was enough to commit me to never having long fingernails like that ever again. I used to wear long acrylic nails when I was in my twenties, but I would never do that now.} 

[wintermom]

Just now, Ginevra said:

Well said. This is my plan, too. I will add that I do not wear shoes that would prevent me from getting away from a bad situation and/or defending myself using kicks/stomps. So, no skinny heels, no flip-flops, no frou-frou sandals. I won’t have fingernails that prevent me from using my hands to punch/grab/grasp, either. 
 

{Tangent: One time, at the law firm where I worked, I saw photos of a woman whose fingers had been badly injured in an auto accident due to her long fake fingernails bending back and tearing off. It was enough to commit me to never having long fingernails like that ever again. I used to wear long acrylic nails when I was in my twenties, but I would never do that now.} 

I never thought to mention heels or fake fingernails as I don't wear either. Even dresses are pushing it for me. 😉  I don't wear flip flops, either. 

[Bambam]

I have pepper spray, but I've never carried it. 
I did get pepper spray for my girls. And a personal alarm, but that wasn't a big hit. 

I also got us all stainless steel barrel ink pens. You could do some damage with those. 

[Tenaj]

I usually carry pepper spray when I walk our neighborhood not necessarily because of criminals but every once in a while there have been some scary aggressive dogs running loose.  I've never used it mainly because I usually see far enough ahead to turn around and avoid the situation.  Once the newspaper delivery lady drove around the block to warn me that two aggressive dogs were out on my route.  I was so thankful that she took the time to find me - the dogs had corned our neighbor who jogs every morning and she had used her car and horn to help him get away  and then remembered that I usually was a few minutes behind him.  The kindness of strangers!  Anyway, now I usually remember to carry my pepper spray with me just in case

Edited June 12 by Tenaj

[Clarita]

When I went to college, both my colleges had CSO (Campus Security Officers).  You can call them and just to have them escort you places; totally encouraged to use you are not taking away resources from more important things. I used this service all the time.  So you or she can look this up for her college (how to reach them etc.). At least when I was going to college (even after the invention of cell phones) they have these pay phone things that you can reach them on all over campus. I never did use the pay phone things because I would just call them with my phone to meet me where I was. 

 

[TravelingChris]

I don't carry anything except keys and phone.  But I hardly go anywhere by myself-- I don't drive anymore because my car is from 2006 and I cannot move my neck enough to look back. I sometimes take an Access bus or Uber or Lyft.   But I am never going to any place by myself where danger lurks- just places like doctor offices, labs, and occasionally places like a library or movie theater.

[annandatje]

No.