The Gun Counter

A female acquaintance was 'interviewed' by a goblin two days ago in a shopping center at dusk by a Caucasian adult male. She was alone, and had her groceries loaded into her car; she was preparing to enter her car when said goblin stopped his truck perpendicular to her own, blocking her exit. He asked if she needed help; she declined. He exited his vehicle and approached closer; smiling, he asked if she wanted to hang out with him. She forcefully declined by loudly saing, "YOU NEED TO LEAVE." He got in his truck and pulled away.

Obviously her situational awareness was good and her combative attitude caused her to 'pass' the interview. It has her thinking, and that can only be good. We're in California, so readily-accessible and legal firearms are out of the question, meaning we're down to chemical sprays and flashlights.

Required:
Small (purse or pocket)
High-intensity LED
At or under $50

Desired:
Rapid strobe
Crenulated bezel

I welcome your advice, and hope this thread encourages others thinking in the same direction.

See my recent "light" thread - has all your criteria except the strobe bit.

It's not bright enough to really HURT like some lights I've seen, but it's sure enough to make one look away in a hurry. I found them at the checkout at a local "ACE" hardware over the weekend too -- you might want to check there... In this case it was $9 or so.

She also might want to consider a cheap "million-power" spotlight for the car. A bit of sticky-back velcro should allow it to be stuck on the "hump" and thus always retrieved with ease. I think I paid $14 for mine, and though it's far from a top-quality piece of kit I guaran-dang-tee you that will cause anyone catching it straight on to whimper like a puppy.

It has other useful applications as well - the jerk riding your back-bumper with his off-road-only super-bright high-beams set to "nuclear" will back off in a great big hurry - and find his dimmer-switch - when it's aimed his way, even when the aiming is done over your shoulder and through a darkly-tinted rear window.

Don't ask me how I know this, since the SoL is no doubt still well in effect... While I know this isn't exactly kosher from a legal perspective, neither are illegal headlights, high-beams when following, tailgating, or all-of-the-above. I figure it's preferable to a brake-check that could cause a serious accident, and I KNOW it's preferable to what I'd LIKE to do to such jerks...

Otherwise - based on what I've seen online and etc - a real blinding "tac-light" is likely to cost a bit more than $50...

HTH!

DD

PS: You might want to talk to her about what to yell if she's actually attacked. I seem to remember something about yelling "help" rarely gets any, instead sending most people away - while "fire" or something similar caused most folks to come running... I'm sure a little google-fu could find what I'm talking about...

workinwifdakids wrote:Obviously her situational awareness was good and her combative attitude caused her to 'pass' the interview. It has her thinking, and that can only be good. We're in California, so readily-accessible and legal firearms are out of the question, meaning we're down to chemical sprays and flashlights.

Flashlights are handy, but not exactly a weapon unless you use in impact mode. What DD mentioned is a tried-n-true trick to get tailgaiters off your bumper.

For your lady friend, I would recommend Freeze Plus P. Get the 2oz size, don't bother with the 1/2 oz.