Bear spray is very good for home defense. And a neck knife when you have to go out.My gut feeling is to stay away from air guns for home defense. You're relying on a bluff and I'd imagine, assuming the invader was unarmed, plinking them with an airgun would quickly lead to close quarters combat. You could potentially incapacitate or even kill someone if you got a perfect shot to their head, but in a panicked situation like a home invasion, I don't think that would be wise to rely on.
If you put a bayonette on the gun then that might not be a bad idea.
PCP air guns are by far the strongest, but they're expensive. For cheaper options, gas piston is allegedly easier to use and quieter than traditional spring loaded guns. For survival, assuming you have easy access to an air compressor, the PCP would be best, as the stronger models can take down boar and small deer. But that's an investment of an upwards of 2,000 dollars. If you wanna hunt small game there are plenty of cheaper spring or gas piston guns that should get the job done.
Non-firearm home defense: I'd say a tactical flashlight is one of your best bets. At least 1,000 Lumens max output. Blasting someone in the face with blinding light is extremely underrated. And tactical flashlights always have a bezel on the edge for striking, unless they're big enough to be used as weapons themselves, like the Maglight. I'd imagine blinding someone and then striking them with a flashlight would be very possible. And shining a flashlight into someone's eyes does not take much accuracy, which is important to consider in a situation where you're likely to panic or even have a panic attack, such as a home invasion.
Hard knuckle gloves are also a great option.
Without a viable firearm, I'd say close-quarters combat weapons are your best bet. The tactical flashlight can help close the gap if there's distance, by blinding people. All I can say is if you can't own a real firearm, you'd better learn how to handle yourself in close quarters, pray that the other person doesn't have a firearm, and learn how to be relatively proficient with close quarters weapons.
Even just getting proficient in boxing basics, punching with hard knuckle gloves could be very effective. I think I'd prefer a weapon but hard knuckle gloves and a tactical flashlight would be my bare minimum if I was going "unarmed."
That's the situation I'm in, as I don't own a firearm. All I've got is my tactical flashlight, hard knuckle gloves, a variety of knives, and my sai. The sai really are great. Seriously. If you can get over the nerd factor, take a moment to imagine what exactly is 'nerdy' about getting stabbed or struck with solid steel. They are extremely threatening and I definitely would not want to be in a confrontation with someone using them.
If someone was using a steel pipe or a baseball bat, at least you have a chance to grab it or block it, cover your head and rush them, etc. With sai, they're much smaller, and if you use them to punch, they're basically a substitute for your knuckles, extending barely an inch past your index finger. Blocking or getting out of the way of someone using sai the same way a boxer would throw punches would be extremely difficult, and getting punched with a steel stud just about anywhere on your body, even if you're heavily clothed, could very easily be incapacitating.
Just my recommendation. Even for the novelty, just give them a try. Once you feel them in your hands you'll probably get what I'm talking about, and why I feel like they're one of the best close-range self defense weapons out there.
I'm leaning towards the idea of only using one. If someone was in my home right now, I'd put a hard knuckle glove on my left hand, and my tactical flashlight in my left hand. And take one sai in my right hand.
Baseball bat is hard to generate power with, when only using one hand. A lot of non-compact weapons are. The sai in a single hand would allow you to very painfully stab and incapacitate someone or strike very hard with the steel end by punching. You could swing it and hit someone with the prong, but I feel like that's the least effective thing to do with a sai. You either want to stab with the prong or punch with the stud if you're trying to incapacitate someone.
And definitely get hard knuckle gloves if you can. I was actually making a habit out of wearing them while I drive after reading about someone who was in a car accident, had hard knuckle gloves on, and it saved their hands. They're great to have just in general, and in my experience make great hiking gloves. If you take a little spill, you can land on your fist and the gloves will go a long way in breaking your fall as long as your fist is tight and proper.
It's also nice to know if you had to punch someone really hard, you could do so without breaking your hand on the bones in someone's head.
Anyway, just some random thoughts. I'm looking into an air gun myself, and was very curious about them for home defense as well, but everything I've read basically said it's a no-go. I've just accepted that since, for the time being, I'm not gonna get a real firearm, my go-to is the tactical flashlight and close-range weapons. Again: the flashlight is extremely underrated. Blinding someone who is attacking you is really invaluable and could be the difference between you getting killed and getting the advantage.
So much depends on how the opponent presents. If he's got a guarded mask and is bulked up, mad and has a weapon. Well, good luck with that.
Tactical axe/tomohawk is very good, but you really have to know how to manuever these things like a whip.
With close quarter and close weapons, body movement is something that takes many many years to get proficient. Even then, there are unintended consequences.
Many times a weapon just makes people really clumsy and miss openings.
Your wits are your best chance.
Such as you drop your elbows (very relaxed) and put your hands blocking your face in a "please don't hurt me" shape. It's actually a superb coiled shape to strike from a when they close the gap. Good position to deploy a neck knife, for example. But again, if they are bulked up; you're knife is meaningless and will make them more vigilant with you. But it's a good (krav maga) position to draw them in so you can disarm them.
You are almost always better off tricking them into thinking you are harmless. De-escalate and retreat.
No conflict is certainly the goal. Violence is horrible for you in every way. You may have to do it, but it definitely sucks.
You can create a safe room in your house. (look it up)
Most people are not trained. Even the so-called trained ones have lousy body movement. They are shown a few IDF moves and they are rough and willful but are blunt instruments. I think an air rifle looks super scary.
I don't know much about guns. I did to bar 4 riflery as a kid, but I don't remember anything.
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