More a self defense ideas than fighting off the bad guy?

[moonhill99]

Something like this outburst/situation - would not be unheard of on the city subway I ride. Drunk or unstable folks - I have seen it happen maybe not to a choke out - but it happens.

That why it is best to stay clear of drunks and drunks that are really combative. But cities that have high road range is also problem. There been cases of other drivers getting out and starting a fight or pulling a gun or shooting.

 

[moonhill99]

I make sure to get out of my office late at night, where I've been working alone, and walk alone home in the dark on side streets, except this one spot where I have to walk behind and around a 7-11. I usually go in there and insult the gang-bangers standing at the door so they know I'm cool and not to be messed ith, grab a beer so I smell like I'm drinking, then walk a roundabout route home. I usually do this while I'm flinging my keeys around my finger and tossing my iPhone up & down in my off hand to demonstrate my ambidexterity.

Yeah, that's about it.

Kidding aside... alone or not, keep your head up, eyes open and swiveling around watching your surroundings. Predators watch for those unaware ones, and they kill and eat them. Bullies, different story, there the head up and watchful look means "I see you and I'm not afraid." Don't be... even if you are.

In my city the police do not advice to walk late at night and even advise parents or other kids to walk to and from school and not alone.

 

[moonhill99]

Well the vast majority of mentally or emotionally disturbed persons will not attack unless provoked. I work in a small city that is the center for out patient Mental Health programs for half of 3 different counties (the city is smack dab on the border of the other 2). In terms of unprovoked violence they are the absolute LEAST of my concerns and I am the guy that gets called via 911 for the "altered mental status, advise EMS when the scene is secured" call.

They are NOT going to attack you in your home, unless they are a friend or a family member. If encountered on the streets they will rarely, if ever, attack if unprovoked. http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2014/04/mental-illness-crime.aspx As a matter of fact, as a matter of statistics the mentally ill are more likely to be victims of violent crime than perpetrators. Study Shows Mentally Ill More Likely to Be Victims, Not Perpetrators, of Violence | NC State University

The fear of those with mental illness is largely driven by mass shootings because most mass shooters etc end up having some form of mental illness but lets look at it from a numbers game. In 2015 there 372 mass shootings. Most of them were crime/gang related actually but for the sake of this exercise we will say they were all perpetrated by the mentally ill. (you can look them up here Mass Shootings). They killed over 400 people and wounded over 1000 people, in a population of over 320 million.

I'm not really concern about homeless and mentally people coming to my office or home. Most of the homeless and mentally people are in areas of city asking people for money, singing and dancing on the street or screaming. We don't really get the homeless and mentally people at malls and shopping plazas here. There are some shopping plazas in not so good areas where you find some homeless and mentally people some them off their meds or having episode.

I never had aggressive panhandlers in my city or stalkers. But some city can get the aggressive panhandlers and stalkers types.

Most of the homeless and mentally in my city are just crazy. They spend most there time in and out of jail or just doing crazy things like singing, dancing, jumping into traffic so on .

If you stay out of the areas of my city where the homeless and mentally are on the the street you will be okay.

But we never really get aggressive panhandlers or stalkers here. There as only been couple of incidents in my city of guys stalkers and touching girls.

We do get lot of robberies here but lot of them street robberies. We have gang here but it is not big like the big cities.

The 90% of the home break in here are people that are poor or need money for drugs here . Other 10% are problem here of gangs breaking in and stealing. There been number of really bad home invasion of the home owner that have been beaten up and than tied up.

 

[crazydiamond]

That why it is best to stay clear of drunks and drunks that are really combative. .

Unavoidable for many. Your on a train - trapped. Maybe you did not start it - but your in the car anyway. Been there.