"Plastic" brass knuckles as a self-defense item?

[syciprider]

I am probably one of the most heavily armed TBers around here but I'll never carry one of these knuckles.

A) Cops will still throw your @$$ in jail. Standard procedure while they sort everything out. Is it really worth the hassle of spending the night in jail with a big, bald-headed, heavily tattooed guy named "Tiny"?
B) It still calls for up close fighting skill to use these things. It is also doubtful that your attacker will courteously wait while you slip your dusters on.

I myself would rather adjust my lifestyle so my chances of running into trouble is minimized.

 

[funkalicious101]

i saw glass knuckles once. something about being able to take the impact of human bone but shattering into a million pieces upon hitting the concrete

I suppose that would make them easier to ditch after you crush someons skull.

 

[Deleted member 79588]

Maybe I'm lucky but I really can't remember the last time I've felt insecure enough to consider the need to carry a weapon, aside from my pocket knife, which realistically would be the last thing I'd want to use in an ugly situation.

Carrying a self defense weapon isn't about being insecure, it's about being prepared. I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it. Kind of the same concept as putting on your seat belt when you get in your car, or having fire extinguishers in your home. Would you consider that being insecure?

 

[RiseOfTheWooten]

Carrying a self defense weapon isn't about being insecure, it's about being prepared. I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it. Kind of the same concept as putting on your seat belt when you get in your car, or having fire extinguishers in your home. Would you consider that being insecure?

I completely see your point. The issue that people have with that, I think, is that unlike the seat belt and the fire extinguishers which you use for your own protection, to use a knife is to have intent to cause injury to someone else. People will say you've always got the option to run away or to back down from a fight but I'm also aware sometimes you're backed into a corner.

 

[Unrepresented]

Carrying a self defense weapon isn't about being insecure, it's about being prepared. I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it. Kind of the same concept as putting on your seat belt when you get in your car, or having fire extinguishers in your home. Would you consider that being insecure?

No.

Car + seatbelt = preparation

fire + extinguisher = preparation

people + plastic knuckles = Travis Bickle

Seriously, as has been pointed out:

a) plastic knuckles are not heavy enough to equal brass knuckles

b) you'll never get them on in time.

c) you'll get thrown in jail regardless of whether your theory about your legal loophole proves correct, at least for the night, just on possession.

d) if you use them in a fight you've practically guaranteed yourself a court trial where you'll be having to defend yourself against jailtime.

e) what kind of situation leads you to believe you're in realistic danger of getting into that heated of a physical altercation? Most of the time they just want your stuff. Why set up a situation where you're handing over a billfold with no harm to your person to one where you've raised the stakes to a life threatening street fight? Even with your magic plastic knuckles, they're still probably going to get some damage in on you if you raise the stakes. If you're at the bar let the bouncer do his job, he's getting paid for it, and has more experience.

f) If for some reason people are randomly attacking you, why not learn some basic sparring and self-defense skills that are with you instantly and permanently instead of having to try and find a weapon that unless you're a trained striker or a boxer, you probably won't even be able to take full advantage of anyway.

You've got way more to lose than to gain by escalating a situation, and contrary to what action movies may've taught you, you probably won't be walking away without a scratch even if you do win, which you probably won't against a person who regularly engages in beating people up.

Just out of curiosity, how many fights have you been in that've been unavoidable? And of those, how many would've had better outcomes (in every sense) if you'd had an "equalizer?" Okay, now how many of those since you've reached age 18?

 

[Depth_Charge]

Many martial arts (tip tap competiton stuff, not fighting arts like Krav Maga, Pancration etc) are no good for teaching self preservation because they:

a) do not teach fight psychology or how to react to posturing.

b) assume a fight has already become physical and ignore the whole pre-fight ritual or attack indicators, which means when confronted you don't look for opportunities to escape, only to apply fighting knowledge.

c) assume your attacker will use predictable moves you have trained defenses for (the "locked in a style").

That is a very broad and general statement I know, but these are some deficiencies I have noticed in about 12 years of learning about fighting. I have learned in Judo, Karate, Brazilian Ju Jitsu and Close Quarter Combat and from all of these I would take maybe 1% of what I've learned into a self preservation situation to create an opportunity to escape or, if cornered, render an attacker unable to harm me (hopefully, I ain't delusional about my skills or those of other people).

Now, if someone invites me outside for a one on one fight to settle some score, I would be more likely to treat it as more of a sparring match. But that doesn't happen very often.

All that said, I am 100% confident that if I lived in a country with more liberal weapon and CCW laws, or a more violent population, or spent more time in questionable locations around Perth and be more confronted with the need to defend myself I would have a completely different philosophy on how to preserve my life and the life of my loved ones. I would be stupid not to.

 

[RiseOfTheWooten]

Many martial arts (tip tap competiton stuff, not fighting arts like Krav Maga, Pancration etc) are no good for teaching self preservation

I agree, I was going to say something about that. The ones worth looking at that anyone should be able to find in their neighbourhood (not in any particular order) are boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, brazilian jiu jitsu, judo, wrestling (college, freestyle or graeco-roman), sambo, pancration. I would recommend these any given day.

 

[fenderthrupeave]

I have found the a good metal belt buckle rapped around your fist works well as well as steel toe boots<always a solid choice.

 

[Depth_Charge]

I have found the a good metal belt buckle rapped around your fist works well as well as steel toe boots<always a solid choice.

Belts are great. They strike, trap and wrap, wrap your own wrist to protect against sharps and can be used as knuckles like you describe. Unless you wear very loose fitting pants and they drop, restricting movement of course LOL.

And it's not classed as a weapon in a self defense scenario since you couldn't help wearing it when you got jumped, you just grabbed the first thing you thought of

 

[karlsmith]

Belts are great. They strike, trap and wrap, wrap your own wrist to protect against sharps and can be used as knuckles like you describe. Unless you wear very loose fitting pants and they drop, restricting movement of course LOL.

And it's not classed as a weapon in a self defense scenario since you couldn't help wearing it when you got jumped, you just grabbed the first thing you thought of

Of course Invalid Link Removed is not a weapon of self-defense. It is categorized as melee weapon. Belt is good self-defense weapon too, but most valuable self-defense techniques do not use weapons they are Martial arts

 

[Stanley Design]

In Canada at least, if it can be used to harm someone in ANY way and is on your person (not necessarily in use) during a fight you WILL be charged with assault with a weapon. First hand experience with that one. From a multi tool in your pocket to a baseball bat. Brass knuckles, knives, guns, steel toed boots (if they can prove they were used), are assault with a deadly weapon, and have much more severe consequences.

I'm sure the laws are more lenient down there in the states, but the RCMP does not mess around up here.

Plus if you really thought about it, and if you've ever been in a real fight before, you wouldn't want to have brass knuckles unless you were to the point where you were going to die anyway. Do you realize what one punch with them will do to a person? If you land a solid punch on his face it could do any or all of the following: broken jaw, broken palate, broken cheeks, crushed skull, broken nose to the point where the guy will drown from internal hemoraging, etc.

 

[john turner]

thread necromancy is bad. please let dead threads rest in peace.