Conflict Avoidance

Tam puts up a pretty darned good post about self defense. In it is nothing that talks about what type of gun or knife or baton to carry. Instead it talks about where you should NOT be. Great advice, I encourage you to go read it. Many people don't realize that self defense starts in your head - staying out of potentially bad situations is your best weapon imho as far as self defense goes.

This is the money:

So, there you go: Stay away from people who habitually break laws. Stay away from places where people who are breaking laws tend to congregate. If you want to move on to being an advanced practitioner, we can start talking about alertness color codes and training and carry permits and such, but the above steps should have you well down the road to a safer life.

I have come to realize that in the life I live the chances of a random act of violence are pretty slim. But I live in a nice area of the country, with low crime rates.

This is no excuse to not be in shape (run like hell is my best defensive technique) or train for self defense (at least I have my MT). But you gotta think about where you are. Having a fondness for the occasional rock show and/or cocktail at a local tavern are my highest probability places for getting in a confrontation, and these days I am much more careful about where I end up.