ExRx.net

"American's seem more willing to shun reason and discipline when it comes to their anger and emotions." - Rucifer

I've found that most Americans I've met are pretty reasonable, and that a very small percentage of the population seems to cause most of the serious problems. I would imagine that the same dynamic applies overseas.

"I have heard pepper spray is not so good due to the possibility the wind will carry it right back on you. Will this happen without gusts?" - Rucifer

Wind can definately be a problem. Also, if you end up grappling with someone you just sprayed, there's a high probability you'll end up with some secondary exposure. This is one of the reasons police cadets are generally sprayed in training.

"If someone does not have the money or time to dedicate to martial arts training, is there any other time of training that might be of help? Can people really learn good moves for simple protection from a book or dvd?" - Rucifer

You can learn some skills from books and videos, but you'll need to actually practice these techniques, ideally with a real live training partner who offers some degree of resistance.

You'll also need to be careful with martial arts in general, as there are a lot of paper tigers out there teaching methods that don't work in real life. This is especially true of techniques described as especially dangerous or deadly as they're generally just theoretical.

Think about it. How would you practice a "death touch" unless you could line up a bunch of death row inmates and punch them to death?

"Everybody seems to recommend against a taser that I talk too...I would have this would of got the biggest plus points out of non lethal means." - Rucifer

The biggest problems (in my estimation) are the cost, maintenance and reliability issues. If the battery goes dead, you might be dead to.

When they actually work, they're generally pretty effective ... assuming you don't miss (you generally only get one or two shots), that the barbs actually reach flesh (heavy winter clothing can be a problem), that they you aren't outnumbered, and that your attacker(s) doesn't have a firearm. They're also a lot more intimidating than pepper spray (though much less so than a firearm).

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"his hands can't hit what his eyes can't see" - muhammad ali

All downward trends Matt according to the data from the Home Office. There may be a few peeks and troughs but the overall trend is down. Violence against a person accounted for over a million reported crimes 8 years ago, that figure is at 760,000 now. Reported sexual offences is down over the same period, nearly 10,000 less. Robbery is down by 25,000. Burglary down by 300,000. Offences against vehicles has halved. Criminal damage and fraud/forgery offences have halved. Drug offences are up.

It's interesting that the number of recorded offences over the last 10 years has fallen dramatically, yet in survey's which record peoples 'perception of crime' it's the reverse. People think crime is worse and that the streets here in the UK are more dangerous than they used to be, when in fact it's the opposite.

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What if the Hokey Cokey really IS what it's all about?

"All downward trends Matt according to the data from the Home Office. There may be a few peeks and troughs but the overall trend is down. Violence against a person accounted for over a million reported crimes 8 years ago, that figure is at 760,000 now. Reported sexual offences is down over the same period, nearly 10,000 less. Robbery is down by 25,000. Burglary down by 300,000. Offences against vehicles has halved. Criminal damage and fraud/forgery offences have halved. Drug offences are up." - Proper Knob

That's good to hear (with the exception of the rise in drug offenses). However it seems unlikely that the drop in fraud is the result of gun control. Likewise, I don't see how gun control would cause a drop in burglary or auto thefts.

My point is that murder rates (and crime rates in general) are affected by many different factors. Gun control is at best one of MANY variables affecting crime, therefore I don't see how you can reasonably credit gun control for the UK's low murder rate.

"It's interesting that the number of recorded offences over the last 10 years has fallen dramatically, yet in survey's which record peoples 'perception of crime' it's the reverse. People think crime is worse and that the streets here in the UK are more dangerous than they used to be, when in fact it's the opposite." - Proper Knob

We have the same problem here in the US.