[SweetCharmer]

Like Tread i'm from outside of the US and live in jolly old england and i think growing up without guns around hasn't had much of a negative result on my life.

I in no way though agree with Tread though on the whole just learn First aid and everything will be better thing. i agree with everyone else on being prepared and ready as well as knowing first aid

I've come to label nearly everything in my sight as a weapon and how to use it like one such as a pencil, keys, spray cans (well those are obvious) and other everyday normal objects.
I guess it really all started when i was younger. after school me and my friend were leaving but i forgot something in a class room. when i got back from getting it i found my friend being held up by someone with a penknife. some of the teachers tried grabbing him but he got away. ever since that day i felt so pathetic that i didn't do anything from being scared so i took up several martial arts and even practiced some sword arts (for meditation not for combat) to help and now ever since doing that i see everything as a weapon for self-defense not to say that i don't have any weapons in my house i do but they're all blades BUT i know how to use all of them confidently. i even at times wear weighted gloves when i go out so that i'll have some help if i ever do run into trouble. my whole life i've never once thought how much safer my life would be with a gun even though the gun rate is increasing aswell as the murder rate due to guns. i trust myself 100x more than i'd trust a gun if it were me i'd rather carry nothing because unlike most with guns (now this is a guess correct me if i'm wrong) i've been trained through martial arts to disarm and take a knife or gun off of someone without using a lot of effort. i mean at the end of the day this thread is here to help people learn self defense and that means EVERYONE. most people can't afford or are in a country that has banned guns so for all of them we need to address hand to hand combat more than just talk about what guns to buy and even for the members that do have guns it doesn't hurt to learn a few moves to saves your life.
In the end guns run out of ammo. knifes or hands/feet don't. not trying step on any toes but i just feel a LOT safer putting my life in my own hands rather than a guns.