I'd Appreciate If You Didn't Grab My Asp

TOR posted a link to Women of Caliber a while back and I started browsing it because, well, as a single mom being prepared to defend yourself and your family is NEVER a bad thing. It's written by women self-defense instructors, so I knew it wasn't just someone blowing smoke.

It should be mentioned (I'm not sure that I've really blogged about it) TOR and Ryan the 3L have both been bugging me about being more prepared for home defense. And although something happening to the Boy is my biggest reason to have a home firearm, it's also my biggest concern about having one. He is horribly curious, and is also a ninja. There is not a way for me to safety store a loaded weapon in my home, short of in one of those safes that only open for your fingerprint (and I don't have that kind of $$$ just hanging around). We (the Ryan's and I, as well as others) have been considering and weighing options for more then a year, but I just haven't found one I can with good conscience settle on yet. Now, back to the subject.

I was browsing Women of Caliber and saw an article called Don't You Dare Touch My Asp. Considering my hesitation about getting a firearm, I can't believe I'd never thought of one. Now, I've never personally owned an Asp. A friend of ours had one growing up (which tells you a bit about how we all grew up), so I've seen it used and I would feel comfortable wielding one. They are very simple, but when used correctly can inflict a lot of damage. And as Kellene pointed out in her article, even if you can't manage to telescope the baton out, having a 6 inch- 2 lb hunk of steel in your hands is going to give any hits you get in quite a bit more impact.

I consulted TOR, and I think he generally agrees with me that an asp could be a solution for me considering my circumstances (although I'll let him speak for himself on the one). Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to look around some in town and see if I can't find one at a decent price. My dad (who used to be in law enforcement) also agreed to do lend me his melon for practicing on. No, I don't plan to actually hit him, but we are going to do some scenario type stuff. Practice makes perfect, and I'd rather not freeze up should I need to use the asp to defend myself.