Impact!

Riddle me this:  When is a flashlight not a flashlight?

It’s a trick question.  A flashlight is always a flashlight and that is to our advantage.  

The Maglite with its steel and now aluminum barrel is a durable light which can hold up to six D-cells and reaching almost twenty inches in length.  It is a formidable impromptu close quarters impact weapon.  Both John Peters’ “Defensive Tactics with Flashlights” and Massad Ayoob’s “Fundamentals of Police Impact Weapons” discuss the virtues of having what is essentially twelve or more inches of metal pipe in your hands when up-close interactions suddenly go south.

I've owned Maglites for years.

Both books, especially Peters, detail blocks, strikes, holds and escapes utilizing a large metal flashlight.  Perhaps blocks and strikes are the easiest to explain.  Blocks are simply allowing a moving object, like arm, leg or club to contact the metal instead of you.  Strikes are impacts using the metal body of the flashlight.  Duh….

One of my martial arts instructors once posed the question, “If you perform a rising block correctly and break the opponent’s arm, ending the fight, is it a block or a strike?” 

For the armed citizen the advantage is:  “It’s a flashlight, officer.”  It’s not a weapon.  It’s a tool to see in the dark, to illuminate.  Carrying in the daytime?  I expect to stay out late.  It’s dark under my car and I drop things.  Its dark under my car seat.  If the power goes out in the store its dark and my work place has no windows.  Got the idea?

It’s never a weapon, always a tool.  Get out of your car at night to check something and you’ll be surprised how comforting twenty inches of pipe can be.  Even with dead batteries and a burnt out bulb and it is still a flashlight, just a non-working flashlight.  Oops, my bad, I’ll get it fixed.

This blackjack has a flexible shaft to help reduce the damage done on impact.

Blackjacks have a similar but limited civilian advantage.  Police routinely carry impact weapons.  Most cops know how to use handcuffs as steel knuckles.  Bar fighters know how to turn a glass beer stein into a weapon and bottles are even simpler.  Don’t be fooled by the prevalent tactical literature.  Impromptu weapons have a huge following and they are coming back.  I know a knife maker who makes a little fidget toy which slips on a do-rag and becomes an impact weapon.  Bikers like ‘em.

The problem is blackjacks, the starring weapon in Beverly Hills Cop, has no legitimate use to the armed citizen.  Being able to disable a joint, disorient an attacker, stun a hand and if necessary cripple a violent attacker is very attractive. But you can’t really carry a zap or blackjack and not expect complications.

Did you know I can read minds?  Right now you are thinking, I’ll shoot him. 

Maybe.  Maybe the situation hasn’t evolved to deadly force but warrants a little more personal advantage.  Maybe you can’t carry in your present location, like work or a hospital.  But personal conflicts break out anywhere.  What are you going do?

What you need is something that has a normal everyday use.  Something you could pull out in front of a police officer, something Sister Caligula wouldn’t blink at, something your sheltered maiden aunt wouldn’t have heart palpitations over, but is still a force multiplier.

How about a change purse?

Heavy Money Coin Purse.  Made with heavy durable leather.

I just got a Heavy Money Change Purse.  It’s a heavy leather purse with a zipper to hold your change secure and a snap so you can wear it over you belt and not have to fill your pocket with another EDC thing.  Unless you are Captain Kangaroo, you probably have your pockets filled.

Here’s the specs:

Total length:  10 inches

Max width: 3 inches

Weight with 24 quarters: 9.5 ounces  You could stuff in another dollar or three if you wanted to.

Cost:  $50.00 plus your coins

Snapping the ends together creates a convenient “U” to wear your change purse on your belt.  Years ago a knife man taught me, “You carry clipped in your pocket, but if there could be trouble, clip it on your pants waistband.  If you think there is going be trouble put it unopened in your hand.”

This works surprisingly well for the Heavy Money Coin Purse.  I carry it around my belt, if trouble might occur, I slip it off and slide it into a back or front pocket with my hand on it.  If I think trouble is a arriving, I carry it in my hand next to my leg.  You can also simply un-snap it from your belt.  I get stopped and I’m looking for a vending machine.  I thought I saw a vending machine around somewhere.

No a bad tool for women either.

It’s not a perfect weapon; even Star Trek phasers don’t stop everything, run out and can be overloaded.  The Heavy Money Change Purse is a socially acceptable contingency weapon that fits in my escalation of force.

I like it so much I bought several.  Contact me if you’re interested.