What do people use for self-defense in countries with banned guns?

My cop son says the old line of "when seconds count, cops are only minutes away" is quite true. Defend yourself or they'll be there to watch the EMTs bag you and haul your dead butt off.

Interesting comparison.

It is VERY hard to own a gun in Japan.

https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/Japan/United-States/Crime

You will see this world wide. Those with tighter guns laws have less violent crime.

Alan

I've lived in Australia and the UK and spent time in plenty of areas people would consider pretty dodgy. I've also travelled to lots of places around the world. I've never felt the need to carry any sort of weapon. I've been beaten up once when I was so drunk nothing would've helped anyway. I think this is a pretty typical attitude for someone living in Oz or UK.

Knives, glass bottles, baseball bats, umbrellas, cricket bats, golf clubs, rocks, their fists, kicking, air rifles and guns, spiky keyrings, monkey balls, deodorant sprays, rape alarms, keys, sticks.

In places where the criminals don't have access to guns, there is less of a need for so called "good guys with guns."

Unfortunately, here in the US there is an intentional oversupply of firearms that floods the illegal gun market and results in the criminals being armed.

I've never needed to use self defense, never needed to think about what I would do. Never considered carrying a weapon. I've been in the "dodgy" areas of London and other cities - but never felt in danger (there is danger, but not usually for strangers).

In the favelas of Rio, I've had "gangs" of people coming up to me, my initial thought was that I was in trouble, but they were just interested in my t-shirt (had pictures on the Brazil team in World Cup '82) and were some of the nicest people I've ever met. Had I been carrying a gun, and too worried - my guess is they wouldn't have been so nice, and I would end up in trouble.

I've been scammed in Beijing as a tourist, but a weapon would've only escalated the problem - I left a few Yuan poorer, but unharmed.

The gun culture in backwards countries (i.e. the Divided States of Trump)

....... scares me

What a weird question. I've never once (other when serving in the military abroad when I was packing both semi-automatic rifle and sidearm) about needing something for self defense.

Indeed. It's weird these kind of topics even exists really. I think some just don't seem to grasp most other countries don't live in fear all the time someone is going to get them. I've lived all over in the UK including rougher areas of London, and never needed anything, nor thought it would be useful.

Yeah, I've slummed around 50+ countries, developing world, backwaters and all. I've never felt in danger and the worst that ever happened was a random guy tried to verbally "strong arm" me into giving him "$200". When I refused he tried to take the sunglasses off my face. Then I said I was going to go to the police, (as if I even knew where to find one). And he ran away.

Ok, not quite true, I felt a little scarred in SPS Honduras, because I know that they have a lot of guns there. But nothing bad happened so....

Personally, I don't believe any of you guys. I've lived in West London on and off for two decades. I don't know anyone similar who hasn't been mugged or assaulted at least once. I don't even live in London anymore, but some 20 stone hobo pulled a knife on me just last week while visiting. My brother, who lives in Notting Hill and is over 6ft and heavily built, was the victim of a moped mugging last year.

interested reader wrote:

What a weird question. I've never once (other when serving in the military abroad when I was packing both semi-automatic rifle and sidearm) about needing something for self defense.

Honestly, I felt the same way as you, even having lived in some pretty dicey areas in my life. My advice to myself was always keep your eyes down, pay attention, and GTFO if something goes down. It wasn't until I saw innocent people being assaulted while trying to eat dinner or drive down the road that I considered buying a weapon.

How many times have you been assaulted and had to use your gun in self defense?

In my case the answer is zero. But perhaps folks on here are being assaulted and pulling out their guns with some frequency.

Self-defense is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy, easier access to weapons perpetuates the paranoia that one needs one to protect themselves from others that have them. In reality, people in the US are much safer than most believe.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/many-americans-are-convinced-crime-is-rising-in-the-u-s-theyre-wrong/

I have lived in the UK all my life, I have never been in or seen a situation where a weapon would have been a proportionate response to anything that has happened. I have been to London many times and I really do not recognize the way it is portrayed in this thread.

In the UK, generally you only need to carry any sort of item for self-defence if you're the sort of person who deliberately puts themselves in situations where it could be required.

Given that you're clearly an angry, belligerent and often quite unpleasant person Coevett, that's perhaps why you would need to carry something with you.

Why would we make it up? Maybe your experience is different but we can only comment on what we see and hear. It seems popular nowadays to dismiss anything you disagree with as "fake news".

In Europe, I grew up in one of the worst neighborhoods of my city during the years where crime was rampant. Half of my elementary school classmates had one or both parents in Jail for drug offenses. I learned how behave, when to keep cool, when to run, when to call the cops. Being in Europe, I saw plenty of knives, but never saw a gun until I joined the army. Outside the army, never ever it occurred to me I needed a weapon.

As I grew up, I travelled a lot, often in sketchy areas. I had a few bad encounters that I managed by keeping cool and eventually losing a few dollars and a camera. In hindsight, if I had a gun, some of these encounters may have ended with myself or someone else killed or severely injured, definitely not worth the cost of a used camera.

Only in the US people is obsessed with guns for self-defense. Maybe some of these are beta-males, fundamentally insecure, that need a gun to prove they are manly; or maybe there are so many guns around that he chances to be shot are way higher than everywhere else. Dunno.

Anecdotally, the first time I got really scared by a gun was in the US, when my 5-year old run towards me with a loaded gun that someone just forgot on a Starbuck chair.

Coevett wrote:

Personally, I don't believe any of you guys. I've lived in West London on and off for two decades. I don't know anyone similar who hasn't been mugged or assaulted at least once. I don't even live in London anymore, but some 20 stone hobo pulled a knife on me just last week while visiting. My brother, who lives in Notting Hill and is over 6ft and heavily built, was the victim of a moped mugging last year.

You are either lying or you know very, VERY few people. Given your persona on here, neither of these possibilities would be a surprise.