
Intermediate Force Options
Rob PincusDescription
Rob describes potential scenarios in which lethal force is not appropriate – verbal commands or unarmed physical force may be sufficient. He then considers the idea that we should always carry one or two “non-lethal” devices in addition to a firearm, and reminds us that some items we carry with us every day may be deployed as defensive tools. He name-checks some of the most popular non-firearm defensive tools and reminds us to check local laws for which are legal to carry.
For more on Understanding Force Options, see Rob’s earlier video.
Some people worry a lot about the concept that if all you have is a hammer, everything's a nail when it comes to personal defense and where that usually gets used. What people are usually worried about is the idea that if all I have is a defensive tool is a firearm. Well, then I might end up somehow finding myself in a situation where I'm recklessly or irresponsibly using a firearm against someone that doesn't deserve a lethal force response. Personally, I think that's really all about being responsibly armed. If all I have is a firearm.
Well, then I can solve certain problems that firearm and if I needed a screwdriver, well, I, I'm not gonna use this as a screwdriver. Am I? The reality is that I always have intermediate options? Because there are a lot of options when it comes to interpersonal conflict and defending myself between nothing and just being a victim and getting victimized and needing to shoot someone. Even in a situation where if I had a firearm, I might choose to use it, there are still going to be other options.
I mean, ultimately leaving may not be considered intermediate force, but it's definitely an option. Right. If you're trapped and it's not an option. Well, that's sounding a lot more like a situation where I would be justified and appropriate to use lethal force to use that handgun. Right.
In a situation where, I don't know, let's say that I, that two kids out on the playground, my daughter's on the playground and there's a couple of kids out there that are, that are shoving her and bullying her and I go to pick her up. Right. I go to pick her up, I get out of the car. I see, you know, 212 year olds pushing my daughter. This is, I think the kind of situation where somehow people are afraid that they're, if they're armed with a gun, gonna get somehow drawn into emotionally pulling their gun out in a situation where what they really need to do is just, you know, grab a 12 or 13 year old and, and push them away from your daughter, pick your daughter up and leave.
Right? And that's it. That's all you need to do. Maybe call your daughter to you and maybe say, hey, kids knock it off and your voice will be that intermediate force option. Now, a lot of people and we've even done videos at personal defense network here talking about the idea that there are instructors that, that who I respect that recommend any time you carry a gun, you also carry something like uh uh coup baton, an expandable baton, a taser, uh, chemical pepper spray.
And a lot of this I think is really geared towards the courts so that you can go into the court and, and say, well, you know, I had this taser and just like police officers do if, if this been in a situation where I didn't need to use my gun. I've trained, I've practiced and I'm equipped, I would have used my taser. So it's not my fault. I was prepared for some intermediate force. Why am I carrying this?
You might wonder because I'm also prepared for some intermediate force if I needed to use this, right? A a laptop. This is an ipad to hit somebody if I wanted to come down and smash somebody with this corner. If I wanted to use this to block an attack, if I wanted to use this to throw at somebody, this becomes an intermediate force defensive tool. Obviously, if I threw this somebody's head, I could kill him, right?
Could knock them down, could knock them out, they could hit their head on the ground, they could die, that could happen. But that's not the idea here, right? The idea when I use a gun is that I'm fully aware that I'm using lethal force and I may not need to do that. But let's think about the other things that you may be carrying around every day that aren't a specific defensive tool, a weapon like a, a knife that's still lethal. Right.
Uh, Coup Baton. Now, that's specially tool, expandable baton. Some, some places don't even let you carry those things. Right. Legally.
Um, believe it or not, there are places where you can carry a gun but you can't carry a club. Right. Kind of weird. Um, with your concealed carry permit, if your permit is for firearms only, but it's not concealed carry weapons. Right.
You need to look into this and see what alternative force tools are available to you specifically. But you know what, I'll tell you that this pencil, right? That's what this is a mechanical pencil. Very solid. One, metal reinforced, top bottom, very sharp and pokey.
This thing is not gonna be a restricted item. And if I'm thinking about it ahead of time and if I've trained and practiced, and in fact, if I specifically carry it on my non firearm side, so that I might be able to use it in one of two ways. One, if I were to get grabbed and I were needing to fight to my gun, I might, if this hand were trapped or this hand were trying to open my airway, maybe somebody was trying to choke me from behind. I might be able to use this to cause some damage, right, either down low or maybe even up high or maybe even into the hand or the arm that was choking me so that I could get this hand free then, and use my firearm appropriately. If there was still a lethal force threat, I could also use this to defend myself from someone who was attacking me from the front who wasn't already in contact.
Right. It just gives me something in my hand that will concentrate force when I brace it at the back of my palm. But I would have had to have thought about that. You would have to think about this ahead of time. What about your wallet?
Right. I see a lot of guys carrying metal wallets nowadays right now. This could be something you just throw as a distraction. Probably not gonna cause much damage as a, as a throwing kind of defensive tool. But what if I were to smash against somebody's temple with this?
What if I were to jam somebody in the throat right in the Adam's Apple with this sharp metal edge, right? Think about the way that's going to affect them. Could I do more damage to the nose or the eye or the temple with this? Could I rial stun come in and hit that nerve cluster, come down on a collarbone and do more damage with this than I would with my bare hand or my fist. Absolutely.
So another improvised tool, another intermediate defensive tool. How about this one? Not only do you have this one on you? It's probably in your hand at that moment that you get grabbed, right? If someone really catches you and you're, you know, completely unaware, not paying attention to your surroundings, kind of sucked into your phone.
You get attacked, you get thrown back against that wall or smashed onto the ground. If you can get a swing with this, you're concentrating more force on a harder surface than any part of your hand would be and you're gonna be able to do more damage potentially as well. And again, this can always also be thrown at as a distraction at that person who's coming at you with a knife, giving you more time and space to get to your firearm. So the idea of intermediate force options, you know, if nothing else you do have your hands, you have your teeth, you have voice, you have elbows, you have knees and you can always run away. So there are a lot of options other than the gun, even if you're not carrying any fancy saps, expandable batons, chemical, electrical defensive tools.
Think about that when you're thinking about all the options you have for intermediate force or at least alternative force options when the firearm isn't appropriate or isn't available to you.
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