Protection

As easy as it is to dismiss all attackers as the creepy guy in a trenchcoat in the parking garage, this isn’t the case. In fact, more than 80 percent of all rape victims know their attacker already. This shows that most attacks happen when you are not prepared to handle them. We always recommend taking a self defense course, but it’s important to have multiple strategies in mind to get you out of a frightening situation. When you are in a place where you need to fight back, here’s what you can do to prepare:

• Have a weapon. Again, this does not need to be a gun. Whether it’s a taser gun or pepper spray, these items can be very effective at distracting and protecting you from an attacker. Make sure you have it on you at all times. It’s important to carry your weapon and be able to quickly use it, so practice switching off a safeguard or removing a pepper spray cap as soon as you have it.
• Have easy access. Having your weapon on you at all times won’t do much good if it’s at the bottom of your purse. If you do opt to put it in your purse, make sure it’s in a place where it won’t get buried. However, we recommend carrying your weapon in your hand when you are alone.
• Know your surroundings. Planning ahead means knowing where you are and avoiding dangerous places. Make sure you are aware of your closest exits and places to run in case of an attacker.

Choose What to Carry

The good news is that our self defense equipment was designed to be easy to carry and not easily identified. In other words, your attacker won’t know to disarm you ahead of time. We offer self defense items, such as:

• Pepper spray keychains - These make your pepper spray easily accessible. Many people carry their keys on the way to their car, so you can feel prepared and armed at all times.
• Streetwise sting ring - This stun gun was designed to be concealed easily in the palm of your hand. The base can held while the top part is a ring to put around your middle finger. When you turn off the safety and grip the unit tightly, the unit activates for you to stun your attacker.
• Knives - Whatever your style of knife, we can help. Many of our knives are easily concealed and hard to tell what they are, leaving you to protect yourself without the attacker disarming you.

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Whatever you feel you need to protect yourself, JL Defense Products can help. Shop now to keep yourself safe on the streets!

What is Pepper Spray Made From?

Pepper spray is typically made using an extract of chili peppers; specifically, it is made using oleoresin capsicum (OC), which is an oil naturally found in many different types of peppers. OC contains capsaicin, which is what causes the spicy and hot sensation you feel when you eat a particularly spicy pepper. Capsaicin is odorless, colorless, and flavorless—but just one milligram of pure capsaicin can blister your skin. Pepper spray usually comes in an aerosol canister so you can quickly and easily spray anyone who is threatening you and your personal safety. It’s mixed with an oil or water-based solution and a propellant to make the solution easy to shoot out when needed.

How Does Pepper Spray Effect the Body?

Capsaicin in peppers creates heat when it comes into contact with the mucous membranes in your mouth. That’s why you can feel like your mouth is burning! You can actually measure the strength and potency of capsaicin through Scoville heat units, or SHU. A jalapeno pepper is rated at an 8,000 SHU, and a habanero is rated at 350,000 SHU. The reason pepper spray burns attackers so much is because of the SHU level: your typical pepper spray will be somewhere between 500,000 SHU and 5,000,000 SHU. With such a high concentration of capsaicin in just one bit of pepper spray, it’s easy to see how this could slow down an attacker!

A burst of pepper spray to the face would leave a burning sensation in the eyes, nose, mouth, and possibly the skin and throat. Anyone hit by a blast of pepper spray is typically blinded for 15 to 30 minutes and suffer from a coughing fit. What’s good about pepper spray is that, even when left untreated, the effects of pepper spray usually wear off after about an hour—plenty of time for you to call the police and get out of the dangerous situation.

Protect Yourself

If you believe that pepper spray should be your main choice of your personal protection devices, be sure to shop JL Defense Products today! We offer pepper spray that comes in a variety of concealed devices, such as keychains and even rings. Find the perfect choice for you, and please stay safe! If you would like more personal protection devices in case of an emergency, be sure to shop our collection of self defense items, including stun guns, knives, and anything else you feel you might need in an emergency. Take a look at our shop today!

When They Grab Your Wrist

To escape someone grabbing tightly on your wrist, don’t try to just pull away. Instead, rotate your hand until your thumb is aligned with where your attacker’s thumb and fingers meet. Then, jerk your arm quickly and bend it at the elbow. This should make it easier to break free.

Aim for the Knees

Shoot the sole of your foot towards your attacker’s knee to incapacitate them, then run. Knees are extremely hard to protect. Anyone who is trying to chase you needs to be able to use their legs, so hurting their knee can give you the advantage.

Headbutt

You may be scared of hurting yourself, but when done correctly, you can severely injure your attacker. Grab your attacker’s shirt collar, push them back, and then jerk them forward. This momentum keeps their shoulders and arms open which will make your headbutt more effective. Be sure to be looking at the ground when your head makes a connection to their face.

Poke Them in the Eye

Even though this may seem too simple, it can be extremely effective. Don’t hold back any pressure, as you may incapacitate them to where they can no longer see you. If they can’t see you, they won’t be able to catch you as you escape and seek help.

Go for the Ears

Everyone’s ears are extremely sensitive, and attackers are no exception. Cup your hand and slam your palm into your attacker’s ear at full force. This sends air pressure into the ear canal that can throw them off balance or even burst their eardrum. You can also grab your opponent’s ears and yank, as this is extremely painful and very difficult to escape.

Use Your Elbows

Elbows are extremely strong and durable, which is why they make a great weapon when you are being attacked. They are more effective than punching when at a close range. Your elbow is sharper than you may think, which means you may actually cause cuts on your attacker’s face. A hard enough hit to the temple of your attacker is enough to immediately knock them unconscious, and in some cases, cause death.

Be Prepared

We at JL Defense Products want you to be safe at all times, which is why we recommend trying out our self defense equipment. We have everything you need in case of an attack, from stun guns to pepper spray. Each of our items has been designed for ease of use and have been quality tested to ensure their effectiveness. You never know when disaster can strike, so please be prepared with both the knowledge to escape, as well as the equipment to get you out of the situation. Be sure to shop our store now, and keep yourself safe!

Assisted Opening knives or Spring Assist Knives are a type of knife which uses an internal mechanism to open the blade from a closed position when slight pressure is applied to a thumb-stud or similar type device.

Well what does that mean? 

It means a super fast opening blade using just one hand and Spring Assist Knives are 100% legal to own in all 50 states but your local laws might restrict them from being carried into public or might have concealment or non-concealment laws. You can read the law at Assisted Opening Knives Law. This statement is based on Federal Law but remember that local, county & city laws can be harsher than the Federal Law and that State Statues & Local Laws take precedence. Please check with the local officials where you live and ask them about the knife laws that are applicable to you.

There are differences between a Switchblade and Assisted Opening Knives.

SWITCHBLADE

A switchblade (also known as automatic knife, switch, or, in British English flick knife) is a type of knife with a folding blade that springs out of the grip when a button or lever on the grip is pressed. There are two basic types: side-opening and out-the-front (OTF). A side-opening knife's blade pivots out of the side of the handle (in the same manner as an ordinary folding knife). An out-the-front knife's blade slides directly forward, out of the tip of the handle. Many OTF (out-the-front) knives work with a dual-action mechanism that enables the user to extend and retract the knife in one press of the finger, with no cocking or priming action. However, some OTF (out-the-front) knives are single action, and require the user to manually retract the blade. A wide variety of blade designs may be found on switchblades, but the most common is the Italian stiletto style seen often in movies. However, the switchblade should not be confused with the butterfly knife (balisong), assisted-opening knife, or the non-automatic stiletto.

Assisted-Opening Knife / Spring-Assisted Opening Technology

A spring-assisted knife is a knife that when you push on the thumb stud to open it a spring takes over and propels the blade open. Spring-assisted knives make a great alternative to automatic knives. A Spring / Torsion assisted knife is a type of knife which uses a spring assisted mechanism behind the blade. They open by the ambidextrous thumb stud on the blade with a slight bit of pressure. They are commonly confused with switchblades, but have one main difference. While a switchblade can be opened usually with the push of a button within the handle, the user of a spring-assisted knife must apply slight pressure to the thumb stud and the spring/torsion assisted mechanism does the rest. Once the knife has been opened about one-quarter of the way (45°), the mechanism will open the knife the rest of the way. A/O knives are Assisted - Opening which are also Spring - Assisted knives.

I decided to make my first blog post about carrying pepper spray in your vehicle after reading this article: Women encouraged to practice self-defense after string of sex assaults in Lakewood

In short there is a guy who has been running his car into the car of the victim. When the woman gets our to check for damage he assaults them. This intentional bumping of the vehicle is an old trick. It pretty much forces people to get out and inspect for damage. I can tell you, if you need to get out of your car after an event like this you should have a pepper spray in your hand just in case.
Even if the person is not intending to assault you they still might be very upset that they hit you. Maybe they will loose their insurance, or maybe they don’t have any insurance and will be arrested for it when the police arrive. It’s a good idea to be prepared just in case.
This is why my wife, my daughter and myself all carry DPS Pepper spray in our vehicles. The stuff is brutal and you can keep your distance. Self defense hands on training is highly recommended but not everyone can handle it and you really don’t want to get that close if you can help it.

I keep my DPS clipped right on my visor as shown above. It can be easily grabbed in an emergency and you don’t need to look for it.
Most people put their defense spray in the console or glove box but there is no time to access them when a situation arises. Pepper spray does you no good at all if you can’t reach it in an emergency. It is much better to have the pepper spray at your fingertips. If the bad guy tries to force you back into your car you reach right up and grab the spray and blast him.

It also helps to have a defense spray handy if a road rage incident presents itself. You could be sitting a red light and a very angry guy tries to pull you out of your car. You don’t have to think about it, the spray is right there over your head.
Pepper is safe in the car as long as it is not in direct sunlight. Meaning never leave it on the dash or on the seat because if it gets hot enough it will explode.

Remember, self defense training and the carrying self defense weapons such as pepper spray are for “just in case” situations. Hopefully you never need to use what you learned or what you are carrying against a bad guy but it is way better to be prepared should a bad situation surprise you.

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For more information please visit the pepper spray section of our site.

West Virginia Pole Cat

I want to share a story with you that truly did reek:-) as you will see. (At the time) Our newest dog Baxter (a Coon Hound mix) ran into a West Virginia Polecat. If you are not familiar with the term “Polecat”, I will give you a hint; it looks likes this little black & white fellow on the left.

He was not outside long, but he chases anything and he defiantly chased the wrong animal that night. I let him in the house and then the odor set it. Most of us have smelled skunk before but this was not normal. It was so strong that I thought we had an electrical fire somewhere in the house.
So I go outside and and in the basement and all over the house and can’t find the smell. I walk back in the kitchen and my wife tells me the dog was wiping his face on the kitchen rug. After a little investigation, we solved the mystery.

Our little buddy ran into a polecat… When your dog meets a skunk your life changes for a short while. The thoughts of burying him cross your mind as you are tortured with the a smell worse than rotting flesh. You try to decide if your daughter can handle this job on her own since it was her dumb dog that made the very poor decision to chase the evil creature who has now disrupted your world. Ultimately you rush to find a way to kill the smell. Tomato juice was an old remedy I remembered. Then I found several remedies available on the internet, and we tried them all:-) I know it looks like we were killing him, but it is only tomato paste and spaghetti sauce. We had to improvise at 11:45 pm. We let this sit on him about 20 minutes and then rinsed him.

5th was a good old shampoo bath that made him all pretty again.

So at around 1:00 am he smelled great again. The problem was my house. In the 3-4 minutes he was in there, the odor moved around. It took 3-4 days to leave the house and it was airborne. Very bad stuff. It even got through my closet and onto my uniform. The next day I went to work at the courthouse and the magistrate asked if anyone else could smell skunk? I told him the story and he laughed at my pain too.

So this is my story and I am sticking to it. The dog smelled great that night but his collars we trashed. The house aired in in 3-4 days and all is well.

The big question is… If Mr. Polecat comes back through the yard, will my dog leave him alone?

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We really don’t offer skunk defense products, however DPS defense spray works very well to ward off mammals of all sizes. They can’t handle the effects of OC (pepper) with their sensitive noses. DPS is the worlds meanest pepper spray. This is the exact defense spray being used by over 500 law enforcement and correctional agencies in the USA. DPS is also carried by thousands of power company employees for defense against vicious animals and angry people. I would be fibbing if I said DPS was designed to ward off skunks, but it could help you gain some distance away from one.

My advice is simple when it comes to skunks, if you see one, be somewhere else.

The Kubotan
By Andrew Breen

What is the most common martial arts weapon in the United States? While weapons such as the PR-24 and extension baton have found growing acceptance in law enforcement circles, what about the general population? Undoubtedly, the most popular, and quite possible the most versatile personal defense weapon is the Kubotan. Carried by thousands of men and women, martial artists and non-practitioners alike, the Kubotan was developed by Shihan Tak Kubota, who based his invention upon the principles of the weapon than the key ring it often serves as, it retains all the striking and joint locking capabilities of the yawara stick.

A Karate oriented practitioner may prefer striking techniques, utilizing the ends of the Kubotan for painful blows to soft tissue areas or disabling blows to an opponent's vital points. Conversely, a JuJitsu or Aikido stylist may feel more comfortable with hooking, trapping, and pain compliance techniques, using the leverage and intense pain generated by the Kubotan to immobilize an adversary's limbs. Even for those without experience in a martial art, the Kubotan provides an economical and easily learned method of self-protection.

The most basic applications involve striking or poking vulnerable areas of the body with the Kubotan. generally speaking, swinging strikes work better against bony surfaces while fleshy areas are more susceptible to pokes and jabs with the ends of the Kubotan. With this concept in mind, a person avoids the confusion and frustration of trying to remember specific strikes for specific targets. Instead, one simply remembers to strike bones and poke nerve centers and pressure points. The Kubotan greatly intensifies the destructive power of any blow. Consequently, it is not necessary to waste time or miss an opportunity by trying to be overly precise. It is better to react naturally. For example, the fundamental objective of striking the arm may entail hitting the elbow; but it can also mean hitting the wrist, back of the hand, or the knuckles. There are many worthy targets aside from the arm. The shin, hip bone, collarbone, ankle, and kneecap are all desirable targets. A sharp crack to a bony area will prompt an assailant to discontinue his attack. A harder, well placed blow can easily break bones-especially if the force of the blow is not diminished by clothing.

Kubotan strikes are most effective at medium range such as when an assailant reaches out to grab or push his victim. The extending limb can be disabled with a quick, snapping strike. The tactic also works against a punch or kick. When the opponent attacks, move away and meet his technique with a quick flick of the Kubotan. the blow does not have to be perfect; since the nerves are so close to the surface of most bony areas, even a glancing blow will inflict enough pain to make your attacker regret his actions.

If an attacker has already managed to grab onto an individual, he or she can break the hold by pressing or poking the Kubotan into whatever target presents itself. Although one's movements are restricted when caught in a headlock, bearhug, or choke, Sensei Freedman recommends jamming the tip into whatever part of the attacker's anatomy that you can reach. "There are no wrong movements; make a technique work from the position you find yourself in," counsels Freedman. Accordingly, a hard thrust with the Kubotan to the kidneys, ribs, or sternum can devastate an attacker and damage internal organs.

Since there are such a wide variety of ways to use the Kubotan, there is no one correct way to hold the weapon. Different strikes require different grips and much depends upon an individual's personal preferences. According to Kubotan Instructor Sensei Freedman, how one holds the Kubotan depends entirely upon the situation. "If you're pinned from behind, you might want to hold it like an icepick to stab backwards. Another option for poking is to place the kubotan loosely so that it can slide through the hand." Freedman also stresses using not only the Kubotan itself but the keys that are usually attached. "You can hold onto the keys that are usually attached. "You can hold onto the keys and swing the Kubotan; or you can grip the Kubotan and swing the keys. You can also hold the Kubotan and drive the keys into an attacker's face."

For those proficient in martial arts that emphasize grappling and joint locks, the Kubotan provides added leverage. Wrist locks, arm bars, come-alongs, chokes, and leg locks instantly become more agonizing with the Kubotan. The Kubotan can be used to dig into the wrist or elbow joint. Similarly, a captured leg can immobilized with grinding pressure to the ankle or knee. In life threatening circumstances, the Kubotan can intensify choking techniques and, if need be, crush an assailant's trachea. Indeed, nearly all joint locking techniques common to Jujutsu and Aiki-Jutsu become easier to apply with the Kubotan. The weapon's rigidity makes it much more resistant to an opponent's efforts to power out a hold or lock. Obviously, a fundamental knowledge of anatomy and the body's lever points are necessary to make these techniques work-with or without a Kubotan. However, for those who have such a knowledge, the Kubotan reinforces these techniques and makes them more disabling.

The Kubotan is also valuable for snagging limbs before or after applying a striking technique. By holding the weapon with several inches protruding, you can hook a part of the attacker's body with the Kubotan and then follow up with an immediate strike. You can reverse the process and strike first, hooking the neck or wrist to control the opponent's balance. In effect, the Kubotan enables an individual to literally lasso a foe's head, forcing it downward, backward, or to the side. A person's body will follow in the same direction that his head is being jerked, thereby making him extremely vulnerable to any number of finishing techniques.

Make no mistake, the Kubotan is not a magic wand. But it is one of the few conceivable martial arts weapons that is legal and entirely unregulated. There is a reason, of course. Despite its popularity among martial artists, to most people, the Kubotan is little more than a nondescript key ring. Even for those in the martial arts and law enforcement communities who recognize its potential, the Kubotan does not invoke the unsavory connotations and legal difficulties of many other edged and impact weapons. While the Kubotan is not particularly intimidating, like its ancestor, the yawaram, it remains a superbly versatile instruments for self defense. Although it requires a modest amount of training to develop competence, in the right hands, the Kubotan truly becomes a fistful of dynamite.

A Women can be attacked at almost any time

You may have seen statistics that indicate that one in four women in the United States will be assaulted at some point in her life. If you think that is high, it is nothing compared to countries in the Middle East or India, for example, where sexual assaults on women occur much more frequently.

So where are women safe from assault? Unfortunately, the answer is there is no such thing as a safe place. We saw a story recently were a woman was groped in a big box store at three o’clock in the afternoon with plenty of witnesses around. When she started screaming the guy took off, but plenty of witnesses gave descriptions to police for identification.

Here we are going to discuss some high profile places where women get assaulted.

Believe it or not, one of the most prolific places for assaults on women is in the home with domestic abuse. Domestic violence is a huge problem in the United States with 25% of all women reporting intimate partner violence.

The number one cause of death for African-American women between the ages of 15 to 34 is homicide at the hands of the domestic partner according to the American Bar Association.

Parking lots are excellent hunting grounds for perverts who prey on unsuspecting women. The women are often distracted when they’re coming out of a shopping experience either talking on a cell phone, talking to friends or watching little ones in a grocery cart. The bad guys use this distraction to their advantage for assaults.

A recent study showed that one out of every three College-age women are victims of sexual assault in their time at a university. Alcohol or drugs were present in close to 90% of the cases and the victims knew their assailant in over 80% of the cases.

I am not telling you this to make you paranoid but to make a point.

An assault against a woman in this day and age can happen anywhere or any time so you need to be prepared.

You need to be alert and have the mindset to survive. I highly recommend carrying a self defense weapon, preferably a DPS Pepper Spray with you wherever you go. There are many choices of self defense products on the market like stun guns and wild Kat Keychains, but we still push the pepper spray above all because of the range you have as well as the ability to take out multiple attackers.

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For more information on DPS Pepper Spray or other self defense weapons please visit our site.

Walking or Jogging alone at any time of the day can be dangerous. Today 4/22/13 a fourteen year old young man was jogging in his own neighborhood when a van pulled up and a man jumped out and grabbed him.

The young man fought back and got away from his abductor. He ran home and called the police. He gave a detailed description of the attacker and the vehicle he was in.

This is exactly how these stories should end, but many times they end in a much more tragic way. In this situation this young man was strong enough to fight and get away. If this had been a younger runner or anyone who was caught off guard they may not have been strong enough to fight off the abductor and ended up in the van.

Once that happens you have no idea what will become of your life or if you will even live. As crazy as it sounds, a young male or female can face rape, torture, murder or even being traded over seas as slaves.

The most important thing you can do if someone tries to grab you is fight for your life and get away!

You have no idea what will happen if they get you in a van or inside a building. Anywhere out of sight is bad news. Your best chance of survival is to fight like you are fighting for you life…? because you just might be.

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Another thing you can do to make you walk or your run a little safer is carry a pepper spray. DPS makes a walker/jogger armband pepper spray that is so small you hardly know you are wearing it. The nice part about the small defense spray is it gives you serious protection against attackers or abductors as well as dogs which are a constant threat for walkers. This is the same exact defense spray carried by hundreds of agencies in the US.

For more information see our DPS Pepper Spray section on our site.

I get this question all the time, and with the current anti-gun movement in motion I have not changed my answer… I feel the best overall self defense weapon the average person can legally carry is pepper spray. I am not talking about going to war, or doing a tactical entry on on a drug compound, I am talking about self defense. If you put yourself in harms way every day like a law enforcement officer does, then I understand a gun being an option, but for most other people I think a pepper spray is the best choice.

For most people, the deadly force of a handgun is too much, so they seek a nonlethal alternative such as a pepper spray or a stun device. Many people have a hard time dealing with the requirements to make a stun gun completely effective, i.e., that it has to be physically applied to an assailant for 3 to 5 seconds to make it work.

Women have more opportunities to use a self-defense weapon because they are assaulted nine times more often than men.

The ability to defend themselves from a distance is very appealing. Most pepper sprays have a range of at least 8 feet some as high as 20 feet depending on canister size. DPS Defense Spray keychain units fire 15' and the duty sprays fire 17-20 feet. This gives you the range to safety advantage.

If you need more convincing, consider this; Most law enforcement officers in the country carry a pepper spray on his or her duty belt. It is a great less-lethal weapon and the best part is if you accidentally cross-contaminate your partner, they will be ok after they decon. They might be a little angry with you, but at least they are alive.

Additionally, all letter carriers with the U.S. Postal Service are issued, pepper sprays as a first line of defense against dog attacks.

So in conclusion, it is my professional opinion that pepper spray is the the best overall self defense weapon that the average person can carry. It is legal to carry almost anywhere and simple enough to use that a child could fire it effectively if properly trained.

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On our site we offer DPS… the worlds meanest pepper spray. This is the exact defense spray being used by over 500 law enforcement and correctional agencies in the USA.