Posted: 7/13/2008 3:50:09 PM EDT
I commute to my job by bicycle and I work at college. This prevents me from carrying my handgun. School policy says nothing about carrying a baton for self-defense. It could also be easily carried on the bike. I have my CCW and Florida law allows CCW holders to carry weapons other than guns. Is a baton a good self-defense weapon when a handgun cannot be carried? What price, brand, etc should I be looking for? I found a couple 21" batons for around $70 online.
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I know a guy who got the shit beat out of him with a baton by someone who he is again friends with. He got beat pretty bad and had a dent in a bone in his arm that would cause him lots of pain when I would grab his arm and tell him he was a dumbass for associating with people like that. It was pretty funny. But yeah, you can get beat pretty good with one of those.
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Speaking as a cop trust me when i say that they are completely worthless. I use mine as a back scratcher. Madanock is the best of all the brands however. Think of it this way. As a civilian you are only going to use force if you fear that your life is in danger. Basically when you have somebody with a knife or gun coming after you the last thing you would want in your hand is a stick designed to create pain and not injury. In any situation that a civilian would go for a baton they would probably be better served in quickly getting out of arms reach of their attacker. ETA: you would be better suited with a knife or tazer or rape whistle or something |
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Look for "other dangerous weapons" or something to that effect in your State law. I'm betting it is there. Buy this umbrella. www.unbreakableumbrella.com/ |
Thanks. This is the type of info I am looking for. |
In CA it's a felony for me to have one, yet it's a misdemeanor if I concealed carry a pistol. How odd... |
admit it the real reason you carry one is because you're an old school head cracker. Us young guns get stared at funny by the old hats for carrying them. |
$180  Get a Cold Steel walking stick instead. |
PR24 = blech. I like the espantoon.  
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well that settles it. You cant carry "billy clubs" (expandable batone) or "electronic devices" which is so ambiguously worded that it could include a cell phone. ETA: i just re-read that and WT flamind F??? You can carry a pocket knife in your pocket in Florida? Did i read that correctly? |
Unless you have a CCW permit. |
Oh ok, im not famaliar with florida law. In that case just get a good fighting knife, possibly fixed blade, and take a class to lean how to use it. |
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First of all, check and see if it is legal or not. I would not use a regular baton, but a spring billy. The German Polizei use them to great effect. You can buy a Taiwan made version here |
I guesss I am a little old school...that said, my normal armament at work is a $6 butterfly knife, no radio, no cuffs, and no vest.........................
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No knives allowed on campus. The only other option is pepper spray or stun gun. |
you consider a boxing gym? a good sturdy pen? |
| I carry a youth size aluminum bat sometimes when a firearm is not permitted along with a baseball and youth size glove to look less like the bat is for a weapon. Not as readily available as a col. baton, but less dangerous looking and packs a little more range. |
That is officially awesome. |
I agree, but too big to carry on the bike. |
In LA I can open carry whatever the heck I please, except a switchblade. 
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If I'm in a fight and I can't have my gun, I'd much rather have my ASP baton than a knife (and I have pretty big knives). There's much more reach, and you can break bones fairly easily which should theoretically end a fight faster than a knife which may provide a lethal wound but not incapacitate. ETA: I teach on a campus that has a no-guns policy. MO law also says no guns in 17 places, one of which is campus. MO law allows other weapons including knives and batons to be carried with the CCW, but only prohibits guns from the 17 locations. School policy says no guns but other weapons are regulated by state law. I could carry a knife, but I do carry a baton. |
Hehe--working on that here in NOLA. While working Essence Fest with four other officers we had a guy come walking down the street with a Glock 17 or 22 in a holster on his belt. Two of my comrades spotted this and went to get the guy, and I stopped them. As I did so and explained my reasons to them one of them said "But, but, he can't carry a gun!." When I quoted R.S. 14:95 to him he came back with something along the lines of "But, but, it's concealed by the holster!" I trotted out that there was in fact an AG opinion on the matter saying that a holster is NOT concealment, and as he spluttered more the sergeant with us, grinning the whole time, told the guys "Well, if you wanna talk to him that's fine, but if you detain him that's a "False Imprisoment, Offender Armed with a Dangerous Weapon" on the pair of you if he wants to make a stink." Sweet. And three more officers (the two who spotted it and went to stop him and the one who didn't notice,) who now know that open carry is lawful. |
If im laying on top of you or we're rolling around on the ground you're going to have a real tough time getting good home run swings with that 36" metal stick in your hands. Also batons are designed specifically NOT to break bones. They have light hollow shafts to cut down weight/momentum/energy to prevent from breaking bones and only cause pain through strikes. Its like getting hit with a bamboo stick as opposed to a sledge hammer. You talked about reach, If you're within striking distance of me with a baton then its just one step closer for me to get to close to you for an effective swing. Basically if the fight is close enough for you to swing a baton at me, im going to bring it in closer where you loose your reach advantage, ie. I might let you strike my arms once and when you reach the end of your swing im going to rush you with a knife. Ill have a broken arm *possibly* and you'll have 3-4 knife wounds. Also since a baton is basically a short stick theres nothing significant to prevent me from taking it away from you. If you're not trained in baton retention and i grab a hold of it then we're basically in a tug of war match. I have a hindi baton cap on mine and practice retention techniques regularly and i still worry about a baton grab attempt during employing it. With a knife im holding the handle, the only exposed portion is the blade, if you want to grab a knife out of my hands by the blade then be my guest but its going to hurt. (and yes im aware that there are knife disarming techniques utilizing joint locks and arm bars but those can be done just as easily with a baton, sometimes easier with a baton). Now granted, if you stand still and give me a few planned motivated deliberate strikes with my baton i CAN break bones (like fingers and wrists) that would make it more painful and difficult for you to fight me; or i may even be able to kill you with it (like a strike to the temple) but i could much more quickly kill you with a knife by removing both of your jugular veins and windpipe in conjunction or burying a blade in the base of your spinal cord. If i need someone to comply with verbal commands to get down or stop resisting and all i have is a baton and a knife, ill take the baton. If i have an 8'00" 300 lb man trying to strangle me to death, ill take the knife and 5 seconds with him beginning to DOA. |
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They are quite discreet in that you can mount them on cross bar or rear rack. They look like an air pump and are handy to use. They do make an excellent weapon against chasing dogs or cars who try to run you off the road on purpose and you happen to catch up with later. The key to using one is knowing how to use any kind of striking weapon to disable and control an attacker. I ride my bike 4 or 5 days a week and do carry one on my bike. |
+1, people laughing that it's "just a stick" wouldn't be laughing if they'd seen someone trained to use them properly. That and the sticks used in escrima can easily be substituted for machetes; the art was designed for long knives, but sticks were used in training as a cover seeing as the Phillipino .gov frowned upon the armed populous.... kinda like how katana ownership was banned in Japan. |
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My baton is a 16 inch version, not 36 inches. And I do carry a knife as well (usually two). I'd rather not be rolling around on the ground, I assume that I'm already getting stabbed at that point. I'd rather use the baton first to try to keep it from getting that close. |
Nope, officially lame. Why hit someone with a stick when you can stab them with a sword? Umbrella Sword |
Because one is considered a weapon and one is not. One you can take on a plance and to disarmed countries and the other you cannot. |
If he was just wandering around Florida, he would be packing a pistol, not an umbrella. He's interested in non-weapon weapons that you can take in "no weapon" zones like campus. |