“DoubleStar Corp, manufacturers of high-quality, US-made AR components, rifles and pistols, is proud to announce the first edged weapon that brings the best elements of a crash axe and tomahawk together,” the company’s presser proclaims. “The face and beard of the [$569] Wrath have the power and stroke to cut the A-pillar out of a full-size car and still maintain surgical precision in the proper hands. Utilizing a scalloped spike, the Wrath increases penetration with the same slicing effects of serration and will go right though most sheet metals with ease.”

I keep a SOG axe in my car, along with a B&T .45 caliber pistol attached to an SB Tactical Brace. I figure the axe is a truly versatile tool as well as a weapon, useful for prying and chopping through a downed tree. I also carry a folding knife. I used to carry pepper spray when I lived near a dog park.

What non-ballistic weapons do you or your loved ones have? What do you recommend to our newbies?

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

136 COMMENTS

  1. Everyone in this country should own firearms and every gun owner should own at least one piece of artillery LOL.

    • Yep, I have a machete stuck between the wall and the nightstand. 20 inch blade, maintained just well as my pistol and shotgun. Started using one in the 60s training with jungle warfare unit, had one ever since.

    • A hammer, axe, baseball bat. Set of golf clubs, good set of steak knives.

      I remember an old action movie where this guy took a chalk board eraser and powdered the heck out of a guy who didn’t think an eraser made a good weapon.

      Mindset is more important than anything.

  3. 1. Locking blade folder.
    2. Bowie (6″ – 8″) blade, useful for chopping but should be sharp enough for general use.
    3. Concealable mini-blade 2-3″ blade. (I carry mine in my boot.)
    4. SOG Tomahawk (best value general purpose tool I’ve found generally rides under my driver’s seat in a sheath I klooged to the frame with zip ties.)
    5. A mini set of irons. (I keep a 3′ bar in my car and plan to add an axe once I get the external rack mounted.)
    6. A SOG entrenching tool / saw also rides in my car. For anybody who doesn’t think that’s a weapon… I’ve got a surprise for you.

  4. A wakizashi.
    Really, though, I have Cold Steel Special Forces Shovels in all my vehicles, bug out bags, etc. I figure this is the most innocuous looking weapon I can have. Plus, you can use it as shovel or axe, if need be.

    • Really you ought to have the daisho, tanto, and a polearm if you’re going full samurai.

      Also, I’m not sure these have been said yet, but lots of good bayonets (not Zombie-Killer Specials from China), a couple good baseball bats (wood and aluminum), a couple good hockey sticks (wood and aluminum, if you can find an aluminum one), and a good gas-powered chainsaw.

    • So many people assume that is possible. My guts have been open to the world three times (surgery), fitness beyond what walking will provide is pretty much out the window.

      • Dale,

        That’s why I started by saying “reasonable”. If you have physical issues that are out of your control then obviously you do what you can.

        I was targeting the types of guys that have thousands in guns and gear and flat out neglect their own body.

        • You’re absolutely correct, Brick.
          We like to prea h that our guns are only a last resort – so shouldn’t running be our first? How many of you out there could sprint 100 yards like you life actually depended on it? I know my time is too long, gotta get to work on that…

      • “… fitness beyond what walking will provide is pretty much out the window.”

        You can get a shockingly good workout from walking if you know how. Ever notice how chicks who are seriously into walking or hiking always have a great ass and legs with no gut? There’s a reason for that.

        As I’ve suggested before, if walking is what you can do find a way to make it fun. Archery is great for that. Shoot three arrows, walk 80+ yards down and back to retrieve them. 10 flights of arrows at 40 yards and you’ve walked .455 miles without even realizing it. Plus your working out you shoulders, arms and upper back to draw the bow.

        You can also add things to your daily routine that will help. Carry your stuff in a backpack and add a GoRuck weight (or something similar). Now everything you do is a light workout (or more if you choose a heavier weight). Personally I roll with the 20lb weight in my bag these days but they have lighter and heavier ones.

        Work in an office? Get one of the desks that adjusts to a standing position and a sitting position. Replace your chair with a big exercise ball for an hour or two a day. Send stuff to the further printer rather than the closer one. Stuff like that.

  6. Other than the milking of wannabe operators why are these tacti-cool hatchets so expensive? Forged from unobtanium and ground to an edge on the skulls of your enemies by Scandinavian virgins?

    • Yeah, I cannot see anything over $50 for a metal tomahawk. But, hey, more power to them if they can sell $5 contraptions for $575.

    • Come one guys. If we talk too much about the price tag, Farago will give us a hard time and again make a luxury or sports car comparison.

    • I was going to say the same thing. My Estwing hatchet cost me roughly $35, I’ve had since I was 15, and 10 years later, it’s still a champ on camping trips and various odd jobs. And what’s with the weird angles on the axe head? Those seem more like “cool factor” than anything practical, plus the spike on the other end looks like a quick trip to the hospital for any tacticool dude-bro showing his friends his “sweet moves”.

    • Perhaps the price is set by a cartel? ST6, Red Squadron, team, was given an expensive hatchet…apparently as an identity builder. It isn’t a weapon of war, but apparently did lead to some overzealous “finishing blows” to still a downed by living enemy.

      “In keeping with Red Squadron’s appropriation of Native American culture, (Hugh) Howard came up with the idea to bestow 14-inch hatchets on each SEAL who had a year of service in the squadron. The hatchets, paid for by private donations Howard solicited, were custom-made by Daniel Winkler, a highly regarded knife maker in North Carolina who designed several of the period tomahawks and knives used in the movie “The Last of the Mohicans.” Winkler sells similar hatchets for $600 each. The hatchets Howard obtained were stamped with a Native American warrior in a headdress and crossed tomahawks.”

      At first the hatchets appeared to be merely symbolic, because such heavy, awkward weapons had no place in the gear of a special operator. “There’s no military purpose for it,” a former Red Squadron operator told me. “But they are a great way of being part of a team. It was given as an honor, one more step to strive for, another sign that you’re doing a good job.”

      I imagine successfully asserting an affirmative defense of SD, having chopped up the incoming bad guy with a tomahawk, might require extra skill and care. Still, doable.

  7. None- carrying or keeping anything “as a weapon” could be problematic. But carrying useful tools, such as a knife, an ax or prybar or even a stick or cane, now that’s different.

    • Yeah, some states go to the Nth degree defining anything and every as “weapons” and ban carriage of them.

      Somehow, a state has not yet attempted to ban canes, shovels, or crowbars.

      • It all depends on your intent. If you carry a shovel in your trunk to shovel things, you’re fine. Likewise, a baseball bat or golf club. If you have to use it as a makeshift weapon in an emergency, so be it. But if you get pulled over and the cops ask about the stick, and you say “I carry that for protection,” you’re screwed.

        • I often have a golf club in my vehicle. There are usually two or three crap beat-up golf balls, too. My dog likes to chase gold balls, and they go farther with the club.

        • “It all depends on your intent. If you carry a shovel in your trunk to shovel things, you’re fine.”

          Compared to a shovel, a gallon of household bleach and a few 50 lb. bags of quicklime? 🙂

      • Good advice I received once:

        Keep a blunt object in your car associated with your work. No way for sleazy lawyers to say you were looking for a conflict.

    • Well, a good tomahawk is a knife, ax,and prybar all in one. I have carried one for years and it’s always been handy to have. It’s multiple tools in one. That’s why people carry them. Plus who the hell is going to mess with a guy with a tomahawk and gun close at hand? Nobody with a brain.

  8. I carry a Cold Steel “Kabun” fixed-blade knife.. it’s very well-made and very light: as easy to carry as a folding knife. At home, I keep a gladius-like giant knife by the bedside, made in Pakistan, picked up at a local gun show. Any such weapon is limited by your physical strength and training with the weapon. If you get that tomahawk in the pic, expect to spend some time in the gym if you want to wield it effectively.

  10. Used to carry pepper spray. Tried it when I first got it – sent a stream out into the atmosphere, it went probably 25 feet, and just getting a whiff of the overspray I could tell I totally did NOT want to get hit by that.

    Fast forward a year or so. Went to show someone else how nasty this stuff was. Squirted it out, it still went far, but — nothing to it. I even sprayed it on my hand and sniffed it directly — nothing. It was like water.

    So, yeah, my faith in pepper spray is gone. Replace it every couple of months and it’s probably good. Let it go for a while, forget to update it, and you’ve got a squirt gun on your hands…

    • I never knew pepper spray degradation was a thing. I’ve had the same little bottle for years. About four years ago when it was new, I accidentally knocked it off my nightstand and it let out the slightest litle squirt when it hit the floor. That tiny bit contaminated the whole bedroom for an hour.

      I’d guess it has degraded to nothing by now.

  11. obsolete keys (or other sturdy “charms”) and a padlock on a dog chain.
    kukhri.
    aluminum t ball bat.

  12. Axes, hatchets, saws, knives from very small to very large, machetes, claw hammers, wooden tool handles, etc; useful everyday tools that make very effective weapons if the situation presents itself.

  14. Other than the CC piece I just carry a Kershaw…nice to have that SpeedSafe that can open with the push of a button.

    One of those death-rings that Xena would throw around would be cool…

    • They do make nice auto knives now. I’ve carried the Launch 1 since it released. Best Kershaw ever.

  15. It is not the object itself. It is the will, intent, and ability of the individual wielding the object. Carry what you wish, but do the mental and physical exercise required…before you need the “weapon.”

    • Reminds me of something I read in a military sci-fi novel once: “There are no weapons, there are only weapon-makers. If you are a weapon-maker, anything is a weapon.”

  17. I keep tools that could serve as weapons, including a bolt cutter, ax, pry bar, machete and a Dead On AN18 18-Inch Annihilator Utility and Wrecking Bar (which works as a bottle opener in a pinch).

  18. I much prefer long-ish batons over knives as melee weapons. The farther away you can be from your attacker and still strike, the better. (That is the whole point of firearms as defensive tools.) With minimal training and conditioning and wielded properly, a really good baton is almost instantly incapacitating.

    Don’t believe it? I was flabbergasted at how much a training baton hurts. Mind you a training baton is nothing more than an extremely thin/light plastic tube with foam padding on the outside … and you wear significant padded headgear. I cannot imagine a 3/4 inch diameter piece of dense hickory hitting your bare skull. And a good strike to the arm or leg would instantly render that limb unusable.

    • Interesting. I made a “riot baton” out of a 3 foot birch dowel 3/4 inch diameter and added a wrist loop of nylon rope. It resides under the bed. I have been concerned about walking the neighborhood with it because it looks — like a riot baton. Glad to hear it will work if it ever needs to work. Neighbor across the street takes walks with a golf club (iron.) He is a big guy. And this is a very good neighborhood.

      • We have two extremely dangerous German shepherds across the street from my home. (They have attacked people unprovoked more than once.) I made the ultimate baton for self-defense for my eldest child who routinely has to pass that home. The baton: a 30 inch long piece of 1/2 inch diameter steel rebar … with a fantastic waxed rope handle — including wrist strap. (To make the handle, I used 1/4 inch cotton rope that I wrapped super tight.)

        The handle is about 10 inches high leaving 20 inches of exposed rebar. It is a serious weapon … the steel is even harder than a wood dowel and slightly heavier. And because it is only 1/2 inch diameter, it concentrates the striking force to an even smaller area which produces even more trauma. With a decent swing, it is pretty much guaranteed to break an arm or leg — especially the spindly legs of an attacking German shepherd.

        • Frankly, if I had neighbors who had dangerous dogs that attacked people outside their own yard, the neighbors wouldn’t have those dogs for very long. Depending on where I lived, the dogs would either end up being (a) shot in self defense, or (b) taken away by animal control. In my home state, allowing your dogs to run around loose off your own property is a misdemeanor that can put you in the county pokey for 60 days.

  20. Blackjack in the truck door, bat above the back seat, hatchet underneath seat, Cold Steel Voyager in the recovery bag.

  21. I got a house and a car ax. Pepper Blaster,knives,baseball bats and a nifty machete. Sharp objects galore…

  23. just a serrated steak knife for cutting through seatbelts, also those letter openers that look like credit cards for the same reason. i guess thats it. an axe would be a good idea, so many damn trees in Arkansas.

  25. On me, I carry an Old Timer Sharpfinger along with my pistol. I had a custom sheath made for it because I actually can’t stand the cheap ones they come with. It was my skinning knife for a while, but it has some sentimentality attached to it, so now I carry it all the time. I don’t have the time to train defending myself beyond those two, as it is. I do have a “tactical pen” that was a gift, sometimes it happens to be on me and sometimes it doesn’t.
    I tote along pepper spray during those days where I have to make a pit stop somewhere where federal law prohibits carrying the pistol.

  27. Guns are the only things I keep as weapons. But I’m quite aware that the ice axe over my bed, the long umbrella with a sharp point by the front door, the marble rolling pin decorating the top of the microwave, the can of air freshener on the hall table, the fireplace poker in the living room rack, and (for half the year) the teapot of near-boiling water on the kitchen stove, plus more, are each in their own way quite suitable weapons.

    Know what’s in your house. Evaluate things as weapons. Determine what you could wield competently as a weapon and arrange your home so those are in places where they would be useful to you in a home invasion.

    • Agreed! I don’t own anything I directly consider a weapon, but I do have a lot of tools that can be used for defensive purposes as well as practical purposes including a rifle, shotgun, axes, knives, hammers, etc. and generally have a decent idea of where most of these items are throughout my home, garage, etc.

      It doesn’t matter here in Illinois what you call things anyways though; a sharp stick from my yard is legally a weapon here if used as such.

  28. Good luck trying to chop a tree with your SOG axe. You’re better off with a Becker BK7. Or a real wood cutting axe.

  29. Besides the oft-mentioned SP101 of mine, my EDC kit includes:
    1. CRKT Woods Chogan tomahawk (when in the woods)
    2. A folding/locking knife. Mine is a Gerber Combat Folder, choose your own according to taste.
    3. Cold Steel walking stick, pick a style and yes, I carry it everywhere.
    4. DeSantis City Slicker. Can’t recommend this enough. It’s been in my waistband ever since I learned what the hell it is. Look it up.

    • Would any of you in the legal or LEO world care to comment on whether someone carrying a walking stick with an “aggressive” head, or the DeSantis City Slicker, basically a sapp, would get arrested in a “normal” jurisdiction? Not SF or NYC. A normal jurisdiction where the cops care about the local taxpayers. This is not meant as a criticism of the guy who carries them. I am really curious. No real difference between his Cold Steel cane and my home-made riot baton. Thanks.

      • The items you mentioned would maybe fall under the definition of a club in Texas. (See below). A club is an “unlawful carry weapon.”(See below). And as stated, it is all about intent. The definition of club includes “designed, made, or adapted for the purpose,” which goes to the intent of the designer, maker, and/or adapter. The offense of “unlawful carry weapon” also includes an intent element.

        If you’re “suspicious” cops will arrest/stop you for that thing you didn’t know was a crime. Like the more obscure traffic laws that you’ve never even heard of someone getting a ticket for. If you’re not “suspicious,” you should be fine most of the time. But there is also that cop who is just an ass.

        That being said, I don’t walk around with anything that could be considered an “unlawful carrying weapon.” Your homemade riot baton is definitely a club (in Texas), and you are definitely committing an offense (if you are in Texas). I could argue the Cold Steel Cane, but wouldn’t want to. I’d much rather argue something that was commonly used by hikers.

        They’re stupid laws, but hey, what ya gonna do?

        Sec. 46.01. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
        (1) “Club” means an instrument that is specially designed, made, or adapted for the purpose of inflicting serious bodily injury or death by striking a person with the instrument, and includes but is not limited to the following:
        (A) blackjack;
        (B) nightstick;
        (C) mace;
        (D) tomahawk.

        Sec. 46.02. UNLAWFUL CARRYING WEAPONS. (a) A person commits an offense if the person intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly carries on or about his or her person a handgun, illegal knife, or club if the person is not:
        (1) on the person’s own premises or premises under the person’s control; or
        (2) inside of or directly en route to a motor vehicle or watercraft that is owned by the person or under the person’s control.

  31. For the most part you don’t need other weapons, but everyone should own a serviceable set of basic tools including an axe and a good knife. Beyond that it really depends on your lifestyle and location. Someone who lives in a desert area is going to have much different needs than someone who lives in Alaska or near a tropical forest.

  32. zero tolerance folder and seat belt cutter in armrest

    I camp with the kids so I have the following in the SUV:
    Boker 12″ knife
    SOG Tomahawk
    Bolt Cutter

    there is always a softball bat or golf clubs in the back as well as a go to bag with go to stuff

  34. My kit includes a buck knife, backpacker’s hatchet and a NATO folding shovel which has a nasty edge for “cutting tbrough” roots aND stems. They all have utility as a non weapon . A tactical Tomahawk for as much as a new pistol? You got to be kidding.

  37. for utility work a Ka-Bar , Nam tomahawk, a chopping Kukri, Beck utility folder, roll of Quarters in a scarf, chain link belt and Padlock, Zebra Pen, Single bit Axe, roofing hammer, etc what ever is handy at the time if needed, rake, ball bat, beer can, beer bottle, whiskey bottle, hands feet. Garrison belt, make sure your pants stay on if using a belt of any kind LOL,

  38. Here’s the cold hard facts of the matter, so listen up. Handguns, rifles etc are longer range weapons. They provide the person using them a greater margin of safety, DISTANCE. Other weapons such as clubs, knives swords etc. are an extension of a persons natural weapons, his fists, arms and legs. I certainly agree with carrying something besides a lethal weapon, generally a handgun. As it goes, carry as many weapons as a person can, but the realistic approach I subscribe to is efficiency and effectiveness and something that provides a longer range of use. Cops use tasers that shoot barbs on wires which provides officers with longer range, incapacitation with less than lethal results. Few of us are going to carry a taser for obvious reasons with cost, and impracticality chief among reasons.

    There is an alternative though that is well known, cheap, effective which provides a reasonable margin of safety which is distance. Chemical sprays. There are some on the market that are not pepper spray or mace, but rather CS Tear Gas which is very nasty stuff and not legal everywhere so check your laws, however, it is HIGHLY effective. I have used it on humans twice as I have been carrying the stuff for close to 30+ years, maybe a bit longer. I tell you what, the stuff works damn good!

    In a situation where the possibility exists that use of non-lethal would be prudent, it’s certainly a viable option as opposed to using a firearm type lethal weapon or close range weapon like a knife. It’s cheaper than lawyers and having police seize your weapon, possibly forever and possibly becoming an incarcerated felon.

    • It’s proper name is the Cold Steel Irish Walking Stick.
      “That’s a club.”
      “No, sir. It’s a cane;see? It has a rubber tip on the bottom and I’m leaning on it…ergo, a cane!” (saunters off with nary a limp)
      Seriously, though… the only comments anyone has ever made about it are complements… love my cane!

  40. 3rd world savages those non white primitives use axes and machetes. We white christian folk are better than that.

  41. Um well, butterfly knives, brass knuckles, entrenching tool, chunk of 2×4, about 6ft of logging chain, nunchuku and several years of mma training, oh and lets not forget the box cutter.

  43. In addition to a gun inside the waistband, outside the waistband, on your ankle and in your cargo pocket, right next to your 3 spare 30 rnd mags and battle knife… you should always carry a rape whistle, a tomahawk, machete, and a multipurpose tool (preferrable in it’s own holster on the belt). Also a can of pepper spray, a taser and a cricket bat.
    Sh*t is crazy nowadays.

      • It’s an obscenely loud whistle.

        Some fools buy them thinking of it as a magical talisman against rape…a bit like car keys or saying, “I have herpes”.

        More sensible people, especially those who hike and camp or go out on the water, have one because it’s a damn good way of getting the attention of everyone within 500 yards of you and doesn’t need to be dry, have sunlight or electricity, and requires exactly zero familiarization with how it works in order to be effective.

      • Call it an emergency whistle. Made of aluminum & about 3″ long. Variety of colors. Fastens to key ring, etc.

  44. Ontario Knife Company SP-10 Bowie knife.

    Very classic bowie design, with a few modern updates.

  45. The Stanley FUBAR. It’s the best demo tool in existence and a damn fine thing to carry in the truck in unfree states – just in case you have to bust a window or crack open a door – not for cracking heads of course.

  46. A heavy duty cane where arms are prohibited (I have suggestions if anyone is interested).
    A powerful flashlight.
    A legal knife where permitted.
    The Cold Steel shovel in the cars.

  48. I’m such a deplorable, my house is chock full of tools that could be “dangerous” if applied to a human’s person. A knife or gun is just another one, of another kind.

    /Lament
    I do miss my walking stick, as recovery from my stroke progresses. It is a lovely oak shillelagh-looking thing, with the knob in brass vs. burl wood. In hindsight, I don’t know how I feel that nobody commented the first time I showed up in public — at a fancy startup-incubator, pitch-presentation event thing — with that walking stick.

    Some folks did comment at a more party-ish nerd-fest later that the stick looked like a weapon. They didn’t seem surprised when I described it’s analog to a shillelagh, and the old Irish conventions of a a walking stick as bandit-repellent, with records of two-handed stick fighting for at-need defense, and even “entertainment.”

    The Gael stick resides now next to the door, “In case I ever need it.” I don’t specify for what.

  50. Own or carry?

    In terms of ownership, whatever you want. If you like the look of polearms on your wall go for it.

    Carry is another thing. In that case you should carry things that you’re comfortable and competent with.

    IMHO, any weapon you might carry comes with pros and cons. You need to know how to use that weapon properly and to good effect and be prepared to do so otherwise what you’re really carrying it a liability to your safety. If the moment comes where is you or some crackhead you need to know what to do and be willing to do it.

    For example: If you can’t stab someone repeatedly with the stated goal of ending their life then carrying a knife or other blade as a weapon is useless. Similarly if you can’t stab them once correctly (probably from a position of surprise) and end them in a rather ruthless fashion then this isn’t a good weapon for you. Faced with a serious situation you will run the risk of folding because you’re simply not capable of doing what needs to be done. There is no shame in this. A knife is a brutal and very personal weapon and killing someone with it is nasty business. So carry one as a tool but don’t delude yourself into thinking it’s a weapon if, deep down, you know you can’t handle your business with that particular item or even have questions about it.

    Knowing how to properly employ your chosen weapon(s) is another issue. Different blades are meant to be used differently. A karambit is used differently than a double edge dagger like the FS knife. Axes are meant to be used in a fairly specific set of ways and it varies based on design. The use for a bearded ax is completely different from a tomahawk.

    So “backup” weapons are something that require a decent amount of understanding and some training. You don’t need to spend years practicing knife fighting or learning to use an ax but you do need to understand what you have and how to use it, especially if you’re using something that requires closing to bad-breath distance to use. This will require some practice on your part and probably some instruction on how to use the item in question.

    Just one further example: the previously mentioned FS knife. It’s not generally designed to be used to slash, though it can be, nor is it generally employed to forcibly stab, though it can be. Instead the design is meant for you to grab your opponent and pull them on to the knife. Everything about the knife is designed for this particular kind of fighting. Yes, you can poke it forward and that is effective but really the concept of this knife is to bring your opponent to the point of the knife, not the other way around. You close distance while switching hands repeatedly, grab your opponent push slightly forward while pulling them towards you/the knife. When attacking someone from behind with this knife it’s really meant to be used in one of two ways. Slide in through the side of the neck and punch forward or grab them and slide it into them at a downward angle between the shoulder blade and clavicle until the hilt stops you from pushing it in further.

  51. Brass knuckles, a sap, collapsible baton, sog tomahawk, quarter staff, a mace…and various tools like crowbars, bolt cutter (works well on bones), shovels, and of course knives.

    The collapsible baton is usually with me in addition to my firearm and knife. The sap when I am places that I probably shouldn’t be….

  52. Innocuous items riding in my vehicles.
    hardwood chair leg
    3 ‘ Fiberglass radio antenna
    1’ long rubber coated multi conductor underground electical cable
    9″ Klein sidecutters

    • I carried a length of cable in my car for years. I never had to use it, but I would pity any fool who got slapped upside the head with it.

  55. A f**** 500$ axe!?!! Really!?!! It’s an axe!!!! If you get your money swindled out of you for that honestly you deserve it or just flat out have too much to throw around as it is. Anyone who pays for that is just plain stupid. There are decent ARs for less than that. Here’s a better idea, buy, or hell make a cheaper axe for around 50, that you won’t be afraid to use, then take your whole family and all your friends out to dinner, then the bar, then come home and order a few cases of ammo with all the money you saved. Lord have mercy. 500+ for an axe.

  56. Several Swiss Army Knives, SOG Tomahawk, couple pocket knives, breaker bars, tent stakes for carnival tents, bows and arrows, various items that can be used as a weapon, spray can and lighter, a couple firearms, three kids, and a wife with her own blade collection that is not for cooking use.

    Oh! And my animal spirit guide, scrat. Most sane people steer clear of people who act bat sh!t crazy.

  58. A pair of Ridgid 18 in. pipe wrenches. I use these for actual work sometimes.

    You can throw them like a tomahawk too.

  59. My other gear.
    1) Ontario USAF survival knife that has actually been sharpened.
    2) SOG hatchet that has actually been sharpened.
    3) 6 iron
    4) 3/32″ diameter, 5″ long hardened steel spike that is in my carry on bag that fits into my Cross pen with no cartridge that is in my pocket when I fly.

  60. I like this, I’ll play this game.

    Aside from guns and ammo, a gun owner should have some prepping type weapon items. My suggested list includes:

    Knives:
    Combat knife: Ontario Knife Company SP-1 with 7″ long, 3/16″ thick 1095 carbon steel full tang blade
    Hunting knife: Uncle Henry Golden Spike 153UH and Buck 110 folding knife (the Buck is my EDC)
    Survival/Bushcraft knife: Schrade Extreme SCHF9 1095 carbon steel with 6.4″ blade and 1/4″ thick (very beefy)
    Folding knives of various types
    A couple of knife sharpeners; get at least one good one with various course levels, and a couple of medium course sharpeners to throw in a pack
    Hatchet for on the go (and axe for around the house)
    Multi-tool
    Machete
    Baseball bat

    I think that about covers weapons besides guns.

  62. Weedwacker, with the plastic string replaced by 1/4 inch steel cable.
    Gives you optimal stand off distance and the ability to mow down tree’s.

  63. The best thing about being a mall ninja is that I can kill you in 7 different ways with nothing more than a grande mocha frappucino and an edgy t-shirt.

    And I’m never without them.

    Game, set, match tactinerds.

  64. For EDC, I have a cheap folding assisted-opening karambit. It didn’t cost much, but I actually bought it as a “beater knife” to use at work (it does wonders for cutting up the industrial-grade cardboard boxes we get some of our material in, once the boxes are ready to be broken down for recycling, or re-used for packing material), and for a $9 knife it actually does reasonably well, and could function as a self-defense tool in a pinch.

    At home, I collect medieval/ancient weaponry (SCA geeky, I admit…). Most of it is functional replicas (I don’t buy stainless wallhangers), though I do have one 450 year old wakizashi that while still functional, isn’t worth much due to being unsigned and having several unsightly, though non-fatal, forging flaws; and an early 19th century Indian tulwar cavalry saber that is rust-pitted but still sharp. My others are assorted swords and daggers (ranging from an honest-to-goodness bronze khopesh, to replicas of late medieval/early renaissance cut-and-thrust blades), to a couple of maces and a war hammer. My favorite, and probably the only one I would truly trust for last-ditch defensive use, is a replica of a late medieval German grosses messer that was custom made for me. It has a 21-1/2″ blade, and while it is mainly a cutting sword (looks rather like an oversized Bowie knife), it has enough point for thrusting, is short enough to use in tight quarters, and has the best balance of any sword I have ever handled. If I HAD to use it, instead of a gun, I would use it in conjunction with my 9″ steel buckler to ward off an assailant’s attacks (and act as a smashing weapon in its own right, sort of like an oversized knuckle duster).

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