The burned out street light provides enough darkness to shield the criminal's knife from Joe's eyes. The man walks suspiciously fast in a half-crouched posture toward Joe, as he crushes out his cigarette and reaches for his keys. The attacker's baggy jeans and oversized white t-shirt make him look like a boy in his daddy's clothes. Joe is about to be mugged by several attackers tonight in San Francisco's Sunset district as he was apartment hunting.
Reaching behind Joe's back, the man slides his arm around Joe's neck with a semi-shiny dagger against his kidney. Confusion and terror set in as Joe feels his body going limp. "Gimme everything you got," he hears in a rapid and forced voice. Pushed to the cement, Joe gives up his wallet. But before he realizes what is happening, four more images come from behind the van. They are all dressed similarly with slicked back, greasy-brown hair. As he receives the first kick to the face, Joe thinks to himself, "What is going on?"
Last year San Francisco reported that the total amount of felonies had decreased by 25.2 percent. Yet for those victims of violent crime, statistics are hard to swallow. If a restriction of your freedom is not an option, self-defense may offer an answer.
For years, fighting and martial arts have provided many with a sense of security. The Alemany Karate School on Irving Street offers classes for adults and children on self-protection. A sign in the window advertises that a student of the school has actually fought off a kidnapper although teachers say that the amount of time required to learn how to protect yourself depends on your effort and tenacity.
The thought of fighting off an attacker can be a very intriguing idea. But as Joe found out, it is not always one attacker, and believes that any amount of classes would not have helped him that night.
A stronger form of protection might have been more suited that night. Pepper spray, like mace or tear gas, is used to disable attackers by spraying them with chemicals. The advantage of pepper spray over mace and tear gas is that pepper spray is topical as opposed to neurological. According to Millard Brewer of Labrador Home Security, the neurological effects of mace and tear gas may be useless on an intoxicated individual. Brewer likens the topical effects of pepper spray to "biting into a jalapeno pepper." And that when sprayed with it "all they can think of is the pain they're in." The chemical can keep an assailant down for up to 40 minutes. Brewer trains people how to use the spray and distributes it through his shop on 26th Avenue and Geary. For $32, one can receive the training and the spray fully licensed in the state of California. The training takes less than an hour.
A more serious and fatal form of protection is carrying a handgun. However, guns are expensive and you must wait 15 days for state department of justice and local police clearance before receiving a gun. Rules governing the carrying of a firearm vary, but it is considered a felony if a firearm is carried within 1000 feet of a school. Aimark, a firearms dealer and shooting range in South San Francisco, will train you to use a handgun in six sessions. Each session costs $30 and lasts 1 to 2 hours. On the sixth class meeting you receive your National Rifle Association certification. Rangemaster Jason Remolona says that a class gaining popularity is a once-offered two-hour session (for women) called Women and Guns. The class is aimed at training women to overcome fears of handling a gun.
Unfortunately, all these measures are useless unless you are prepared to use them. Simply being aware of your surroundings and situation can be enough to save your life. This is advice Joe could have used to prevent that frightening incident.
"I should have been more careful," Joe thinks to himself as he sits in the emergency room. Joe replays the vicious scene over and over as the doctor jams gauze up Joe's nose to stop the bleeding. He only needs to look down at his bloody clothes to know that this really happened. He says, "I'm never gonna be a victim again."
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