Who Will Protect You?

How long does it take the police to respond to a call? Depending on were you live this could be anywhere from 15-20 minutes or as much as 2 hours. Even in the best-case scenario the police always respond after the crime starts. If someone were to brake into your home how long would it take for him/her to get to you versus the police to arrive?
Despite what they say it is not a police officers job to protect you. After the Rodney King Riots thousands of cases flooded the courts where citizens stated that they were being mugged and the police stood by and watched and did not help. The suits reached their way to a federal court but were then thrown out. The judge stated “It is not a police officers job or duty to protect you.” If a police officer feels that his/her person could be harmed they may choose to refrain from assisting. They cannot be made to put themselves into harms way. This is very important. If it is not the polices job to protect you then who’s job is it?
It is your job and duty to protect yourself and your family!! It is not the responsibility of anyone else to protect you. So with that said how does one go about protecting yourself and/or family?
You could buy a gun. Dr. John Lott spent 10 years studying the crime stats from every county in the U.S. His findings were very interesting. In states that had loose gun laws and allowed all honest citizens to carry concealed firearms, violent crime was significantly lower (around 30 or more percent lower). There are 32 states that have such laws. However the actual crime numbers were about the same. In other words car jacking was way down while car theft was up and home invasions were way down while home burglary with no one was home was up. There are also thousands of cases every year where people protect themselves by brandishing a firearm and almost all of the time they never actually have to use it. I would recommend taking a safety course and practice regularly however. Just because most people don’t have to use it does not mean that you wont.
Are guns always the answer? What about situations where you may not have a firearm? There are many ways you can learn to defend yourself. The average person and especially the average criminal are not trained fighters. You would be surprised on how easily a trained fighter can best a much larger opponent. I personally feel that the two best martial arts are Thai Boxing and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. This is because they have actually been tested. If you watch professional fighting you know that just about every discipline has been tried in MMA Fights. Now after two decades of MMA you almost always see the same two disciplines Thai Boxing and Jiu-Jitsu. At my martial-arts school in Maryland I have personally seen a small 19 year old girl (about 115 lbs) best a man that was about 50 pounds heavier then her. The thing to remember when training to defend yourself is that there is no quick self-defense course that will really help you. Mastering the skills needed to fight off a much larger attacker takes time and you need to stick with it.
If you live in Maryland like I do owning a gun is fine if you are in your home but it is almost impossible to get a permit to carry. Also you never know if you will be surprised and not have it ready or you could have it taken from you. I would suggest protecting yourself in everyway possible.
There is a little hope for Maryland on the right to carry issue though. Raymond Woollard (a Baltimore resident) is fighting in US district court for the right to carry. This case could have major implications on this state.
Several years ago on Christmas day a criminal broke into Woollard’s home. Raymond tried to get his shotgun but was attacked and it was wrestled away from him. Luckily his son was able to stop the criminal by holding a pistol at him. Raymond’s wife called the police and his son held the criminal at bay until the police arrived 2 ½ hours later. Yes 2 ½ hours! After the criminal was arrested he received probation. Raymond immediately went out and got a carry permit. Later the same criminal got out committed another burglary and assaulted a police officer. He served three years the second time and when he got out Raymond tried to renew his permit. He was denied because he has no proof that he has a concern for his safety. He is now challenging the way the state determines who gets a permit. So we will just have to wait and see what happens…