I hear a lot of people talk about using various weaponry for home defense and occasionly I hear of some folks wanting to use either a bat, or a sword, or some other arc based weapon. I feel that all too often people haven't thought these choices through. So I figured I'd share a little test with you to help you better choose your mode of home defense.
Take a yard stick (preferably of the lightest wood you can find) and begin to stalk around your house in the manner that you think you would if an attacker were in your house. At regular intervals at various places in your house go ahead and try to swing it at something (preferably non breakable). If you hit anything other than your intended target along the arc of your swing then consider that blow ineffective to incapacitate the target. For some rooms this won't be an issue. But for the majority of houses their are many areas, especially transitional areas between rooms where suprise is most likely to occur (hallways, doorways, etc...), that you may not be able to effectively swing the weapon. Now that you've located the areas of your house that make using the weapon difficult or near impossible (indicated by all the little nicks and dents in your drywall ceiling and wall
), you should begin to consider A: if the weapon is still a reasonable choice for your particular home and B: whether a change in tactics with the weapon will resolve the issue. For example, bats (especially aluminum bats that will generate less momentum than a wood bat) can be effectively utilized as jabbing instrument as well. Swords are a lot more difficult to control in this manner due the hand placement on the weapon.
Ultimately whatever you choose is up to you, but it's important to match your choice to your surroundings.
P.S. For all the people that don't want their house to bear the scars of this mini-pretend battle, try wrapping a thick sock around the end of the yard stick and taping it in place. This should do the trick.
