JenRyder

Anyone know what saftey items we can bring on a flight? I travel alone every week and I'd feel better if I had some protection with me in a dark parking lot after work. Mace used to be a great option - does the job and the result is non-permenant - but it can't get through security any longer. Any ideas on what will make it through security and is a little more effective than car keys laced between your fingers?
Thanks

goingsomewhere

Suggestions:

Take a self-defense class.

Pens

Heel of high heel shoe

Whistle

GoingAway

If you really want to have a can of mace available (and just where do you work anyway?), you could always it to your hotel or the location where you're staying each week.

FWAAA

Welcome to Flyertalk, Jen.

You can't carry mace onboard with you but you CAN carry mace in a checked bag. To be technical about it, it has always been prohibited as a carryon, even prior to the existence of the TSA.

Here's the TSA Prohibited Items list:

http://www.tsa.gov/interweb/assetlib...16_2005_v3.pdf (see p. 4)

Can't check a bag on business trips, you say? I hear you. I almost never check bags on business.

But here's an idea. Get a couple cans of mace. Get two very small "checked bags." Place one mace in each, following the rules, and if one of them arrives at your destination, you are protected. As much as the mace actually "protects" you, that is.

The checked bags I'm thinking of are very small. Like not much larger than the mace. Think small and light.

Analise

Welcome to FT.

Are you always walking alone to your car in a dark parking lot? Can you park near the elevator/stairs under a bright light? I too walk around with the keys between the fingers when I'm away and I'm alone at night. I haven't carried mace since the ban. It's been so long I forget how much mace even costs. Would it be prohibitively expensive to buy it once you arrive?

stef

This may sound silly, but if you would like to carry around a spray repellent similar to mace, consider the Concentrated Fragrance Sprays for Home from The White Barn Candle Company - also available at Bath and Bodyworks.

The 1.5 ounce can is $5.00 and the spray is pressurized so you could get quite a cloud of it in the face of an attacker. And with the spray being concentrated it would be quite irritating to the eyes and nose.

I am sure that it is not as effective as mace, but I think it would give you a few seconds to get away. As a bonus, if you pick a scent you like, you could also use it in your hotel room.

wintersummer

How about a boat horn? I have one here at my house. I don't have any weapons, of any kind, but wanted something that would scare an intruder to death! Haven't had to use it just yet but the sound would alert my whole neighborhood that something was wrong in my house.

FWAAA

I'm fairly certain that the boat horn won't make it past the checkpoint. The can of propellant (compressed air) won't be allowed. Not even in a checked bag.

gate_pourri

I still carry a small pepper-spray in my check-in bag whenever I travel solo. I have asked many times, and have always been told that the small can is allowed in checked bags. I always keep it packed at the top, so that if it is discovered as being illegal, it can be disposed of easily.

Ankebello

A whistle for noise.

Ankebello

Possession of mace is a crime in certain countries. Maybe that is why travel overseas with mace is not recommended.

rhwbullhead

I know this has more to do with room security, but this product seem to fit the subject of "protecting yourself while traveling."

I saw the link below a inthread from the Las Vegas Forum where someone was discussing the incident of a break-in they had while staying at their hotel. Someone posted a recommendation for the following:

http://www.defensedevices.com/portable-door-lock.html

Does anyone have any experiences with this item? If it does what it says it does, it seems like it would be a great item to have while traveling.

rhwbullhead

This is a great idea if you have the time or desire to do so. Make sure you research any school before you join. A place the emphasizes self defense, over say training people for tae kwon do tournaments would be ideal. If you live near O'Hare I can recommend a place that I used to attend; otherwise, my advice would be to visit several places and watch a few classes before you sign up anywhere.

Also, remember your soft targets if you get attacked. Everyone knows about the groin. That's a great target, but if someone has enough adrenaline or is high on drugs, they might be able to take the pain from that. If you are getting attacked, the eyes and throat are great targets. As a man, if I gouged someone's eye with a fingernail, or punched a guy in the throat in a fight ,I'd probably go to jail. A friend of mine knew someone that was doing 6 months of work release for punching someone in the throat. As a woman, you won't have these dificulties because you will be doing so in self-defense and I'm sure no prosecutor is going to press charges for a woman defending herself in a dark alley from an attacker that likely has a criminal record.
So, if you have a key in your hand, or long nails, and you are in a dark parking lot getting attacked, you can stick the key or your nail into your attackers eye.

There are just some hints I thought off while reading this thread.

peachfront

It has been a long time since I did any reading on the subject, but I thought the whole premise of "Women Who Kill" was that a great many women are in prison for the crime of self-defense and that women may be subject to more severe punishment than a man who commits the same violent crime. I wasn't left with the impression that a woman claiming self-defense will get an automatic walk.

In any case, I'm skeptical that I could successfully key the eye of someone much bigger and taller. If you're in a situation where you can't carry a real weapon, then do not be shy about using the security provided to you by the hotel, casino, resort, etcetera. It's common sense to use valet parking instead of self-parking in a covered lot, for just one example. I think self-defense classes do a fair amount of harm, because what they teach often proves unworkable in a real world attack.

rhwbullhead

Obviously, someone killing someone in self-defense is a complicated matter. I guess I'm saying that if I punched some guy in the throat during, say a bar fight, I'm more likely to be prosecuted that a woman who, in a dark parking lot, fearing getting raped or murdered, also punched someone in the throat.