My tac flashlight is now with me everyday

[Noa]

Hey guys, been awhile since I've posted, just a quick update before I move onto the main reason for this post.

In my last full semester of college before I graduate, had 18 credits/ 6 classes + 2 jobs last semester = no time to post here as much. Taking 19 credits/7 class + 1 job and 1 internship, so pretty much the same might happen.

Now onto the main reason I am posting this:

Ever since I bought my tactical flashlight after asking Bravo for his recommendations, I have used it a total of 6 times for self defense in the last 3ish months. If I did not have a tac flashlight with me at those times, things could have been very different, in a bad way.

For those of you who don't know, I attend a university where the city crime rate is pretty bad. Granted not a safe location, but the campuses are pretty secured, the problem is outside the campus perimeters. For those curious, the city is Newark, NJ, has been in top 10 worst cities for many years.

I had two night classes, left at 9pm each time, I live a little over an hr away, so I'm always getting home late due to the commute times. Many of these incidents have occurred at night, except for one.

The big one that I want to share is the time I almost got robbed at gun point with my friend. Her and I were walking to the subway and she was telling me how a few days prior her phone got robbed, a guy pointed a gun at her head. I mentioned to her she should buy a tac flashlight and carry with her at all times. She replied with "who's going to carry a flashlight all the time?" I replied that I always carry one every day, to which she asked why.

Before I could answer, I noticed this guy walking suspiciously fast in our direction. I put my hand in my right jacket pocket where I keep my flashlight when I'm walking out at night. It's quick accessible and a convenient place for me to have it. I tell her to get rdy to call public safety, that I'm getting a bad feeling. She seems to be confused as to why I say that and instead asks what I"m talking about instead of doing what I asked her to do. Five seconds or so later, the guy walking in our direction screams out "DON"T MOVE." I'm looking at this guy and he's a little smaller than I am, but I know that most likely he has something with him.

He doesn't take his hand out of his pocket, but says he has a gun. I'm reluctant to believe him, but I don't want to take any chances. As I grab my friend and put her behind me, I gave her my phone, which I speed dialed public safety. My phone has this feature where I swipe to the left and press #1(or any number) for speed dial. I memorized this because I know I might always be in danger around my school area and it's always a good idea to be prepared.

In that instant he pulls a gun out of his pocket and asks for our phones and wallet. My friend panics and ran away, which actually helps me. The dude was caught off guard and lowered the gun out of my direction, screaming at my friend not to move. In that instant I took the opportunity and pulled out my flashlight and covered his face with the light. It was night time and very dim street lights, hell I was almost blinded by it and I know I got him really good. In the same moment, I used my flashlight as a weapon(it has a metal casing, not plastic) and got him hard enough to where he fell back and the gun slipped out of his hand. Turns out I hit him very close to the eye.

I know there's normally a cop car around the corner from where I was at, so I ran over there, because I honestly had no idea what else that guy could have had. I find one of the cops patrolling the area and tell them exactly what happened and that they should hurry cause he could get away. At the same time I hear a cop siren. Turns out my friend was able to tell public safety what happened and they responded( a little too late IMO, but it's expected). One of the two cops tells me to stay next to the cop car, since they'll have questions and they both run over to where the sirens are at(they're radios were going off too). After they arrest the guy, they came and told me he had two pocket knives as well as the gun. So it was a good thing I didn't continue to stick around after hitting him with my flashlight.

The other incidences weren't as aggressive as this one, but I felt this was worth sharing. My friend now owns a flashlight of her own too.

The flashlight I own is a streamlight protac 1l btw.

[Ice]

Wow Noa, I'm glad you're OK.

Awesome how to handled this situation - demonstrated bravery, which others would've ran.

Great that you shared this with us man.

[Ice]

Also

Have you considered taking MMA, conditioning your body to fights and for personal defense


Pocket knives allowed where you are?


and if not, are tactical pens?

[Noa]

I've taken some mma courses over the last few months, but honestly I just prefer not to fight if given the option. It's something I can't risk having on my record, especially since I'm looking to work outside of the US in the future, but I do defend myself if needed though[actually happened a few weeks ago, but that's another story]. It all comes down to what I think is the best choice, I tend to think logically in situations like that, which is why I didn't do anything to him after I hit him with the flashlight. I consider all possibilities, to me if he had a gun, there's a very good chance he had something else, and he did.

Pocket knives are not allowed and are illegal in NJ. Possession of a pocket knife charge is something I don't want, for the reason previously stated(working outside the US requires clean criminal record and having a criminal offense such as possession of an illegal weapon is not something I want).

Haven't looked into tactical pens, I've heard of em before, but never put in any research. I'll start looking into them and NJ laws to see if there are restrictions.Thanks for the suggestion!

[Ice]

Yea I didn't think they were.

I would always want to defuse a fight with words. But IF I had to and last resort, no other option - I want to be ready as much as I can

One more thing

-what was your friend's reaction AFTER this all went down?

[Ice]

Just got off a call with Noa, caught up on this and few other things.

Noa, you HAVE to tell what happened AFTER this!!

[James Bond]

What happened after??
So curious.

This could be an awesome DHV story in the future.


It's super awesome you were able to defend yourself and your friend!



Since you are unarmed and in dangerous areas, have you thought about taking Krav Maga? It has drills to take the gun away and maintain possession so you don't get shot after.

[Noa]

What happened after??
So curious.

This could be an awesome DHV story in the future.


It's super awesome you were able to defend yourself and your friend!



Since you are unarmed and in dangerous areas, have you thought about taking Krav Maga? It has drills to take the gun away and maintain possession so you don't get shot after.

Will update this thread a bit later with more detail, but here's the TL:DR version.

Friend and I got interviewed by the cops and the whole shebang for details. Pressed charges and everything. She apologized for running away. She tells this story to every friend of hers I meet.

It's totally a great DHV, especially since she's telling all of her girl friends when I meet them "This is my friend that stopped that guy." I ended up going out with one of her friends(another story which I will detail out later) and a guy friend of her tried to fight me, most likely out of jealousy and is now expelled from my university.

I have not had the $$ to take krav maga classes, but I do have an uncle who's in the air force and now a police officer in DC. He saw I carried a tac light and asked me about it. Ended up taking me out to show me how to properly hold a tac light and everything, as well as the shooting range and how to use a gun. He did offer to take me to other training courses that officers go through, which included disarming I believe, but I would have to pay for it, discounted, but again it's not cheap for someone like me.

[Noa]

Okay so here's extra information on what happened afterwards.

My friend apologized for running away and for the next few days we hung out for a bit here and there on campus. I met a lot of her friends, and she constantly told them the story about what happened. A lot of them asked me for more details and I told them how I first got my tac flashlight at the recommendation of a friend and that my uncle(cop in MD, was in the Air Force) ended up teaching me how to properly use it. I gave them my whole reasoning why I carry it and stuff.

There was this one girl, who was my friend's friend, that caught my eye and I ended up getting her number. We made plans, but due to Finals, they had to be postponed. On the last day of Finals, her(girl i'm interested in) and I decide to meet up after our Finals on campus and head out to grab a drink. This one guy screams out her name and starts running our way. I figured it was a friend, but when he got to us, he seemed he was rather upset or angry. He ended up asking a bunch of questions like "Who the hell is this guy?" "Is he your bf?" and stuff. He asked us if we were dating and I absentmindedly replied "We're not dating, yet." At that point he got rather aggressive and I had to pull out my tac light. I got him really good and I was going to hit him with the edge of my flashlight, but he moved his head due to his reaction to the light and I missed. After a bit of a scuffle, which included the girl getting dragged away when he was going for me, public safety showed up and arrested him. After going through the protocol and stuff of public safety, I end up hearing a few days later that aside from him being charged, he got expelled from the university.

She ended up telling me he was always overprotective and told her something like "I'll beat the crap out of any guy I don't think is worth it."

The girl and I ended up going on a few dates here and there, we're sort of like FWB, told her not interested in a serious thing and she's cool with it. She just came back from vacation the other day, hung out with her I think twice since then.

I feel like I'm forgetting something, but if I remember, I'll update this thread.

[Syrrah]

Alright, you've got me convinced. I live in a neighborhood with occasional shootings and fights. I've never heard of anybody getting mugged around here that I know of, but I'd still like to be a bit more prepared, since I got out a lot at night. Got a link for a decent tactical flashlight?