I am just 5'5” and about 125 lbs. I am no match for a man. It makes me mad just to think about some jerk who thinks I can't defend myself.
I have a “Cold Steel” company made bat. Just looks like a black baseball bat with the white words “Brooklyn Smasher” on it. Biden would call it an “assault” bat, cause it will crush a skull on the first strike. Heavy weight is in the strike zone and I got the longer one so I would be as far away from the “crushee” as I can get. That innocent bat is inside my front door about a body's length from the front door. It is made to be a weapon, not a regular baseball bat.
Actually, my downstairs has numerous weapons that don't look like weapons.
Upstairs, on the back of my bedroom door, which one would have to see before opening that door, I taped a gun range large silhouette of a man and the chest and head and groin area has multiple 38 special bullet holes that I shot into that target.
A male family member saw that and laughed. I asked him if he was a bad guy and broke in my house, would he open that door. He said he would never go in that room.
I suggest every woman do that as it will make a bad guy stop and think before going in there and if he has any love for his life, he may turn and leave.
I think one has to have an “attitude” that some dickhead (can I say that on here?) is not going to ruin my day. His will be over forever and mine will continue.
Because I look like such a nice lady, my husband used to say I was his secret weapon - what you see is not what you get.
I definitely think that you have the proper attitude for self defense.
The idea of having different offensive items stashed around this house is good, because a perpetrator would be placing himself at a disadvantage stepping into your realm not knowing its secrets as you do.
However, if I may offer a suggestion regarding the bat. Personally I would not attempt to rely on that too heavily for a number of reasons.
Essentially, you are likely to only get one swing with it before an attacker can overwhelm your position. If you swing horizontally, he can duck, charge and then perform a take down, at which point the bat is no longer effective.
If you swing vertically in a downward fashion, he can sidestep then rush and takedown.
Also, even if you got a direct hit on the temple, perhaps he is on meth or something similar and will not even notice the blow until later.
All he has to do versus a club weapon is get too close to you in such a way that the sweet spot of the bat cannot effectively connect, and it is defeated as a weapon.
Not saying it shouldn’t be there in case it can be useful, but it can also be defeated. I’ve got weapons in various places around my house so that if someone enters quickly, I have a number of possible options. There’s no kids here, so a child finding one of my weapons is not a concern.
I guess if someone saw what I have about, they might assume I’m crazy, and maybe they are right, but I do know that I also live in a crazy world with many crazy people, and if any of them want to try to take me here, I want all the advantages.
I also love the idea of your target silhouette being displayed on the door. That is great, and I expect it would be an effective psychological deterrent.