Armed and Fabulous

As I mentioned earlier this week, I spent all day last Saturday in Canton shopping with my family. At one point, we were walking through this open-air wooden building, and as I passed a table in between booths, I did a double-take.

Were those ... pink tasers?

So I doubled back to get a better look, and whaddaya know, they totally were! The booth was run by a self-defense company called Damsel in Defense ("because you carry your Knight in Shining Armor in your purse" — isn't that just the best tagline ever?), and they had a whole line of stun guns, pepper sprays, alarms and things to keep in your car just in case something bad happened (like flashlights that can also break glass and cut seatbelts). My mom and Rachel came up to join me when they saw that I'd stopped in my tracks.

The woman running the table, Robin, gave us a full presentation where she showed us the various stun guns Damsel in Defense offers for self-defense, from 1 million Volts all the way up to 7.5 million Volts. She said that even though you're allowed to conceal carry guns in Texas, that many women would think twice about shooting an attacker for fear of killing them. (And besides, I don't have a conceal-carry license anyway, so fat lot of good that would do me.) And while these stun guns would quickly take down an attacker — even through clothing — they are non-lethal.

And they come in pretty colors too!

Plus, they have a pin wristlet that's similar to a headphone jack, and the stun guns only work if the wristlet is attached. So if the wristlet somehow got detached (ie. an attacker managed to get the stun gun away from you), it wouldn't work, so they couldn't use it against you.

It's also a flashlight!

The three of us were completely fascinated by all these self-defense products. We probably spent more time at this one table than any other booth in the whole place.

My mom mentioned that she worries about my sister a lot, since Rachel's still in college and lives in a not-very-nice neighborhood and walks alone a lot. And then my mom said that she didn't feel safe walking around in her own neighborhood because there were a lot of big dogs roaming around off-leash. (Robin said that the noise the stun gun emits is often enough to scare away dogs.) They were sold. So then I was like, well, if both of ya'll are getting one, I might as well get one too. I'm not necessarily walking alone at night much anymore, but it never hurts to be on the safe side.

We purchased the "Pack a Punch" stun guns, which are $50 each and come in black, pink, teal and lime green. And we each got a different color. :)

Robin seemed totally comfortable demonstrating the electric shock, but it scared me a little when I tested it out!

I hope that I'll never have to use it, but I feel good about doing something to protect myself. If you're interested in doing the same, you can check out the various products Damsel in Defense sells on Robin's website.

Would you ever carry a stun gun?

I did not receive compensation from Damsel in Defense or Robin in exchange for this post. I just thought the company and their products were a fantastic idea and wanted to share, and also want to make sure all ya'll ladies are keepin' it safe out there.