I need some ideas on how I can protect my wife.

[Quigley284]

I am a handicap husband. I suffer from Huntington's disease. I'm looking for any and all ideas on how she can protect herself.

[wv109323]

Home surviellece or burgular alarm.
A handgun such as S&W EZ that a woman can use.
Outside lighting and no shrubbery where an intruder can find
A dog in the home
Neighborhood watch
Secure doors and doorlocks.

[brewer12345]

A 50 plus pound dog, good outdoor lighting, secure doors and windows. A shotgun would probably help as well.

Alternatively, move to a low crime area?

[rancher1913]

firstly I mean no ill will or malice, with that being said could the Huntingtons be causing this concern and she really is in no danger at all.

we might need a bit more to go on, are you guys being threatened, is she a witness to something.

[Ranger 7]

Get your wife a firearm she can handle, will practice with to become FULLY proficient and confident.
Also, get an English Mastiff puppy. (Exceptionally protective, loving, cuddly, intelligent and only a lunatic would want to go oppose one)
My wife and I have had one or more Mastiffs living (in the house) with us for 27 years.
Of course, we also are both armed and go to the range regularly and are quite proficient(we can put the rounds exactly where we aim)
You have every reason to be fearful. Today crime is everywhere, even in rich areas with their own cops.

[country gent]

The big thing is to get her awareness up, pay attention to what's going on around and where shes passing thru. Being aware can diffuse a lot of situations before they start. A cell phone always charged and handy ( not buried in a purse). Some self defenses classes to help her with simple protection defense and of the need calls for it firearms weapons training. In a bind a magazine, High heeled shoe keys umbrella cane even a purse can be a formidable weapon. This goes back to awareness and seeing whats around you and where you are.

[JBinMN]

Keep in mind that pepper sprays are easily available, easy to use & inexpensive.

Every 2 years or so I get my missus & my DIL one each to carry. They are about $10 a piece.

[Tripplebeards]

A barking dog and a lot of motion yard lights will deter just about anyone.

[WheelgunConvert]

Wasp spray is excellent for knocking down pests. Cheap enough to keep a can by each door and more. Just in case you don’t want to get stung. Many are effective at greater than 15’ to keep the swarm at bay.

[Tom W.]

When I first met Lori I bought her some pepper spray to put on her keychain. I later bought her a Glock 17, and she was scary accurate with it, but as always works on base she cannot have it in the car. However, when we go anywhere besides the base I'm always carrying a small pistol.......

Teach your wife to shoot and get a big dog that folks will notice........along with the aforementioned motion activated lights and perhaps an outside camera or two......

[psweigle]

If you are in therapy please explain your concerns to your therapist. Also, as sad as it sounds, I would REMOVE all firearms from the home. If she has a carry permit, MAKE her keep her firearm ON her at all times, out of your reach. You sir, have a hard road ahead of you, but hers is much harder. My thoughts and prayers go out to you.

[sigep1764]

When I was single, I had denied myself a dog as a companion for a few years. When she who must be obeyed did not want to move in for another year, I got myself the dog I wanted, an English Bulldog. Sugar was taught from the beginning to walk on the left side down the sidewalk, to bark at what moves outside the window, and to heel on command. When the lady moved in, they spent two days alone with each other as I was at the lake. Sugar will circle around SWMBO if there is anyone walking by. I have no doubt that 90% of all people will walk around Sugar before doing anything untoward. Next up was to give said SWMBO an easy to conceal and easy to handle handgun in exchange for reading her favorite series of books. She learned to use it and now carries it without a second thought and the bulldog is attached to us both.

[Drew P]

Funny forum to ask this question as the firearm thing will come up over and over but I’d argue that unless the desire to CCW comes from HER heart then it’s not a good idea to try and push on her or even suggest. Carrying a firearm is a huge deal that most people, including me, are just not cut out for. Having an awareness level is good for sure, but having a hyper awareness can be a curse I wouldn’t wish on anyone.
So I agree, for the home I think lighting, alarms, dogs, pepper sprays, fog horns, automatic sprinklers, flashbangs, smoke screens, booby traps, shark tanks, and werewolves are a better deterrents.

[LawrenceA]

Used to work with a bunch of South Africans.
I was told get small dogs and big dogs. The big dogs provide the protection. The little dogs wake up the big dogs.

All mastiffs are protective. In the battle of Agincourt some bodies/injured could not be recovered for days as the mastiffs would not let anyone near their masters.
I cannot speak for that part of the world but ONLY get a gun if your wife is prepared use it.
I believe many a gun goes to the aggressor as the aggressed will not use it.

You cannot go past auto lighting and an alarm system.
Your place does not need to be impenetrable. Just more trouble than next door.


And, subject to availability, I would add zombies and mind controlled piranha to Drew's mix.

[Wayne Smith]

A couple of facts: Huntington's Corea is caused by a part of the brain that controls upper body movement dying. It has no effect on cognitive abilities, judgment, or emotional control, other than the frustration inability causes. It is a slow progression and there are a couple of therapies that show promise and should be investigated. It is genetic and inheritable.

Any such evaluation should start with a reality based assessment of risk. This should be based on where you live, profession and habits (out late at night for any reason, for example) that address risk. This should never be based on fear. Fear needs to be specifically identified, real risk assessed, and then behavior chosen on the basis of the real risk, not the fear. Once you have accomplished a risk assessment you can then begin to identify the appropriate responses to those real risks.

[Sig556r]

I agree with prevention steps already stated above & a firearm if she's comfortable with it.
An added deterrent if your car has an audible alarm, keep the remote on her at all times so she can trigger the panic button when in danger & will attract attention within the neighborhood.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

I believe situational awareness is the first step. My wife carries firearms for rattlers and is competent with most firearms. Getting her to SEE and LISTEN is the more difficult task. We live in a safe environment so it is easy to relax too much. Teaching people to pay attention to their surroundings is the most difficult part of safety. A dog does help, bigger dogs are better,(we have a Chesapeake) but any dog can be an alarm. A firearm she will shoot and use, even a .22, is better than a cannon that she won't shoot 'FOR FUN'. If you make shooting a chore, you will lose.

[Quigley284]

This is Quigley's wife. I sincerely cannot believe the thoughtfulness of all of the responses that we read, and thank each and every one of you for sharing ideas and your concerns. We live in a relatively safe neighborhood, but I travel for work into large cities with soft targets that have "crowding" situations like the Garlic Festival where a recent mass shooting occurred. Our increased sense of urgency about self-defense strategies has mostly been inflamed by the seemingly random events, especially the El Paso Walmart shooting. However, my husband has always instilled a sense of awareness and caution in me bout my surroundings and we have had conversations in the past about CCW and training for me. His disability is progressing and we know that he is less able to be part of our defense strategies should anything happen in our home. We are going to consider everything suggested. Our Labrador Retriever is over 12 years old, and has a hard time waking up from his many naps. Our next dog will be chosen based on your comments. (I particularly like the idea of a small yapping dog and a big Mastiff!) This Forum clearly has a lot of good people with generous hearts! Thank you, again.

[Drew P]

Small dogs live 2-3 times longer too, so if you get a good one you can count on it for a lot longer! Having said that, most dogs are useless dummies so I’d hate to rely on one for any real work.

So, I’m order to really create a plan, we need to know what specifically it is that you’re trying to mitigate. He didn’t mention the scenarios. If it’s home based protection, or out in the wild? What is the profile of the attacker? What are their motivations? For instance, if you’re worried about an active shooter at a baseball game then a dog will not be helpful at all.

Side note addition to LawrenceA list- listening to my podcast by Adam corolla he has been promoting his idea of trained crows as deterrent for active shooters. He pitched the idea in a semi joking way, but the more he talks about it the more it actually makes sense. The birds are very smart and could be trained to recognize a person with a gun, and also the sound and smells of shots fired. They get rewarded with peanuts for dive bombing the persons. Now, maybe this would work against law enforcement but you have to admit it’s an interesting idea! We have been using dogs for centuries as protection animals, so it’s not a crazy idea to employ other kinds of animals. Cats would be great except they can’t be bothered. Birds have huge advantages in speed, flight, surprise, and vision. Death from above!

[megasupermagnum]

Unfortunately it seems the only way out of a random act of violence, like a mass shooting, is to see it coming and get out of there. A concealed carry permit is the best way to survive when there is no other way out.