Self Defense for Senior Citizens

Sometimes, if you’re an older person, you can’t fight hand to hand or with knives like younger people. Senior citizens have much different requirements for self-defense, but they can still easily defend themselves, and should – because they will be seen as easy targets.

The first option is pepper spray. It can be used at a distance at the press of a button, and causes serious pain to the attacker. You can get SABRE pepper spray on a keychain for about $10 on Amazon, allowing you to keep it on you wherever you go. You can also get alarm keychains from Vigilant on Amazon for $17, which emit an alarm at 130 dB. This can be heard for almost a mile around you. These keychains can be activated at the press of a button as well, and have a manual whistle built in as a backup in case the button fails.

Many senior citizens can handle a firearm, as well. Veterans will not be afraid to conceal carry their own handgun, and it’s encouraged that they do, as long as they can shoot it accurately.

Smith and Wesson makes a wonderful .22lr compact pistol, and you can pick it up at most sporting goods stores for about $300. What makes .22lr a good senior defense round is that it’s very low recoil. Some complain about the lack of “stopping power,” but any well placed shot means a chunk of metal flying through somewhere important. That will be enough to stop most attackers.

Any stragglers can be shot again, because the magazine holds 10 rounds. There are other low recoil calibers available as well, such as .380.

Some senior citizens can make great use, if they must, of things that they carry on them regularly.

A walking cane is a great example. It’s long, hard, and can be used to beat petty thieves. Other items – such as pens and keys – can also be lodged in your attacker’s eyes.

The best options for self-defense for seniors are ones that don’t require close range altercations. These are more last ditch effort kinds of weapons. It’s preferable that you use something long range, or else it could very easily be snatched from you and used against you.

A stun gun, while effective, requires direct contact. It’s fine as a self-defense weapon, but if your attacker manages to grab your arm and take it out of your hand, you’re out of luck.