#self-defense

[thererisesaredstar]

Palestine-Cuba solidarity poster

Rafael Enriquez (1980)

[hellyeahscarleteen]

Staying Safe While Homeless

A SAFETY GUIDE FOR YOUTH EXPERIENCING ANY KIND OF HOMELESSNESS

When you are experiencing homelessness, it can be difficult to feel safe. In some cases, being homeless as a young adult might feel safer physically and/or emotionally than where we came from, or you might find you don’t feel safe anywhere. In survival mode, the idea of true safety can sometimes feel unobtainable. Safety can feel like a privilege that you can’t access at all, or can only have in parts. Safety can also take a variety of forms. When talking about safety, we want to think about physical safety, as well as mental or emotional safety. Safety, most broadly, can also include security of our resources, like personal belongings that we need to take care of ourselves. Ultimately, what feels safe or as though it is a reasonable risk to one person might feel incredibly unsafe to someone else. Here are some tips for thinking about safety if you’re experiencing any form of homelessness:

Staying aware

The key to trying to keep yourself safe is going to be focused on being aware of your surroundings and their unique qualities, and being aware of who is near you. Risks and safety are going to look different in each situation.

If you are taking any medications, utilizing any substances like alcohol, or are otherwise in a state where your reaction times, or your ability to process information, are or might be impacted, try to keep the company of people who you trust and who can make safety assessments for both of you while your judgment or responsiveness is altered.

Staying safe while couch-surfing

When couch-surfing, many homeless youth feel like they can let their guard down a little when it comes to safety. If you are staying with trustworthy adults⁠ who you know well, this might be the case, and can be a much-needed respite from feeling like you are in constant crisis.

However, couch-surfing can sometimes involve staying with people you don’t know well, or don’t know at all. These people might be well-intentioned, or could have their own motivations for why they are offering help. When couch-surfing, be aware of where your belongings are, and keep your most important documents (identification, important paperwork etc.) with you at all times. This way, if you have to leave quickly, the chance is low of you being separated from the things that you need most. Be aware of any kind of unwanted advances (emotional or sexual⁠) that make you feel uncomfortable. You do not owe anyone intimacy in exchange for them letting you stay with them. As a homeless youth it’s so important to trust your gut. If something feels off, it probably is. If your gut is sending you signals that you aren’t safe trust yourself and get out⁠ of that situation as quickly as possible. Tell someone you trust that you aren’t feeling safe wherever you are, or if you are alone, but have a cell phone, text or call someone you trust and let them know where you are and what’s going on. Get yourself somewhere where you feel safer, or at minimum where there are other people around.

Staying safe while on the streets

While it’s a challenge to keep from getting stopped/harassed by police or private security, as much as possible try to stay in well-lit populated areas. Stay with other homeless youth as much as possible. Try not to be alone: there is safety in numbers. Homeless youth sleeping together on the streets are less likely to be targets of exploitation or violence. While sleeping, hold your belongings, including your shoes, while you sleep to protect them from getting stolen.

Staying safe in shelters

If you know that you are going to need to stay in a shelter, and you live in a city with options, talk with your homeless friends about their experiences in different shelters. Other homeless youth may have had experiences at shelters that will help you determine which facility or program is going to be safe for you. Anytime a lot of youth are together, be it high school or a homeless shelter, there can also be cliques and drama. Be aware of what is going on around you, but thoughtful about how and when you do or don’t engage. Getting involved in shelter drama or politics could jeopardize your housing or safety if conflicts escalate, which could lead to unsafe situations. If you are staying in a shelter, you’ll also want to keep your belongings on your body or locked up to keep them secure from theft.

Trust your gut!

If you don’t feel safe in a situation, even if you aren’t exactly sure why, trust your internal sense of what does or doesn’t feel safe. Part of being a homeless teenager means sometimes needing to keep yourself safe when nobody else is willing or able to do so. If you don’t feel safe, make it your priority to do whatever you can or need to do to get yourself into a situation where you feel safer.

Trust your gut feelings. If you feel unsafe in a situation, try to leave it.

Read the full version by Sassafras Patterdale below

[arctic-hands]

"You need to get a gun/carry a knife/buy a Wild Kat/get pepper spray" unfortunately with my bipolar, disabled, frail, and asthmatic ass, we even if i could get ahold of a weapon, any weapon I pull out against an attacker will probably just end up being used against me in a fight. Which, honestly, is something EVERYONE now arming themselves needs to consider

[jamabushi]

Noble sir, production and destruction are two, but what is not produced and does not occur cannot be destroyed

[disease]

Victorian-era photo album offers a gentleman's guide to self-defense maneuvers. [1895]

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

Washington Post: The trans Americans turning to guns for protection

Rodriguez explained why she thought trans people were taking up arms. “A lot of trans people kind of share the sentiment of death before detransition,” she said. “If our hormones are taken away, we’d rather just kill ourselves. So, we’re not going out without a fight.” --------------------------

Gift article link

Full text of paywalled article follows:

The trans Americans turning to guns for protection

“Trans people have every reason to be afraid,” said one trans woman who went out and bought a gun after President Trump was elected.

By Hallie Lieberman BELLINGHAM, Wash.

February 25, 2025

Until recently, May Alejandro Rodriguez was a big supporter of gun control.

A 21-year-old Mexican American trans woman who is a student at Western Washington University, she was interested in producing music and snapping photos of her friends on Fuji 400 film.

But Rodriguez, who voted for Kamala Harris, changed her view on guns when Donald Trump was reelected. She had heard the stories from her trans friends in red states: being forced to use bathrooms that didn’t match their gender identities; having gender markers switched on their drivers’ licenses. She saw kids losing access to hormones and feared adults would be next. She thought back to the trans high-schooler who was killed in her hometown and the trans teen who was attacked in Bellingham last year.

“Trans people have every reason to be afraid because we are being attacked,” Rodriguez said. “Every single day, another right is lost.”

She believed Republicans were playing on fear to stoke transphobia, so she thought trans people should play the game back. “They’re going to fear us no matter what,” she said. “So let the fear come from a place of reality.”

And so when she turned 21 in November, Rodriguez bought her first gun, a Rock Island Armory model M206 revolver.

After the 10-day waiting period, she picked up the weapon and filled out a required form asking whether she was Latino.

“They’re making a database of Mexicans owning guns,” she said jokingly to the White male gun clerk.

“I think it’s racist and a shame,” she recalled him saying. She was surprised by his sympathy.

Rodriguez posted videos of herself shooting on social media. Her Reddit post got 1,500 upvotes. “A lot of people messaged me and they’re like, ‘Oh my God, it’s so cool to see you have a gun. I think I want to get one,’” Rodriguez said.

When Rodriguez recognized she was trans at 14, she handled things herself. Believing her Mormon mother wouldn’t be accepting, Rodriguez bought hormones from a Mexican pharmacy both online and in person. She came out in her junior year of high school. Her mom still hasn’t acknowledged that she is trans.

Rodriguez explained why she thought trans people were taking up arms. “A lot of trans people kind of share the sentiment of death before detransition,” she said. “If our hormones are taken away, we’d rather just kill ourselves. So, we’re not going out without a fight.”

The Washington Post spoke to a dozen trans people for this article. Many of them spoke on the condition of anonymity — or insisted that only their first name be used — for safety reasons. All said they were arming and educating themselves about guns because they were scared of what Trump’s presidency will bring. “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you,” one election ad famously intoned.

Hate crimes against trans and gender nonconforming people had already increased 16 percent in 2023, according to a Human Rights Campaign report based on FBI data. At least 32 trans people were killed in the United States in 2024. One in four trans people reported being physically attacked because of their gender identity, according to a 2022 survey by The Washington Post and KFF. An analysis of Bureau of Justice data from 2017 to 2018 in the American Journal of Public Health found that trans Americans are four times as likely to be the victims of violence than cisgender people. Three-quarters of trans victims of fatal gun violence are Black and Latina trans women, noted a 2024 report by Everytown, a gun-control organization.

Hundreds of trans men and women rally outside the Supreme Court on Dec. 4. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post) In the first few days after Trump took office, he rescinded the order allowing transgender people to serve openly in the military, signed an executive order declaring that gender is binary and declared that trans female prisoners housed in federal women’s prisons must be moved to male prisons. He also moved to end federal support for gender transition care for people under age 19, as well as to ban transgender athletes from competing on girls’ and women’s sports teams.

“People respond to situations of threat or uncertainty by seeking security. And one of the things that people associate with security in the United States is firearms,” said David Yamane, a sociology professor at Wake Forest University who studies American gun culture.

“Anecdotal accounts suggest [an increase in trans gun buyers] is absolutely happening,” Yamane added.

At least 2,500 people have joined the subreddit r/transguns since the election, according to the subreddit’s moderator. National LGBTQ gun groups Operation Blazing Sword and Pink Pistols told The Post that they have seen an uptick in interest in membership, which includes classes. Clara Smith-Elliott, the founder of Arm Trans Women (ATW), an organization that teaches gun-safety courses in Connecticut and Virginia, said her courses have started selling out.

Smith-Elliott thinks an increase in anti-trans laws may be driving interest in her courses. “People who already don’t like trans people … are seeing [anti-trans laws] as tantamount permission to act out against our community,” she said.

“People literally come to me in tears because they’re so scared of what’s going on. They don’t want to have to learn how to use a firearm, but they recognize the need.” Some of those signing up, Smith-Elliott said, are mothers of trans children.

“With personal protection being the top motivating factor, an increasing number of Americans are choosing to exercise their right to self-defense, as evidenced by the recent explosion of new gun owners from all demographics,” the NRA said in response to whether it had seen a rise in trans gun ownership.

Trans gun owners are part of a larger American tradition of minorities purchasing guns for safety, Yamane said, citing the Black Panthers in the 1960s and women seeking self-defense options in the 1970s and 1980s.

“What’s happening today among trans people is in the tradition of people demanding their rights and saying that they’re willing to defend those rights with force if necessary,” Yamane said.

Some gun purchases may be driven by the fear that being transgender may be classified as a mental illness, which could prevent gun ownership in states like Colorado that have “red flag laws.” (New guidance from the Department of Health and Human Services asserts a person’s sex is “unchangeable.”)

A queer Colorado firearm instructor named Drew said he visited a gun range a few years ago and a poster about red-flag laws was pinned on the wall next to one about rights for trans people. “The general implication was, if you were queer, you were mentally ill enough to not own firearms,” said Drew, who spoke on the condition that only his first name be used.

Before Rodriguez bought a gun, she asked her friends for a reality check. Before the election, they would have told her not to buy one, she said: “This time around, no one told me I was crazy.”

Rodriguez is sitting on the gray sectional in her third-floor apartment, pink-lensed prescription glasses perched on her nose, her lips painted a Taylor Swift-style red.

She points her revolver at an “Eyes Wide Shut” poster propped up against the wall.

“So, if you want to shoot Tom Cruise over there, you really want to line it up,” she said to the group of women gathered around her.

Watching the demonstration were Max, 25, and Luci, 19, trans friends Rodriguez knows from college, as well as June, 23, a cisgender barista in a leather jacket. (The trio spoke on the condition that only their first names be used out of concern for their safety.)

June, who has been living on her own since she was excommunicated from Jehovah’s Witnesses as a teenager for being a lesbian, said she was “pretty fearful of guns growing up.” But now, she said she has “realized I’d feel a lot less scared if I could shoot and if I was able to not only protect myself, but my friends and family.”

Rodriguez went over gun-safety rules that she’d scrawled on a small whiteboard above a sketch of Kirby, the video game character, toting a gun.

“Treat all guns as if they’re always loaded,” she said. “Never point at anything you’re not willing to destroy. Finger off the trigger until you’re ready to shoot.” Only Luci, clad in safety-pinned pants with a “unionize sex work” patch, had ever held a gun before — shooting a .22 with her father.

Rodriguez picked up her revolver — which she calls her “little cowgirl gun” — and flattened her index finger next to the trigger to demonstrate.

She then passed it over to Max. “Always just try to keep it pointed in that direction, where no one is,” Rodriguez told her. “Pull the trigger. It takes a fair bit of force.”

Max pulled it, a bit gingerly. “I’m trying to get over the idea that it’s not loaded,” Max said.

A bespectacled environmental studies major, Max said she fears for her safety due to “the exponential rise in anti-trans legislation proposed and passed.”

She had the opportunity to shoot a gun as a kid, she said, and had declined: “I was pretty afraid of guns, and I didn’t want to be comfortable with guns.”

Max has since changed her mind.

Rodriguez practices with a rifle at a shooting range in Burlington, Washington, on Jan. 12. (Nick Cote/For The Washington Post) All the training was in preparation for a trip to Skagit Shooting Range, about 25 miles to the south.

There, Rodriguez paid $69.16 for range time for the four of them; four paper targets shaped like torsos; and the rental of a Sig Sauer P365-XL pistol from the White male clerk.

He briefed them on safety before they headed to the indoor range’s stalls, breaking up into pairs. Despite earplugs, the sound of bullets whizzing through the corridor made conversation nearly impossible.

The shooter in the adjacent stall wore a sweatshirt emblazoned with “Jesus is My Savior/Trump For President” in large letters. If he noticed the shooters next to him, he didn’t let on.

Rodriguez copped a shooter’s pose to demonstrate, her gleaming Doc Martens wide apart, her left foot pitched ahead. She grasped the gun, her arms straight.

June copied the stance and took the gun from her friend. She was a bit shaky as she placed her arms in front of her, aimed and fired.

There was a loud pop as the bullet squeezed out of the pistol and sliced through the cardboard dangling above the target. June felt the sound’s vibration in her teeth. The shell casing clattered to the ground, joining hundreds of others in the range. She turned to face Rodriguez and smiled widely.

“I don’t think I hit the target,” she said.

Now it’s Max’s turn to shoot. Afterward, she’s a bundle of nerves as she sits at a table in the gun store outside the range.

“I kind of honestly, like, forgot to breathe,” Max said. “My chest feels really tight. … It was definitely more powerful than I expected.”

June said her first time shooting a gun was “a little nerve-racking, to be honest.

“But I think learning how to do it makes me feel a little bit more comfortable about holding one. I feel more inclined to get one.”

The group went back to practice some more. After they fired their rounds, they pushed a button that sent the target flapping toward them for inspection. Luci proudly pointed to her perfectly placed body shot.

Though these women felt rejected by their political leadership, they were participating heartily in an American tradition: defending themselves with firearms.

“We have the same Second Amendment right that any Republican has,” Rodriguez said. “We just don’t have the numbers to do, like, a march on Washington. We’re just super easy to pick on. The only equalizer we have, really, is guns.”

[fitsofgloom]

Self-Defense Turns To The Offense!

[coolnessgraphed]

[thererisesaredstar]

We want Peace, but if you provoke us…

Vladimir Mayakovsky (1950)

[sasori100]

The war in Gaza:

People don't understand (Or don't want to understand) why Israel needs to keep fighting in Gaza. They don't get how it's still a self-defense.

The reason: Israel fought many times against Hamas through the years, but every time they had the chance, they didn't finish them. Children in Gaza are raised to hate Jews, and they learn that they need to kill Jews. Most of the people in Gaza supported Hamas, and now if they don't support them, it's not because they realized their way of life is wrong. It's because they suffer now. After Hamas will gone they'll still live with hatred and raise their own children for the same thing.

Israel won't kill because of that all the people of Gaza. ( They are even still telling the people of Gaza to ran away from the places they'll bomb. Even after everything the people of Gaza did to them, including participate with Hamas at the 7th October- actually, this is how the people of Gaza are taking pictures of the bombing. They know where the bombs will fall)

Instead of that, at least they'll stop Hamas, and won't let them become strong again.

If they won't do that, the 7th October WILL HAPPEN AGAIN. How they know? Not so hard. The Arabs are saying this a lot- They don't want the Jews in Israel.

In actions, Jews can see what they mean. Every year Arabs are killing Jews inside of Israel, so how dangerous could it be if an army as Hamas will still stay strong? This is a group of Monsters, that not just speaking about killing Jews. Every each one of them DREAMING more than the ordinary Arab in Gaza to kill Jews, and they are doing a lot to make this "Dream" come true.

This is very dangerous!

A country needs to defend the people inside of her.

Israel needs to prevent this from happening again.

This is why it's still a self-defense.

And not just that...

Am I need to remind u that the hostages are still there?😔

[dollbotthing]

we should all be able to choke someone out if we want to ok

[areadersquoteslibrary]

“In keeping with the idea that life is defined by interaction, one possible criterion of aliveness is simply to appear alive: an entity is alive if it provokes living beings to respond to it as such.”

- Genesis Redux: Essays in the History and Philosophy of Artificial Life, Edited by Jessica Riskin

[ronnansink-blog]

Taikiken and The Art of Pushing Hands to Effectively Control Your Opponent in close range combat! Taikiken is a dynamic and powerful martial art that originated from the principles of Yiquan in China. It was further developed and refined in Japan by Kenichi Sawai, resulting in a system that emphasizes natural movement, mental focus, and holistic body alignment. One of the most distinctive aspects of Taikiken is its practice of pushing hands, an exercise designed to cultivate sensitivity, balance, and the ability to respond to an opponent’s energy. When practiced correctly, Taikiken pushing hands can be a highly effective way to understand and control an opponent, making it an invaluable asset for both self-defense and personal development. Historical Roots and Principles Taikiken’s fundamental principles come from Yiquan, an internal martial art created by the renowned Wang Xiangzhai. Yiquan focuses on developing internal power through standing meditation (zhan zhuang) and relaxed, natural movements. Kenichi Sawai encountered Yiquan while in China and brought these teachings back to Japan, eventually founding Taikiken. At its core, Taikiken prioritizes the cultivation of one’s intrinsic energy, also known as “ki” (in Japanese) or “qi” (in Chinese). By learning to harness and direct this internal energy, practitioners develop robust physical strength, a heightened sense of awareness, and a deep mind-body connection. Through this combination of physical and mental training, Taikiken becomes more than just a fighting system: it is a way to refine one’s overall health, vitality, and internal resilience. The Essence of Pushing Hands Pushing hands (or “tuishou”) is a training practice found in many internal martial arts. In Taikiken, pushing hands refines the practitioner’s ability to sense, follow, and redirect an opponent’s force without relying solely on muscular strength. Instead, practitioners use relaxation, proper structure, and timing to control the flow of energy and maintain balance. Sensitivity Training Central to Taikiken pushing hands is the development of tactile sensitivity. By keeping a relaxed, alert body and focused mind, practitioners learn to detect slight shifts in their opponent’s balance and energy. This heightened awareness is what allows them to anticipate and neutralize attacks. Rooting and Alignment In Taikiken, proper body alignment is essential. A strong “root” means the practitioner can ground themselves firmly, preventing an opponent from easily uprooting or throwing them off balance. At the same time, the practitioner learns to stay relaxed and to move fluidly, avoiding the rigidity that often causes tension and weaknesses in one’s defense. Yielding to Overcome The core philosophy behind Taikiken pushing hands is to never meet force with force. Instead, practitioners learn to blend with or yield to an incoming attack. By redirecting the opponent’s energy, the practitioner can guide it away from themselves and take advantage of the opponent’s momentary imbalance. Continuous Flow Pushing hands is not a static exercise. It involves continuous motion and adaptation, mirroring the fluidity of real self-defense scenarios. Practitioners keep their energy smooth and connected, ensuring that they remain adaptable to whatever the opponent may attempt. Controlling Your Opponent When effectively practiced, Taikiken pushing hands grants a distinct advantage: precise control over an opponent. This control arises out of a unique synergy between relaxed power, sensitive listening skills, and strategic redirection: Off-Balancing By detecting an opponent’s shifts in weight distribution, you can gently nudge or guide them off-balance. This technique requires minimal strength but demands refined timing and positioning. Timing and Distance Pushing hands instills an acute sense of timing and distance. In a real self-defense situation, this means you can effectively close the gap or maintain just the right distance to neutralize strikes and grapples.

[historyofguns]

The article "Lost Secret of Pistol Shooting: The Crush Grip" by Massad Ayoob, published on The Armory Life, delves into the technique of how firmly one should grip a handgun. Historically, an approach known as the "60/40" rule was favored, where some shooters used 60% support hand force and 40% firing hand force, with variations in interpretation. Ayoob revisits the technique known as the "crush grip"—a hard grip recommended by esteemed shooters like Rob Leatham, Brian Enos, and veterans such as Charles Askins Jr. and Bill Jordan, who notably used a grip that could "crush granite" and advocated holding the handgun as "hard as you can." Ayoob emphasizes that a hard grip eliminates the common shooting error of "milking," where unintended finger movements cause inaccurate shots. The crush grip is described as particularly beneficial for defensive scenarios, enhancing recoil control and gun retention. Ayoob suggests that despite the hand potentially trembling due to adrenaline, with practice, the hard grip becomes second nature, offering greater stability and accuracy during shooting.

[thererisesaredstar]

We are from 25 to 30 million strong. And We are armed. And we are conscious of our situation. And we are determined to change it. And we are unafraid. A Warning to America.

Emory Douglas (1970)