“What is the best weapon that is not a weapon…and what do you think of these?”
-The Leveller, at a Quaker State Dollar Store
Any pen is better than an empty hand for defense, primarily because it can be mistaken for a weapon before it is drawn and after one strikes. One never shows the pen unless being attacked by a dog, for they fear presented hand tools and I have warded off pitbulls with simple Bic and Papermate pens
With a Bic I like keeping the cap on and stabbing with a three finger grip with the thumb and forefinger used as guides and the butt couched in the bottom quarter of the palm just outside [towards the pinky] of the crease bisecting the heel of the hand. I pocket these in jacket and coat side pockets.
The clip pen, of heavy make, either rubber, steel or plastic I like on shirt or jacket pocket, on the T-shirt collar and backpack strap for an icepick deployment. In this case one traps with the left and hammer fists with the right using the point on the neck, throat face and side of head.
I like pairing the pocket draw pen with a collar draw palm light with ice-breaker around the lens, used to blind with the flash and hammer the face and side of head with the icebreaker while stabbing the temple, ear, neck eye with the pen.
Tactical pens could be legally problematic and actually regarded as shanks.
What you want out of a pen is for the foe to think he has been stabbed to the guts so he will run off or to shock the thin side of the head wear the skull is pre-fractured and the sense of balance is contained, and also place rotational forces on the brain.
You cannot have too many pens.
You can even carry a pen into a courtroom!
I like collar clipped pens with the best buy out there the twin pack of XV special Edition, Super Smooth Advance Ink, premium metal barrel with 1.mm thick nickel tip. These cost $1 at the Dollar Tree, have good weight, with a barrel that will do for three skull stabs and a point that will only survive the first skull stab sufficiently hard to penetrate the skull to an 8th of an inch.
The sharp feeling of such a point on ribs might convince an attacker that he needs to hold in his guts and break contact. Such pens are good for:
-Hammer stabbing/hammer fisting, stabbing inward and hammer-fisting outward
-Saber stabbing, along with checking and grabbing or using another tool in the left hand
-Hammer fist stabbing with point protruding from heel of hand
I like clipping two of these on my collar for twin hammer stabs and hook clearing of clothes and hands and eyes.
What a discount weapon!
Being a Bad Man in a Worse World
Fighting Smart: Boxing, Agonistics & Survival
The pen is mightier than the sword indeed!
Field report—my tactical pen has gotten through TSA screening twice.