In the comments of an earlier post about self-defense I answered the following question: "What do you think is the single most effective self-defense weapon?"
with this answer:
"I would like to pose the answer to the question:
There are three stages: Preventative; evasive; defensive.
Your greatest asset in any self-defense situation is the alert and prepared mind. This will allow you to prevent most situations and will allow you to not be taken by surprise in others. It will also give you an edge in situations you find unavoidable."
Now, I would like to expound upon my answer. In my post, I divided it into 3 stages: preventative, evasive, and defensive. I used examples in evasive and defensive that I meant to be somewhat symbolic. When asked, Mark Kimzey (4th degree black belt in xingyiquan kung fu, licensed self-defense instructer, and ppct trained by the police) I was told that the mind is the best weapon in a self-defense situation. By simply being aware of your environment you can prevent a situation from occuring. In emails from Rick Deisler, a 2nd degree blackbelt in the same style, and Mike Cross who sells mace to the police dept. in Pana, IL when asked the same question both individuals responded enthusiastically that the mind is the best weapon.
Some examples would be walking up to your car and looking under the car to ensure that no one is there, looking behind the seat, making sure your trunk is closed, being aware of the people around you, not giving up all you know to your would-be-attacker. Things like this can help you prevent situations where you have to defend yourself. And in times where you do, using your mind effectively will give you an advantage that you might not have had.
Knowing not to pull over in isolated areas has saved many peoples lives, and even if the person you are pulling over for is a police officer, it is still better to put your flashers on and drive to a lighted, public area before pulling over. Even people who appear to be police sometimes assault people.
The next thing I said was about evasion. This simply means, that whenever possible, you need to get away to some place safe. Don't stay and duke it out with someone when you can run away safely.
Third: defensive. I talked about a cane, I meant this to be symbolic. What I said was true, but even with a cane you must be trained to use it for it to have maximum effectiveness. And when I say trained, I don't mean shown how to once or twice. I mean shown how, understanding how, and being able to do effectively -- that requires training and a lot of practice. What I meant was to use what you have, to the best of your ability, whether it be a cane (which a great many people cary) or a purse or a knife, mase, pepper spray, stun gun, brick, rock, stick, gun, lead pipe, cro-bar, what ever. When you have determined that you have to fight, fight to win! and use whatever you have to to win.
In a nutshell you can say that an alert and prepared mind, then body, are the most effective self-defense weapons.
How about: "Four: stick the barrel of an M1911 to their forehead."
I don't know of many who would disagree that "the mind is the best weapon" blahblah. But is my sense all that uncommon? Or is that common sense? *shrug*