I thought I should mention the 150 pound bull dog I fended off with my ASP. The sob charged me for no reason at all while I was riding the other day, and without thinking about it, I pulled my trusty 26 incher and hit the thing. It was like when you realise you are about to rear end a fuel tanker truck, you don't think, you just hit the breaks. In my case, I didn't have time to think either, I just gave the dog a good blow to the head and it ran off.

As I have said before, you don't want to hit anything or anybody in the head with an ASP, it could kill them. I was taken by surprise and didn't have time to think. It was coming right at me, the head shot was the easiest route, and insinctively I took it. Luckily this dog had a thick head and I didn't break its skull in. After it hapened I became upset with myself that I hit the thing in the head. Especially with my years of martial arts and fencing practice, I would have expected better of myself. A common and accurate saying in the martial arts and gun community is that in times of crisis, you don't rise to your expectations, you fall to your level of training. This is why I have decided to seek formal ASP training.

I was riding in a very safe neighborhood when the attack occured, and this is a good lesson for those of you who think planning alone will keep you safe.