I carry enough shit with me - I don't need to add a specific less-lethal weapon. 32 years this year as a student of martial arts - if I need an impact weapon, I'm it. My brain is my #1 weapon, #2 are my eyes, #3 my ears, and #4 my mouth. Those four things have saved me from a lot of potentially bad situations before.
I carry a small fixed blade knife for if things go really bad. I carry a folding knife because I use it almost daily, opening shit, cutting line, or scraping crap out from under my finger nails. I carry a flashlight that's used multiple times a day. I carry my gun because bad people do bad things and I've needed a gun before and know I don't want to find myself in a similar situation without it. I carry a spare magazine because the most common malfunctions with magazine fed pistols are magazine related, and to a lesser point yeah, if I have to face down zombies, I don't want to do it with *just* the 16 rounds in the gun. Gun has a light on it because if I need the gun at night, I'm going to 1.) use the light to ID potential threats and 2.) try to disorient or temporarily blind a potential attacker and I need my off hand for something besides holding a flashlight.
I'm not carrying medical shit. I have thought about it - and I carry a first aid kit in the car. Yeah, I get it - if I get into a fight and we go to guns or knives, there's a damn good chance I'm getting slit or shot but I'm just not ready to make the jump to carrying a trauma kit everywhere I go. I'd rather carry a bottle of water everywhere, I'll certainly use that waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more often than anything else I could carry, and it gets lighter as you use it.
I carry a small fixed blade knife for if things go really bad. I carry a folding knife because I use it almost daily, opening shit, cutting line, or scraping crap out from under my finger nails. I carry a flashlight that's used multiple times a day. I carry my gun because bad people do bad things and I've needed a gun before and know I don't want to find myself in a similar situation without it. I carry a spare magazine because the most common malfunctions with magazine fed pistols are magazine related, and to a lesser point yeah, if I have to face down zombies, I don't want to do it with *just* the 16 rounds in the gun. Gun has a light on it because if I need the gun at night, I'm going to 1.) use the light to ID potential threats and 2.) try to disorient or temporarily blind a potential attacker and I need my off hand for something besides holding a flashlight.
I'm not carrying medical shit. I have thought about it - and I carry a first aid kit in the car. Yeah, I get it - if I get into a fight and we go to guns or knives, there's a damn good chance I'm getting slit or shot but I'm just not ready to make the jump to carrying a trauma kit everywhere I go. I'd rather carry a bottle of water everywhere, I'll certainly use that waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more often than anything else I could carry, and it gets lighter as you use it.