Posted by Scott on July 29th, 2007 — Posted in News
Security With Advanced Technology announced today that its new non-lethal personal protection device, the Avurt IM-5 launcher, has commenced production and will be available for pre-sales initially on its new website, www.avurt.com, beginning August 1, 2007.
“We are excited about completing the design and development of the first Avurt launcher as well as introducing our new website and commencing pre-sale orders,” said Scott Sutton, president and CEO of Security With Advanced Technology. “Our effort to design a non-lethal personal protection device that is safe, reliable, and effective is approaching the finish line. With the introduction of the IM-5 launcher, consumers now have an unmatched option for non-lethal personal protection.”
The Avurt IM-5 launcher is a small, handheld device that launches up to five PAVA filled projectiles at attackers up to 40 feet away. It’s safe, easy to use, and highly effective at disabling attackers before they get close enough to do harm. The IM-5 launcher’s PAVA filled projectiles are non-lethal, but will leave an attacker choking and temporarily blinded, allowing a victim can escape to safety. It protects from greater distances than Mace or aerosol pepper sprays, and it doesn’t have the potential to be lethal the way firearms or stun guns do.
It seems like this product will help people defend themselves more effectively. Of course, avoidance works better than anything. One can best protect themselves by not getting into situations where they need to fight back. Nonetheless, people can fight back quicker when they do not have to worry about killing anyone.
I hope more people, especially women, arm themselves with these non-lethal self-defense weapons, and take classes to learn to use them effectively as well as learn other self-defense techniques such as avoidance and hand-to-hand combat.
What do you think?
No Comments »
Posted by Scott on July 28th, 2007 — Posted in Property Crime
While a thief always holds full legal responsibility for their crime, potential victims often hold some non-legal blame. Potential victims leave themselves vulnerable to attack and attractive to potential attackers.
A victim’s stupidity in no way absolves the perpetrator. Still, if you want to avoid getting robbed, you have to protect yourself by not leaving yourself open to attack.
In addition to the common sense precautions, such as locking doors and staying in well-lit areas, you also want to avoid flashiness. Wearing needlessly fancy jewelry and otherwise obtaining and/or flaunting needlessly expensive possessions will nearly invite thieves, robbers, and burglars. Not only will these victimizers want to take what they see, your flaunting will lead them to think you just generally have excessive amounts of wealth to steal.
Modern humans have the dishonorable tendency to try and show off and make others jealous. Doing that will catch the eye of crooks.
What do you think?
No Comments »
Posted by Scott on July 27th, 2007 — Posted in News
I do not know how much national coverage this story received, but since Monday all the news media in Connecticut has greatly covered a triple-homicide home invasion that began at 3 a.m. and involved rape, arson, burglary, and kidnapping.
The horrific story gained so much coverage, because it happened in in the upscale town of Cheshire. If the incident had happened to an inner-city black family, we probably would have never even heard about it.
Nonetheless, my heart goes out to the victims of this tragedy and their family. The direct victims include Dr. William Petit Jr. and his wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and their daughters, Hayley, 17, and 11-year-old Michaela. Only Dr. William Petit survived.
This horrible incident irks me even more because the two monsters who committed it, Joshua A. Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes, have extensive criminal records, including various other burglaries and larcenies. In fact, both of the two monsters committed this atrocity while on parole. Before sending Komisarjevsky to prison in 2002, a judge even called him a “cold, calculating predator.”
If the state had never released the two disgusting monsters on parole, then they could not have committed this atrocity.
I have frequently written about the dangerous release of dangerous villains. In fact, the day before the home invasion I posted the following: Keep Dangerous People Locked Up
It seems that the horrific home invasion may have brought some attention to the failures of the current incarceration system–at least the one in Connecticut, my home state. For example, governor Jodi Rell has ordered a “a top-to-bottom assessment of all the procedures and processes involved in charging, sentencing and releasing those convicted of crimes in Connecticut.”
Finally, I just want to reiterate my sympathy for the victims and their family.
1 Comment »
Posted by Scott on July 24th, 2007 — Posted in News
Punk band Anti-Flag will release a new compilation album on October 02, 2007, called A Benefit for Victims of Violent Crime. The album will donate some proceeds to The Center for Victims of Violence and Crime. It features five new Anti-Flag studio tracks in addition to recordings of live performances.
I like this idea, which the band apparently got after the bassist’s sister fell victim to violent crime, leaving behind a young daughter and son.
What do you think?
No Comments »
Posted by Scott on July 22nd, 2007 — Posted in Politics & Commentary
I think modern incarceration systems need to seriously refocus their methods on two principles:
1. Keep all convicted victimizers locked up until, if ever, they no longer pose a threat to innocent people in society.
2. As quickly as reasonably possible, release everyone who we can safely release into society.
Focus everything to do with sentencing, detaining, and releasing convicted victimizers towards accomplishing those two principles.
I say ‘victimizers’ rather than ‘criminals,’ because I consider it absurd to waste resources arresting, convicting, and detaining people for victimless crimes.
For the same reason, I find it absurd to keep rehabilitated people in jail. The quicker we get them out, the quicker we can put dangerous people behind bars. Dangerous people get released from overcrowded jails to make room for non-dangerous people.
I find it equally absurd to release unrehabilitated victimizers just because a certain amount of time passed. Forget the whole flawed idea of maximum sentences!
What do you think?
No Comments »
Posted by Scott on July 21st, 2007 — Posted in Child Protection
Overprotecting children can backfire. If you try to restrict them, they will turn away from you and sneak around, and then you cannot protect them at all.
However, you can easily just keep track of where your children are. Have them call you to check in at a certain time at night or in the evening. If you allow them to stay out all night, make sure they call you by a certain time in the morning. Doing this will help you spot a problem before it happens, or at least limit the time it takes you to spot it. Additionally, the very act of checking in will make your child think about what they are doing and any risks involved.
No Comments »
Posted by Scott on July 20th, 2007 — Posted in Rape & Sexual Assault
According to national statistics, one in four women will be sexually assaulted by the time they turn 18. In 2005, there were 191,670 victims of rape, attempted rape or sexual assaults according to the 2005 National Crime Victimization Survey.
Why?!
I truly believe that society has the resources to put an end to rape and sexual victimization. At the very least, we can drastically reduce it. Why don’t we?
Why does the country waste so much of its resources on other needless endeavors, such as the “war on drugs” and the occupation of Iraq?
3 Comments »
Posted by Scott on July 19th, 2007 — Posted in News
While reading through the news today, I saw a disturbing story about a 12-year-old charged with rape in Australia. The story makes me very disappointed. The boy apparently attacked a woman in the middle of the day. I find it disturbing enough when I see all the stories about teenagers committing these horrible acts, but preteens too?!
I think this just shows the danger present in today’s world. We need to take it upon ourselves to protect ourselves, our friends, and our loved ones. Stay safe, learn self-defense, and consider getting self-defense tools, such as pepper spray or stun guns.
What do you think?
No Comments »
Posted by Scott on July 18th, 2007 — Posted in Gang Violence
Today, when I looked through the stories about self-defense, violence prevention, etc., I saw so much about gangs and gang violence.
In my opinion, many of these reports and articles incorrectly view gangs as a cause of social problems. In contrast, I see gangs and gang violence as a symptom.
Don’t get me wrong; I in no way excuse the violent actions of gangsters. I believe gangster, thugs, and anyone who offensively hurts innocent belongs in jail. I say, let’s put as many of them as we can in jail, so that they can no longer hurt people.
Nonetheless, we need to realize the causes of gang violence, and we need to fight the underlying problems. Namely, poverty and poor education cause gangs and gang violence.
For one, children who live in ghettos and go to crappy schools grow up around violence, and they copy what they observe. The crappy inner-city schools lack the resources to teach the kids any better.
Even more importantly, poverty and poor education mean the children lack opportunity. That lack of opportunity causes the children to turn to gangs, drug dealing, and other desperate & short-sighted vices. As people often say, there’s nothing more dangerous than a man with nothing to lose. Poor children from gang-ridden neighborhoods do not have much to lose.
The best way to reduce gang violence and steer children away from gangs consists of eliminating the aforementioned causes. If society gives all children quality education and opportunities, then the children will invest in that rather than turning to gangs.
No Comments »
Posted by Scott on July 15th, 2007 — Posted in News
In the world of security, the hardest way to keep a low profile is over telecommunications. Phones and mobile phones alike can be tracked, numbers can be logged, and voices and speech patterns can be recognized even when tracks are covered. There are very few solutions to those who do require a sense of extra security, and The Zero Group is seeking to change the norm in phone security.
The Zero Group is a company based in New York that has the sole purpose of protecting privacy of its users. The features that are provided are astounding; outgoing calls can be changed to appear as a different number to those who receive it. Voice tones and pitch can be changed with the press of a button, to deter voice recognition. And more impressively, the rate at which the receiver hears the caller’s voice can be altered- so virtually no pattern can be found to associate the caller with an actual person.
The features are obviously astounding, especially considering that all that is needed is a phone card. The user dials the access code, dials the number, the number that the user would like to display to the receiver’s caller ID, and finally the user chooses the appropriate voice to use. This is a very simple process, considering the high tech process that is actually being used. Payment for such a service would likely seem expensive, but rates go as low as around $0.89/minute. Considering that there is no way for the caller to track the call, and that spoofing the caller ID is possible, this is a very competitive price.
The application of the Zero-Fone service goes beyond just security. A lot of fun can be had at the expense of others with the caller ID spoofing. This is also a very effective solution to get in touch with those who may have chosen to ignore you. This puts a whole new perspective into pranks, relationships, and anonymity. Even more interestingly, it can be used to deceive the receiver, and information can be extorted through this means of anonymity.
Interestingly enough, there are more than the fine services of The Zero Group. Other services, such as Phone Gangster, are in existence. The Zero Group is considered to be the leading anonymity provider with phones, since they have more features and cheaper rates than the competition. Rates do vary, but the Zero-Fone rates are, on average, much lower than the Phone Gangster counterparts. No one really likes to pay extra for something that offers less service, which is why The Zero Group has raised to the top of the industry.
Even more benefit to the Zero-Fone service is the amount of dedication the company provides. Innovative programs such as the “SupaSMS” service allow users to spoof text messages as well. This completely reinvents what it means to have a sense of security on who is contacting you. In fact, this is why The Zero Group also offers “BackSpoof”, which will tell the user when the number that is calling is real or, in fact, a spoofed number. In addition, custom services are available to high-paying customers. The level of dedication is truly unreal.
The Zero Group is the best solution for those who truly care about security. Pranksters and relationship quarrels and infidelity matters also see high gain from using the service. The price is more than just competitive- it is the lowest around. Without a doubt, The Zero Group has dominated the phone security market- and much more. If security is a priority, The Zero Group likewise makes it their priority.
1 Comment »
Posted by Scott on July 10th, 2007 — Posted in Self-Defense Advice
Sgt. Graham Dunne from the Aurora Police Department teaches a class that helps people learn what to do in dangerous situations. He gave some important tips to 9news.com.
I include one of the tips:
If the predator has a gun and you are not under his control, always run!
Police officers only make 4 of 10 shots when they are in range of 3-9 feet. This is due to stress. The predator will only hit you (a running target) 4 in 100 times. And even then, it most likely will not be a vital organ. Run! Nine out of 10 people who are shot live.
I think many people freeze up out of fear when involved in threatening situations. Fear causes people to act irrationally. You may have trouble making yourself run away from a gun bearing predator who may shoot at you. However, after reading those statistics, I agree with the recommendation to run away if you can.
If the predator will shoot you just because you ran away, think what the predator would do if you let him capture you.
What do you think?
1 Comment »
Posted by Scott on July 6th, 2007 — Posted in Politics & Commentary
Lack of awareness causes our society to fail to put an end to victimization. News stations cover the trivial aspects of Paris Hilton’s life, rather than point out the prevalence of rape or teen violence.
As individuals, we can all do our part to help raise awareness, and thus spark social change. For example, I carry around a card in my wallet with a few shocking statistics about victimization. At any point in time, I can pull that card out and tell people that approximately 17,000 murders and 100,000 rapes take place every year in the United States.
Feel free to use the comment feature to suggest other ways for individuals to raise awareness about victimization. In fact, please do that!
No Comments »
