Safe, Not Sorry: Keeping Yourself and Your Family Safe in a Violent Age

This book came out in the 90s and has gotten only 2 reviews so far? I guess I'd better add my own then ... especially as I think one reviewer didn't read the book (and that makes up half the reviews). TKM (Tanya K. Metaksa) lists many of her sources and references, and shares what many people who have personal experience in investigating or surviving crimes have to say. Over half the book is so busy giving common sense advice on how to avoid being a victim of a crime, it barely even mentions guns. Where she does talk about guns, she gives her views after she has tried them, researched them, and talked to people who would know about them. Nearly all of what she says (about guns or anything else) would be endorsed by AWARE (Arming Women Against Rape & Endangerment), a nonpolitical resource (see http://www.aware.org/) aimed at helping women and not promoting any political party or actively campaigning to encourage gun ownership. (I also do the same.) As a practitioner of Krav Maga myself (with a background in Wing Chun), and well-versed in Impact and FIST (self-defense for women practitioners), I'll personally back much of what TKM says about unarmed defense. I'd nitpick a few points, but I would not call her views "unrealistic." (Granted, a 200-pound guy might not see things the same way.) Furthermore, some guys laugh at a woman who learns self-defense, but they don't laugh at a woman with a gun. That is to say, knowing that some women are carrying a concealed weapon will do more to deter potential attackers than finding out that more women are learning unarmed self-defense, or getting more stun guns and pepper sprays--and deterring attackers is much better than surviving an attack. This is a point that TKM declines to make herself. Most of the material on guns is actually legal information and how to learn the specifics in your area, as well as urging those who get guns to learn to safely, effectively, and legally use them. I don't recall any remark in there about, "if you don't get a gun, you will be killed," or "it is not only your right, but your duty, to get a gun," or otherwise promoting "NRA propaganda." She even included Dr. Gary Kleck's conclusions that gun ownership makes for a safer society. Dr. Kleck is a lifelong Democrat, self-proclaimed liberal, and a member of Amnesty International. He has never contributed to or supported the NRA at all, except as his own studies, highly respected in academia, have been coincidentally helpful to them. Another reason why I wouldn't dismiss Safe, Not Sorry as "NRA propaganda" is that her book didn't gloat over the fact that Paxton Quigley was a former worker for Sarah Brady who changed sides after a personally harrowing experience. (I've known two others to leave the "gun control" side and become Second Amendment activists, but I've never heard of the reverse happening. Interestingly enough, the other two to defect were also women. I'm not sure if that means anything or not, but feminism is i

This book is not just for women only. It is an essential "survival guide" for all law biding citizens that points out in a straight forward format our common weaknesses and naivete in our day to day lives at work, home, or play. The author does not just promote the use of handguns or the NRA. She presents the facts and offers various solutions. Ultimately everyone of us is responsible for our own personal safety. In this book we are made aware of just how much so, along with some little known surprises regarding the limits of reponsibility our police, society, and the law, have with regards to our personal safety. A true eye opener, with lessons to be learned by all. Without hesitation I can say that I want all the members of my family (male & female alike) to read this book.