Tactical Force Combatives

Personal Security Tip #1

Don’t wear headphones in public spaces.

I’m often asked what the single biggest thing a person can do to improve their personal security.

My answer is simple: take the headphones off.

When you wear headphones, you voluntarily give up one of your most important early warning systems, your hearing.

You won’t hear someone approaching from behind. You won’t hear an argument escalating nearby. You won’t hear a vehicle travelling at speed, people calling for help, falling debris, or the countless subtle sounds that alert us that something isn’t right.

Personal safety begins with awareness.

It isn’t just about criminals. It’s about recognising danger before it reaches you, whatever form that danger takes.

The situation becomes even worse when headphones are combined with looking down at a smartphone. Vision and hearing are both diverted away from your surroundings, leaving you almost completely disconnected from what’s happening around you.

If your attention is going to be somewhere else, make sure you’re in a genuinely safe place first.

No public space should ever be assumed to be a safe place. Awareness is your first line of defence.

If a government can no longer protect its population, it has a duty to allow its citizens the means to protect themselves.

The first duty of government is the protection of its people. When it can no longer fulfil that duty, it cannot justly deny law-abiding citizens the ability to provide for their own defence.

Australian law already recognises the principle of self-defence. The Commonwealth Criminal Code provides that a person is not criminally responsible if they act in self-defence where they believe their conduct is necessary and it is a reasonable response in the circumstances. In other words, the law acknowledges that every person has the right to defend themselves when faced with unlawful violence.

This principle is reflected more broadly in international human rights law. Article 3 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that, “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.” Likewise, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights protects the right to life and the right to liberty and security of the person.

Long before these principles were written into law, the philosopher John Locke argued that the rights to life, liberty and property are natural rights that exist before government itself. Governments are established to secure those rights, not to grant them. When government cannot adequately protect its citizens, the inherent right of individuals to preserve their own lives remains.

Self-protection is therefore not a privilege granted by the state. It is a fundamental human right. The real question is whether governments should unnecessarily prevent law-abiding citizens from having effective and lawful means to exercise that right when the state cannot provide adequate security.

What happens when you cut lines of communication and don't allow people to speak?

They become frustrated.

They start to feel unheard, misrepresented, neglected, powerless and anger and resentment grows.

Nothing good comes from this.

You don't have to agree with people, but if you listen you may find they have some valid points and genuine concerns and areas of middle ground everyone can meet on.

CPR to someone with a stab wound?

I certainly hope they plugged the hole before performing CPR.

Remember this, CPR is to push blood around the body but if all you are doing is pushing it out then the casualty will die from exsanguination.

CPR was performed on the boy, but he died at the scene. Details below.