For that matter, it doesn't have mats or a heavy bag.
I've been noticing another trend.
In the wake of metoo and timesup, more and more ladies are coming forward with the stories of their fears. Not stories of their assaults, mind. These are stories instead of the deescalations they've had to engage in to prevent a violent encounter. Everything from a meh date to pumping gas and buying a cup of coffee gets accompanied of a story of gently letting down the latest in a long line of cock sales associates who take personal offense at not being interested.
I'll go into why (I think) this has occurred and possible solutions, but right now I'm still talking about the stories.
Time and again, they go like this.
(Original post about having to deescalate encounters of the cock sales associates before it got even scarier)
(expression of sympathy/solidarity)
(Declaration of guns and use therof)
(Declaration of other weapons and use thereof)
(Declaration of combat style du jur and use thereof)
There's a term for this, guys. It's called unhelpful.
You're on facebook. There's no ranges here. Or mats.
Lemme distill the timeline a little:
(Original post about socio-cultural problems and resulting emotional response)
(expression of emotional support)
(Practical yet unhelpful option)
(Practical yet unhelpful option)
(Practical yet unhelpful option)
Seriously.
Assuming you're a weapon carrier with a functioning higher though process, take it back a bit. Go back to when you first carried and the responsibility stick hit you.
You KNOW what I'm talking about. The first time you stopped yourself from honking at an asshole driver because you were wearing a pistol. The first time you bit back a response to whoever elbowed you out of line. The times it hit you that escalation was something you were gonna have to answer for.
Take that feeling. Knowing you had to let it go or convince a judge why not. How that changed your attitude in a thousand different ways. How it came down and hammered into you to be more polite in your daily dealings.
Now take that feeling and add in an endless parade of cock sales associates. The moderately annoying but ultimately harmless cable sales bubbas lurking in Walmart? Take those, breed them like Mogwai in a swimming pool, and turn them into randomly hostile freakshows when directly rejected.
THAT is what your lady friend is dealing with. Regularly.
And your response was something that would fit in a gun show bumper sticker.
Not very fucking helpful there, mate.
Wanna help?
Go back and read it again.
Is this a typical "dealing with assholes" vent?
Or is it a, "I'm finally admitting how scary this shit is" confession?
Listen to what's really being said, and react appropriately.
If all else fails, shut the fuck up. Don't underestimate the strength in silence. Especially when there's not a lot of listeners around.