Women have become one of the largest demographics — if not the largest — for buying firearms and training in recent years. Oftentimes, husbands, boyfriends, and other well-meaning but under-informed male influences, try to help by (a) buying the special woman in their life a firearm — a handgun specifically, and/or (b) trying to teach her how to shoot. We’ll save the latter for another time. For now, we’ll take up the former with a list of the best handguns for women. Many women come to our entry-level handgun classes. A handful have either purchased a gun or had one purchased for them, or may ..read more

In all my years of teaching self-defense, I’ve found parking garages to be one of the greatest safety risks. After all, they represent everything common sense tells us to avoid — dimly lit, unmonitored areas and isolation — making it a perfect spot for “bad guys” to hide and attack helpless victims. Not surprisingly, the FBI considers parking areas to be one of the most dangerous places — nearly 10 percent of all U.S. violent crimes occur in parking lots for a total of 130,000 violent crimes per year, which may involve anything from carjacking and armed robbery to kidnapping and murder. Despit ..read more

Many years ago, when I was working in a specialized street crimes unit, we arrested a young man after he had broken into several cars. When we brought him to our office, we asked him what he and his partner were doing that evening. He said something that has stuck with me for many years. As investigators, we thought we knew the whys and hows of the criminal mindset and had a good handle on how it worked. What this kid said surprised us all. He said, “Me and Skittles thought we’d just go out and ‘hit a lick’ tonight.” When we asked what he meant, he explained that they were going to commit a cr ..read more

As a sixth degree black belt instructor with over 20 years in martial arts, I’ve trained a number of women who have been victimized by violence. Initially, it was challenging for me to work with them because the close contact, hands-on training — while purposely positive, gentle, and controlled — tended to trigger their trauma. But over time, I helped them learn the basics of self-defense and gain the ultra-important confidence and willingness to fight back. Still, their stories really troubled me. I wanted to do something to prevent such trauma from occurring in the first place. I came to the ..read more

Bullying at school is not a new problem — it’s been a tormenting reality for millions of children or teens perhaps for as long as schools have been around. But in today’s culture, with constant access to social media, bullying has turned into an epidemic-level issue. As a recent survey from Pew Research Center reported, nearly half of U.S. students, ages 13–17, have dealt with online abuse or harassment from a peer. Such treatment can spill over from the internet into school classes, hallways, cafeterias, and locker rooms. For some bullying victims, this begs the question: Is any environment s ..read more

If you are in a life-threatening situation or need help immediately, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text “START” to 88788. This resource is accessible 24–7, and a live advocate will connect with you in real time. In the United States alone, more than 10 million adults experience domestic or intimate partner violence each year. This can take the form of physical, sexual, verbal, or emotional abuse. In all of these cases, the impact is severe, traumatic, and often potentially fatal. But please know, you don’t have to stand for it. “Abusive relationship signs can ..read more

As a self-defense instructor for women, teens, and children for the past 23 years as well as a former volunteer legal advocate for a local domestic violence shelter, it’s no surprise that I’ve seen my fair share of teenage dating violence. But in fact, like a lot of self-defense advocates, this is a subject that hits close to home. I had been trained in martial arts for more than a decade when I hit a turning point and decided to transition into teaching dedicated self-defense skills — my sister was raped in college in her off-campus apartment. Sadly this crime was committed by a well-known ac ..read more

With the advent of social media, thieves suddenly have a wealth of information about you and your family at their fingertips. Crime trends have evolved in the twenty-first century, and so should our safety protocols as well. Although criminals can still obtain sensitive information through the time-honored traditional dumpster dive, it’s become a lot easier to shop for their next victim from the comfort of their own living room. Follow these social media safety tips to ensure you and your loved ones stay safe. 7 Social Media Safety Tips Looking to avoid social media dangers? Follow these tips ..read more

In a famous and oft-cited criminology study (Grayson & Stein) published in 1981, a group of criminals convicted of assault reviewed a videotape of 60 randomly selected people walking down the street in New York City and were asked to evaluate how likely they would be to target these individuals. Amazingly, without any consultation whatsoever, they all picked the same people. Unfortunately, the world isn’t any safer from such criminals in our day and age, but the silver lining here is that with these learnings on criminal thinking, we can know how to avoid getting mugged. While most cities ..read more

BY RACHEL CHEESEMAN, FOUNDER OF STREET SMART SELF DEFENSE Raising a child with autism holds incredible challenges. I know this as truth because I’m an “autism parent”. My son, Blaize attends a local Approved Private School program that exclusively serves special needs children. Toward the end of last school year, my son’s teacher was talking with me about the arrival of a new student in the classroom and about how her and Blaize were getting along very nicely.   I said “Oh, that’s great!  Is she new to the area?” The teacher’s response was, “No. Her parents transferred her ..read more