5 Pieces of Self-Defense Advice You Should Ignore

Article Summary

Self-defense advice spreads fast, especially the kind that sounds clever enough to repeat but falls apart the moment you look closer. This article breaks down five common pieces of self-defense advice that keep making the rounds, from wasp spray substitutes to warning shots, and explains why each one can get you hurt, sued, or arrested.

Why does bad self-defense advice keep spreading?

Most bad self-defense advice does not sound crazy at first. That is exactly why it spreads. Somebody says it with confidence; it has a certain logic to it, and it gets passed along at the range, the internet or around the dinner table until enough people repeat it that it starts to feel true. Some of it will even make you pause and think, wait, would that actually work?

A lot of it will not. Here are five pieces of advice that keep circulating and why you should leave every one of them behind.

A quick legal disclaimer

Nothing in this article is legal advice. Laws around self-defense, use of force, and firearms vary by state and by situation, and the details matter. If you have questions about what’s legal where you live, talk to a licensed attorney. This article is about pointing out flawed self-defense advice, not telling you what to do in your specific circumstances.

Should you use wasp spray instead of pepper spray?

This one comes up constantly. The pitch goes like this: don’t buy pepper spray, because that’s a weapon. Buy wasp spray instead, because then you can claim you just grabbed whatever was handy.

The logic falls apart immediately. Pepper spray is designed to incapacitate a person and then wear off, usually with no lasting harm within a couple of hours. Wasp spray is a chemical built to kill living organisms. Spraying that into someone’s face can blind them permanently. The only real advantage wasp spray has is reach, and that is not worth the tradeoff.

There is a legal problem too. If you permanently injure someone with a product never intended for use on people, you are handing a lawyer everything they need to come after you. Pepper spray exists for exactly this purpose. Use the tool built for the job.

If you want to see how well POM Pepper Spray works, check out our review.

Is the “21-foot rule” actually a rule?

You will hear people treat the so-called 21-foot rule like law. The claim usually sounds like this: if you shoot someone past 21 feet, no jury will believe you were in danger. I’ve actually heard “instructors” tell this to students.

But the 21-foot rule was never a legal line. It came from a training observation that a person with a knife within 21 feet can often close the distance and reach you before you can draw and fire. That is useful to understand. It is not a rule about how far away you are allowed to defend yourself.

The same problem shows up in something often called the 3-3-3 rule, the idea that most self-defense shootings happen within three yards, involve three rounds, and are over in three seconds. That is an average, and it is based on law enforcement encounters where encounters, by their very nature, are closer than most civilian incidents. For example, the shooting could start at a car door in a traffic stop or while trying to handcuff a suspect. Averages like that pull the numbers down and can give you a false sense of what your own situation will look like.

Here is the practical takeaway. Most indoor ranges run to about 25 yards, so train at other distances too. The first time you shoot at 30 or 40 feet should not be the moment your life depends on it.

Should you ever move a body or alter a self-defense scene?

This is the one to take most seriously. The old line is “shoot them on the porch and drag them inside” so the scene looks better.

Do not do this. If your use of force was justified, it was justified, and you do not need to “help” the crime scene. Altering evidence is a crime in itself, and it makes you look guilty even when you are not. The moment you start rearranging the scene to tell a better story, you have turned a good-faith act of self-defense into something a prosecutor can build a case around.

Protect yourself, protect your family, then let the scene tell the story exactly as it happened. If you made an honest mistake, it was an honest mistake. Trying to cover it up is what turns a defense into a conviction. And it’s worth mentioning that modern forensic measures will almost certainly discover your actions. Just don’t.

Are warning shots ever a good idea?

Another piece of bad self-defense advice that reaches the highest levels. Joe Biden famously suggested that all you need is a double-barrel shotgun and a couple of blasts fired into the air. People took him seriously.

One man in Washington State fired two shotgun blasts into the air because he thought someone was breaking into his car. He was arrested and prosecuted, and when he pled not guilty, he said he was just doing what Joe Biden told him to do. That defense earned him a misdemeanor conviction and seven days in jail.

Physics is simple and inarguable. Every round that leaves your gun is your responsibility, including where it comes down. A warning shot fired into the air can land on a neighbor’s house, a passing car, or a kid. The warning shot is a great way to turn yourself from a defender into a defendant.

Is a gun ever just a visual deterrent?

The last one shows up in a few forms. Some people say to buy a pump shotgun because the sound of racking it will send an intruder running. Others buy a handgun with no real intention of ever firing it, figuring that showing it will be enough.

Yes, the sound of a shotgun racking can make someone think twice. Still, that is not a plan. It is a hope. Hope is not a strategy.

I once had a man ask me for advice on buying a handgun. As we talked, it came out that he never actually intended to shoot anyone. He just figured that if he showed the gun, they would run. So I told him to buy a Glock. He assumed it was because so many police agencies carry them. No. I told him it was because a Glock has a lot of rounded edges, so when someone takes it away from him and shoves it somewhere uncomfortable, it will do less damage. Blunt? Yes. But still true.

A gun is not a toy and it is not a visual aid. If a firearm is coming out, it is because you have a legitimate fear for your life and you are prepared to use it. Anything short of that is not a defense plan.

What ties all five together

Every one of these pieces of advice sounds smart enough to repeat, and every one of them falls apart the moment real pressure or real legal scrutiny shows up. That is the pattern. Advice built on a half-truth or a clever loophole works fine right up until the moment it actually matters, which is the worst possible time to find out it was wrong.

Watch the full conversation in the video above, then drop a comment. What bad self-defense advice have you heard? Some of it we have probably run into ourselves, but there is always a new one making the rounds, and yours might end up in a future video.

Key Takeaways

• Wasp spray is not a safe or legal substitute for pepper spray and can cause permanent injury plus serious civil liability
• The 21-foot rule and the 3-3-3 rule are training observations and averages, not legal limits or reasons to skip distance practice
• Never move a body or alter a self-defense scene, since tampering is a crime and destroys the credibility of a justified act
• Warning shots leave you responsible for wherever the round lands and can turn a defender into a defendant
• A firearm is not a scare tactic, and if it comes out, you need to be ready to use it