Besides a bat, what is something you can carry in your vehicle that is effective as a weapon, yet legal to have and won't cause any trouble if a cop searches your car?

Please excuse my first few paragraphs. You may skip them if you like, but they also might be helpful.

OK, given that I’m a Founder, President and CEO of TigerLight, Inc. one might think that I’m biased, but I’m not. I’m also not anti-gun, far from it. However, I am realistic and do not base my comments on anything other than the facts and twenty+ years of studying attack dynamics and finding ways to realistically and effectively enable my wife, seven daughters, two sons and millions of good people the best chance of coming safely out of the widest and most likely violent attack scenarios, whether it be a human or animal attack.

In fact, the goal is to make it so difficult for rapists, robbers or any maleficent human or animal to harm an innocent person, that they stop trying. For example. If every single person attempting to rape a girl on a college campus found themselves in severe pain, afraid they might die, then arrested for attempted rape or assault, prosecuted and put in jail, they word would get around and it would likely have a huge impact on attempted rapes.

My brother retired from a large agency a few years ago. He worked at the head of drug enforcement team and at a time when the area he worked was the most dangerous area in the country, he was in 110 “heavy force” of a three year period, including a number of gun fights and the arrest of one of America’s ten most wanted and the recipient of many commendations for saving lives and other acts of bravery. Over the next 15 or so years working the same job in the same area, but with a TigerLight in hand, the activity increased, but the “heavy force” encounters disappeared.

Sure, he learned a lot and gained many skills over the years. However, it is clear and undeniable that having a TigerLight in hand created a completely different dynamic. In fact, the very first night with a TigerLight, he was back on duty after a 30-day administrative leave after being involved in a shooting. On the first stop of the night, his partner approached a subject they had pulled over for a traffic violation. My brother had a bad feeling and suggested his partner use the TigerLight rather than his flashlight. This would enable him to utilize non-lethal force in a split second, while also leaving his gun hand free. 

I could go into a lot of fun detain, but to keep it short, the guy in the car reached for a gun and tried to shoot the officer. Turned out he had just been out of prison for a week or so, already had a warrant out for his arrest for parole violations and had been in prison for attempted murder of a police officer. When he grabbed a gun and tried to fire on the officer, he was able to intercept the attempt with a blast of pepper spray in the face, which delayed the action and the officer and my brother were both able to get cover behind the car. Unfortunately for the bad guy, the department at that time insisted on the use of a terrible, weak, stream spray. Because of that, the individual was not completely incapacitated, which would have been to his great benefit. 

He bumped out of the vehicle and started running while firing 7 more shots at my brother and his partner. My brother then fired a shot that paralyzed him from the waste down and he went back to prison.

I then spent a year working with probably the top non-lethal weapons expert in the world at LASD and a PhD in criminal justice at Cal State, to develop a study that would clearly demonstrate the effectiveness and benefits of equipping every officer with a TigerLight rather than a flashlight. The study included 500 deputies on the streets of L.A. and also included the testing of another flashlight with pepper spray.

In summary, the TigerLight blew away the other flashlight with pepper spray in every category. It was used much more often, doubling the use of spray rather than using other, more dangerous uses of force. TigerLights were 100% effective, meaning no additional force was used, in over 96% of the incidents, on an average of 2.6 individuals per incident, without causing injury requiring medical attention. 

These results obviously place it far above any other non-lethal technology on the planet. It also was credited with saving an estimated four to six lives either because the deputies were able to use non-lethal rather than lethal force, without giving up the lethal force option, or the deputy was able to respond more quickly in a deadly, or lethal force situation, saving their own lives, like the situation mentioned above.

So now, as to the question above, “Besides a bat, what is something you can carry in your vehicle that is effective as a weapon, yet legal to have and won't cause any trouble if a cop searches your car?” it would seem that a device utilizing the same technology that saved the officer’s life, but reduced in size and being increased in power, while adding additional features making it one of the Top 20 Most Innovative Products In The World, would be a REALLY good choice to have in your car, or anywhere else you go, for non-lethal self defense and personal safety.

It’s also legal in all fifty states and if used in self defense, it will be extremely difficult for the bad guy, without a scratch, cut, hole, bruise or broken bone, to claim you used excessive force. However, he will remember the 30-45 minute experience the rest of his life. 

Now, given that in law enforcement, there is only 1 use-of-force incident meriting and involving lethal force for every 101 use-of-force incidents, it is wise to have lethal force capability, but ONLY if the individual with the gun is wise, reasonable and well trained. However, not having non-lethal force capability is simply not wise, in my humble opinion. It should NOT be your only viable option. :)

You can see more at tigerlight.net (http://tigerlight.net/) and even find the highly tactical reason it comes in shinny colors and why we do not recommend the black. Live spray, practice reversible hand strap, batteries and free mobile GPS Crowd Alert App, all come with it. Replacement Saber Red, modified, accelerated, cone spray canisters are only $9.95. Five mode tactical light is powered by a single AA battery and Bluetooth module is powered by a long life lithium battery.