Right on!

Practice them, either alone or better yet with your significant other and kids, so they will know when you use them you have not gone berserk despite how you sound.

A simple, “NO, THANK YOU,” said at louder than normal voice, while looking directly at the approaching panhandler, has in my experience stopped all normal requests for change.

The few who have continued to approach or address me after that did not work. got a near yell command voice, “DO NOT COME ANY CLOSER TO ME,” with a hand held out towards them as I scanned for any accomplices.

The very few who ignored that got profane outbursts at the top of my voice, with threats of grave bodily harm, while I moved to keep distance between me and them.

I have never had to fight a mugger. I have had to threaten to pour gas on a beggar at a gas station to stop his approach. I have had to holler like a crazy man in a parking lot to draw attention to the potential mugger that popped up like a jack-in -the-box, cornering me and my infant son in my car door. Both efforts worked without violence to or from me.

I have crossed, then recrossed, and recrossed a street as a street person one block ahead crossed to keep me on the same side of the street as them, on a deserted Saturday morning in New Orleans. I went two blocks out of my way for my Cafe du Mond coffee and beignets that day, and the bum never got within a block of me.

Thanks for the encouragement.

Regardless of the tools the government allows you to use, your voice is one they cannot restrict. Use it….

I’ve never really thought about what I’d yell during an encounter. I’ve often considered what courses of action to take even when I’m unarmed, how to use cover to my advantage, etc. but never really considered the verbal aspects of things.

This is a fantastic post!