The Northern NJ/NYC area has been plagued by a series of sexual assaults. As a result, Union City NJ, is offering self-defense classes for women.

Via the Jersey Journal

UNION CITY - It was standing room only Thursday night as more than 75 women filled the gymnasium of Veterans Memorial School for a free self-defense seminar in Union City.

On July 18, a 51-year-old city resident was raped and strangled, and there have been three other sexual assaults in the city since May...

.."This is not a safe area and we want to be able to defend ourselves," said Stephanie Taveraz, 16, who came to the seminar with two friends.

...The three-hour class, led by professional defense expert Ken Good, a former Navy SEAL, advised women on a range of subjects, such as how to avoid a possible attack and how to use high heels as a weapon.

"Women need to know how to turn their fear into anger and rage when threatened," said Good, who has trained female Union City and New York City police officers.

The rapists who are currently threatening women in Northern NJ and New York have proven their intent is to kill. Our response should be equivalent.

In a life-threatening situation,

this is not a weapon..

This is a weapon.

I don't know guns, but, like most women, I know knives. I can debone a chicken with a few quick slices using a knife like this. It takes many months of training to use a gun, but these knives are available in any local sporting-goods store.

The Nanny-staters among us will tell us that women shouldn't carry real weapons because the attacker will grab it and use it against them. So, here's an idea - instead of teaching young women how to use shoes as weapons, lets teach them how to effectively use weapons as weapons.

According to the constitution, every American has the right of self-defense, but in the New York Area, this right is not encouraged. Mayor Bloomberg is openly gun-phobic. One chuckleheaded judge ruled that mace was a deadly weapon. This extremely blue-state area still clings to the old herd mentality, which basically states that "we don't need to defend ourselves, we just have to be able to run faster than the other targets."

The goal of self-defense shouldn't be to thwak the bad man with our high heels and run away, leaving him free to attack someone else; the goal should be to stop the attacker in any and every way that we can. The New York City area needs to catch up with the rest of the country. Self-defense isn't just an American right, it's a responsibility.