With actual violence coming down on our heads now, Americans must be asking themselves: should we just stay home and hope that voting the right way will result in a safe, stable society?

But if that were ever a possibility, it ended with the Black Lives Matter riots and continuing assaults on Trump rallies. We see police standing aside while masked, Leftist thugs assault conservative audiences. We are beginning to live under anarcho-tyranny, in which our enemies feel that both history and the state are on their side. This particularly true in urban areas and in Left-dominated states like New Jersey, Massachusetts and California.

It is vital to understand that the days of reliable working class cops enforcing order so that the middle class could generate tax revenue for the state in peace are over. Old-style cops are out there, but we must never forget that generally law enforcement has now become what John O’Sullivan described in the British context as the “paramilitary wing of the [Leftist] Guardian [newspaper]”— taking orders from increasingly politicized overlords.

The police also operate according to procedures dictated by lawyers. Those lawyers have left the taxpayer’s interest and our traditional culture behind some time ago.

So violence lurks at the edges of all our proceedings today. The “Antifa” have been around for a while but now seem to have caught on at many campuses. We saw Hispanics and blacks join with the Left in attacking peaceful Trump rallies. Leftist unions have long thrown their own goons at enemies.

Result: attending any right-of-center event confronts law-abiding Americans with the question of self-protection.

Before anything else we need to affirm our absolute right to defend ourselves. We must always keep in mind that we are the side of civilization and order. They have absolutely no right to suppress us or put us in fear when we assemble peacefully. If we let the Left’s constant weaponized white guilt seep into our consciousness, we lose. We must not allow ourselves to be the Christians in the arena just for participating in our birthright.

Police have been allowing our enemies to arm themselves with sticks, garbage can lids, slingshots, sap gloves, etc. As supporters of order we should not follow their example. We can defend ourselves without overt, street-brawling, weaponry. We can use much simpler and in the long run more effective methods.

I paid my way through college by working as a corrections officer in a particularly nasty jail in New Jersey. In some ways, it was as much an education as I got at university. It also so happens that I spent the last eight year of my government career as an inspector of criminal halfway houses for the same state. (I did more interesting and rewarding things in the interim but that’s for another day). That’s 14 years of law enforcement service without carrying a firearm—nobody carries a weapon inside a jail. So I‘ve had to learn some lessons about how to maneuver without overt weaponry.

Here are a few suggestions for how to keep safe and yet participate as a citizen.

Remember, you are not out looking for trouble. Leave that to the Leftist scum. You are only responding to an attack. That response must be justified and proportionate. Hitting someone in the head with a hammer for pushing you is a no-no. Causing them to lose their balance and land on the pavement it quite proportional.

Here are some tools for proportional self-defense.

THE CANE: Any sort of implement is better than no implement at all. A simple walking stick can be a devastating tool of self-defense. There are many sites on the net where the proper use of a cane to protect yourself can be studied.

If nothing else, get a cane and practice what you see there on an old duffle bag. Better yet, round up a few friends and ask your local martial arts dojo to set up some classes for proper instruction. It would be hard to imagine police confiscating canes from, let’s face it, our somewhat silver-toned ranks.

Do not bring anything that looks like a cudgel or shillelagh to a meeting/event. The cops will confiscate them—and they are actually less useful than the common cane with its crooked end.

In this new age we find ourselves in, I don’t know why we all don’t just carry walking stick all the time. They are not illegal and are quite traditional. Let’s start a right-wing fashion trend. See below for a brief sample of the cane as a self-defense weapon.

THE KUBOTAN: This is just Asia-speak (it’s named for Japanese-American martial artist Takayuki Kubota, who taught its use to American police) for any stout pen, short stick or other stiff implement that can be grasped firmly in the first and applied to an aggressor’s vulnerable points.

You may have seen ads for “Tactical Pens.” That’s a kind of Kubotan, A large Sharpie-type marker makes a perfectly good Kubotan. So does a six-inch pocket flashlight. These things make good keychain attachments while having the ability to render a large attacker out of commission. No one has ever been arrested for carrying a large magic marker.

For a taste of how Kubotans work see this.

There is some actual instruction from Phil Elmore here. Once again, check out sources on the net and or get some training at a local dojo.

SELF-DEFENSE TRAINING: Many YMCAs offer classes for seniors. Take advantage of this, and ask for specific cane and kubotan training as well as the regular curriculum.

The beauty of these courses is that they are actually fun, while concentrating on practical self-defense. They know you are not going for your black belt. That said, many people become hooked on sort of martial arts or another and benefit from the overall healthy exercise. In my area, the Princeton Academy of Martial Arts is the best.

What if the situation breaks down altogether and full scale anarchy breaks out? I think the follow is advisable now in case the worst happens: Arm yourself.

By that I don’t mean buying a so-called assault rifle. If you are unarmed now, just go out and buy a cheap .22 caliber semi-auto. I say this because you will actually enjoy shooting it. You will pick up some skill and it can still be used for self-defense. The best gun in the world is useless if you don’t know how to use it.

For all gun-related information, I bow to the expertise found in two excellent sources. Massad Ayoob is an expert’s expert on the field of citizen weapon use. Pay no attention to the name, his family has been in New Hampshire for three generations! He is both a former peace officer and an expert witness in cases of civilian use of deadly force. He also teaches combat shooting at his own facility. He is a patriot and a good guy extraordinaire. He blogs here. A book of his you should read is Deadly Force: Understanding Your Right to Self Defense

The other source: a book by the legendary Jeff Cooper: Principles Of Personal Defense. Cooper was a Marine veteran of WWII and Korea, firearms writer and professor who formed his own school of combat shooting, which still continues: Gunsite Ranch.

If things do get worse, we need to understand that, in an environment of social violence, only the social cohesion of the healthy can resist successfully.

Do you know your local conservatives? Consider quietly networking with patriots in your area. No skullduggery here, no secrets cells, just form one of those little platoons Edmund Burke wrote about.

Get together and discuss the local situation. In the event of civil collapse can you help each other? If the cops can’t or won’t defend your neighborhood, who are the men in the area willing to guard it? A friendly chat about this in advance could be a lifesaver.

As violence intrudes into our lives, we will need to attend to our safety in well-thought-out ways.

But we can take heart in the knowledge that our enemies are limited by their own dysfunctional obsessions and self-confounding objectives.