I’ll reprint what she says here. It needs to be read because she’s worked around felons all day long (A prison..not the White House)

You are correct that I was in LE, after a fashion- Corrections Department. I did it for a couple of years but found that I honestly didn’t have the stomach for the contant soap-opera world that is our state prisons.

Which brings up something I’ve been meaning to say here (everybody listen now):

I received extensive training in firearms, defensive tactics (hand-to-hand), and chemical agents. I learned many useful techniques, but there were two things that really hit home with me:

1) Chemical agents (pepper spray, mace, etc) are not always effective. Part of the training (as I am sure Dave well knows) involves getting sprayed with the stuff – and I NEVER want to go through that again. But there were 2 guys in my training group who were barely affected. Up to that point, I had carried pepper spray. (We also watched a training video of an actual cell extraction where the inmate was sprayed and simply looked at the officers like they were boring him.) Pepper spray doesn’t work, ladies. (Dave’s note: Pepper Spray does work really well in making your attacker truly angry with you! I never used it although is is unplesant-I was once advised not to carry a small gun for much the same reason. When I asked why I was reminded that smaller ones hardly satisfy the appetite. Since they are of questionable value in an altercation they might be fed to you)

2) I was taught many different methods of subduing an attacker physically. We practiced all of the take-downs and holds on each other (I have waist-length hair, and man did my head hurt from the hair-holds). I practiced with both men and women, and it became very obvious that while I was very strong for a woman (at 6 feet tall and 185), I was still no match for most of the guys in our group. So for those who say “toss away the gun and learn judo” I say it doesn’t matter. Most men are still bigger and stronger than most women.
It’s been said here before and I will shamelessly steal the phrase:

“Guns are the great equalizer”

For those of us who are smaller and/or weaker, a gun makes that a non-issue. For a lone person faced with multiple attackers, a gun is a life-saver.