A tactical pen is a great thing to add to your EDC, but shouldn’t be your primary line of defense. A firearm should. Even so there may be times that you can’t carry an obvious weapon such as a gun or knife and a tactical pen can help bridge those gaps for you by providing a dual purpose tool (pen/weapon). Either of which could be of use in times of crisis.
The reality though is that the pen is only effective as the handler. In trained hands it absolutely could provide devastating damage to a criminal threat, up to even death. On the flip side if the handler is ineffective in hand to hand combat it may be of little to no use. You don’t have to be a Master of any fight style, but you should certainly spend some time training and learning basic self defense hand to hand skills. Beyond the purpose of this article those skills could serve you well if needed.
One may be inclined to ask “Why not just use a regular pen or pencil?”
Because they are not generally constructed strong enough to do solid damage. At best you’ll likely get in one good strike before it breaks. Where as a tactical pen is designed for the purpose of defense and can deliver repeated damage until the threat is minimized. It also can be used for other areas where a blunt force pointed object may be desired (glass breaking, puncturing something, etc..) When it comes to tactical pens, a great choice is the SWAT Tactical Pen.
It has tons of mostly positive reviews from satisfied customers and is well ranked on Amazon, providing social proof that the product works. It’s important to know the specifications of the pen and why it’s designed the way it is.
The primary feature of the pen is the impact tip. This tip is made with an armor-piercing material known for its strength, tungsten carbide. So, what do you need an impact tip for?
It acts well as a weapon against an attacker. By simply holding the pen in a reverse grip and hammer-fisting the tip against soft tissue targets such as the eyes or even temple can do serious damage to the assailant. In fact a clean strike to anywhere on the head may likely end the ordeal abruptly.
Another use case would be the need to escape a location such as a building on fire. You may find the window unable to open in which case you can easily use the tip to easily break it out.
The same would apply to breaking out of (or in) to a card window, which tend to be much more challenging than a typical building. Even so they will easily break with an impact strike from the carbide tip.
Many self defense instructors love the SWAT pen for purposes of close-quarter combat trainers. Of course, if you have a good empty hand system, the pen will be even more effective for you as we mentioned at the start of the article.
A couple other great features of the pen are the thumb grip construction and aluminum shaft. The thumb grip of the pen is stable which allows a strong grip and maximum force. The aluminum shaft is anti-rust and will last a long time.
All that said, this pen actually writes. Which seems like it should be obvious, but I’ve seen some that don’t! While you’re carrying it as a self defense aid, it should also serve the purpose of its origin. That said when purchasing a tactical pen the primary consideration and weight should be on the tactical advantage it provides.
There are many fancy tactical pens out there with a wide range of features that distract from the most important purpose of the pen – to save your life and do maximum damage. Very often, the fancy pens fall short in this area.
Despite it’s s solid construction the SWAT pen is relatively lightweight. Another interesting point to note is that the cap doesn’t need to be unscrewed if you need to use it to write. You can just take off the cap and pop it on the other side. Another convenient feature offered by the designers.
As far as writing goes, this pen is as good as any and writes smoothly in dark black ink. The pen will not leak, and you can always get refills from the manufacturer. Though the appearance of the pen betrays its obvious intended purpose.
This pen looks tough ,and not like your usual pen. This could be a pro or con depending on context. Your buddies will love it, but if you’re trying to pull it off as a discrete regular pen at a corporate meeting it may stand out.
Finally, the product is backed by a lifetime guarantee. If you’re not satisfied with it, you can always get your money back… but we’re betting that once you see how nice it is, you’ll probably order another to keep in your bug-out bag too.
