No, not at all, you misinterpreted what I said.
Understood, sorry.
Of course, it is a lethal weapon, a walking stick is a non-lethal object of self-defense; which has it's perks, you can't die from being smacked in the thigh a couple times but a bullet to the thigh will cause tearing, possible rupture of the femoral artery, broken bone, etc. A gun can be aimed most anywhere on the body for death to occur (head, chest, arms [arteries/veins], legs [same]. The walking stick pretty much either has to be hit hard enough on the chest to cause an arrhythmia or palpatations, or smacked right on the noggin (prefferably in the temple) for there to be even the chance of a lethal blow (supposing you don't have bleeder's disease or leukemia).
Once again, it goes back to picking your poison. Lethality for effectiveness and a chance of getting severely wounded or even killed, or non-lethality for less effectiveness but less of a chance of dying, youself.
Okay, there are definitely situations that may call for non-lethal force, and like you said earlier, each has it's ups and downs. In a self-defense situation, where you are being attacked, you probably don't have time to establish intent of attacker. Does this person just want to smack you around a little, or is he willing to outright kill you? Not knowing that, you have to assume worst case scenario. If you feel your life is threatened, you have a right to use deadly force in return. IMO, it may be too hard for the average person to try and establish what level of force to use on an attacker. You want to win that fight, because it could mean your life if you loose. If you don't feel like deadly force is necessary, but fail with your stick, you may only succeed in aggravating your assailant to become more aggressive. To come back to topic, I think you are less likely to die yourself if you arm yourself with the knowledge and weapons to incapacitate the attacker, not just hurt him.
I was simply offering the walking-stick as an alternative to a gun.
Sure, but I was simply stating that without training, a stick would not be something I would trust my, or my family's life too.
