2012年2月6日月曜日

What Is Kubaton

what is kubaton

How the Kubaton Stole Christmas « I Want to Believe

Four years ago, I was a junior at BYU and I needed an exercise credit for school.  So my wonderful roommate, Stephanie, and I decided to take the women-only self defense class.  And it was AWESOME!  Taught by police officers, the official title of the class was the Rape Aggression Defense, or RAD.  And close to the end of the semester long class we were presented with a Kubaton.

This is about 6 inches long and goes on your keys.  You then use the Kubaton as the handle, and the keys as the weapon to enhance our self defense skills.  The officers made us promise to keep it with us always, and Stephanie and I always did.  I even remember being specifically told that because it is plastic we would be able to take it on airplanes.  We were also encouraged enough to take the follow up class the next semester even though it wouldn't be for BYU credit.


Self Defense Keychain Kubotan
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My Kubaton has been on my keys ever since, and on many air planes in the last 4 years.  So this year as we were traveling to Vancouver for Christmas I didn't think anything of it.  We made it through normal security just fine and passed the time normally.  As we were getting ready to board they announced that they would be doing random searches as people were boarding the plane.  And I was selected for a random search.

This was right as we were boarding so Jordan went ahead and boarded the plane without me because he assumed, as I did,  it wouldn't be super long.  They asked if I had any sharp objects or liquid, I said no.  My backpack passed fine, but then the lady pulled my keys out of my purse.

"Is this a self-defense tool?" she asked.

"Um, yes, it is." I responded.

They had to call their supervisor who began inspecting it as well.

"Is this a Kubaton?"

"It is a Kubaton."


FURY Tactical SDK Self Defense Keychain 5.75-Inch with Pressure Tip (Black)
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He goes off and starts calling someone.  The woman told me that she knew what it was but just asked me to see if I would tell the truth.  I did!  So I must get some credit for that, right?!  I mean, I'm not that threatening. While we waited I told them that the police officer who gave it to me made me promise to keep it with me always!  I also told them, "I don't really remember how to use it…"

The supervisor came back and I could hear him on the phone "I have a female passenger with a weapon, I'll escort her back to the security check point."  This TSA supervisor seemed confident that I would make my flight, but the airline guy was less encouraging.

"Are you stopping in Salt Lake?"

"No, I have a connection to Vancouver."

"Well, there are no other flights to Vancouver…"

"My husband has already boarded this plane!" I pleaded.

"We will pull him off then."

Grrrrrrreat…

So I'm escorted back to the security check point and they run my bags back through the X-Ray machines.  All of these TSA and police officers start asking me random questions.  It got tricky when they needed my IDs to make copies of, because my passport still has my maiden name… I over heard a guy with the bomb sniffing dog on the phone spelling my name to someone…

After all of this, they were going to go through the long process of checking the Kubaton, but with the flight scheduled to leave in only 10 minutes, it wasn't worth it and I told them they could keep it.

I was the last person on the plane, they closed the gate door behind me.  It had taken 20 minutes at least, Jordan kept waiting for me to get on the plane but didn't know what had happened to me.  Somehow I made it onto the plane and we were able to make our connection.

So I guess in the end, the Kubaton didn't steal Christmas   We made it just fine and it was a wonderful Christmas. But I do miss it.  It was such a great tool!  My keys look so sad without it.

But if you think about it, the Who's still had Christmas too even when the Grinch tried to steal it from them

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