Originally posted by
Jizzelbin
Following legal advice offered on this board, I do not wield my baton in its uncollapsed state in public. I instead carry a regular Totes brand black umbrella, in a small size, black, in one hand whenever I desire bicyclists to notice me and not cause me to perish
Other implements that might work: carrying a cardboard tube like people use to transport drafts or rolled canvases, or a disposable coffee mug wielded like a weapon. Both implements could be filled partly with cement, if one is not a method actor used to handling props.
But the nice thing about the baton, which rarely leaves my house, is that snapping it open with one hand sounds a lot like cycling a shotgun. It's good for when sitting on my back porch and the renter neighbors get too loud late at night. Dropping a small coin on the deck makes it sound close to a round being ejected from a shotgun.
Also, unscrewing and disassembling the baton kind of sounds like I'm just crazy Chester cleaning his gun.
Keep in mind, I don't know these people, they don't know me -- they're just neighbors, so they're strangers to me, and I, them.