The Pen: circumstantially tactical, civilian legal, carry practical and write capable. A perfectly inconspicuous and permissive defense tool.

Grab a pen, any pen… Got it? Now hold it like an ice pick and jab your side anywhere below the rib cage at half the force you would throw a friendly (fist) punch. Painful, yes?

It’s a simple matter of force multiplication. Concentrating all that energy into a hard pen point instead of dispersed across soft flesh. Significantly more potential stopping power with less effort. But you already knew this.

However, to most people, a pen is just a pen and therefore, rarely are they considered as a strike enhancer. Obviously there are far better tools to get the job done; brass knuckles, baseball bats and expanding batons.

But as with knives and firearms, you can’t carry them everywhere or all the time. This is how the pen can be mightier than the sword, because if you ain’t got the “sword” on you, then it ain’t worth shit.

Tactical Pen

My instrument of choice is the Operator Pen. This is on my person at almost all times, airports included.

This is when a pen can just be a pen, innocuously and conveniently clipped to your pocket. Ever-ready to be deployed when you do need it to be more than a pen.

I clip it to my right pant pocket or IWB of my boardshorts.

Luckily I haven’t had to use this tactical pen for tactical purposes nor do I ever wish to. But it’s always there, like a silent sidearm ready for action.

I still find much action for it, writing that is. Mostly for directions, arrival / departure forms and quick notes.

The thing is, you don’t need a tactical pen to have defense capabilities at your literal fingertips, any decent pen should do, albeit not as effectively.

But there is no shortage of excellent tactical pens to suit any budget, style or purpose.