There are many ways to become a victim of a violent crime, but thankfully there are many, many more ways of avoiding violent crimes. Owning a good self defense weapon is a good start. Self defense weapons are very inexpensive and easy to use. Any number of personal alarms, stun guns or pepper sprays are a great way to fend off attackers. All of these products mentioned above work with the pull of a pin or the push of a button to make for very fast reaction time.