Sure they can; they will just do it fast, from behind, and with extreme violence of action. Watch some tape of prison yard attacks sometime. Yes, it make you a harder target, not low hanging fruit, but it's a false sense of security believing that that patch and the training behind it is a 'get out of being assaulted' card. It also tells the smarter members of the criminal class for the small effort of a planned assault, they might acquire a handgun, something I myself prefer not to advertise.
These are good points, and why it's important to not neglect the 'non-gun' skills. Develop hand to hand defensive techniques (I've also been a martial arts student for 34 years and a martial arts instructor since 1992). Be aware of people around you, stick to well lit areas, give blind corners you are passing by some clearance, don't travel alone at night down dark alleys, so on, so forth.
Self defense starts with avoiding conflict, and an underpinning of this is to avoid areas where conflict is more likely.
That being said, the one time I *was* attacked with lethal force was in my own garage, from head on, by a (now ex-)friend, and my first warning was when I was tackled and found myself underneath a 220 pound man who had just drawn a knife. Bad situation to be in, all around, and I didn't see it coming.
The only other time I've been attacked as an adult (non-lethal) was from my step father.
Point there, is friends and family are (statistically) more dangerous to folks, than random crime. Getting picked for random crime is like winning the lottery while getting struck by lightning. Statistically speaking, you are only likely to be involved as a target of a felony once every two lifetimes (I did a study on that probability once). And that *includes* random crime and family both. Between the two, family or acquaintances are far more likely to commit a crime against you than a random stranger. I don't have the stats in front of me, but I remember it was a significant factor when I did the probability study.
The other takeaway from that is while an individual might only be subject to being a victim of a violent crime (robbery, rape, murder, assault; etc, all of the stats I rolled up) once every two lifetimes; one compelling fact was that there's often more than one person in a household. And if you are only likely of getting attacked once every two lifetimes, that means
statistically speaking if there's two people in your household (you and a significant other), ONE of the two of you is likely to be subject to an attack at some point during your lives.
Every other person will get assaulted at some point in their lives, someone in your immediate family will be a victim at some point over their lives. That's the way the numbers work out.
You don't get to pick the day or time, someone else does.
You don't get to pick what form it's going to take - murder, rape, assault, robbery. Someone else does.
You don't get to pick WHO it is that's attacking you. More than likely will be a friend or family member or some acquaintance you've met in school, work, or a hobby. Or a neighbor.
You don't even get to pick how many
people will be involved in the attack against you. (e.g. My rural neighbor was robbed by *five* armed gangbangers from a nearby city, a few years back. Those are bad odds in anyone's book.)
All YOU get to pick is:
* Whether or not you are going to defend yourself
* Whether you will be prepared for what form it will take (non lethal, vs. lethal; generally speaking you can't draw a gun to defend yourself in a fist fight against someone unless they are overwhelmingly dangerous to you; YOU become the aggressor at that point by escalating it to lethal force, unless there's some factor such as your age, size disparity, etc at work.)
* Where the event will occur (through elimination; the places you choose not to go to can reduce your risk and exclude a lot of potential venues from the list of probability)
* Whether you have trained enough to deal with the threat at hand, whether armed, unarmed, and against that many attackers.
Will wearing a shirt identifying you as an NRA or other form of pistol/rifle instructor change those odds? Probably not significantly enough to matter. It'll dissuade many, might encourage others, but awareness is awareness. If you're going to get caught off guard, you'll get caught off guard. Been there, had it happen. Right in my own garage. You never expect the friend, or the family member, or the good neighbor next door. (Not until it happens, anyway. I keep people in front of me these days and out of arms reach. Even friends. Even family.)
Not going to stop and change clothes after a range trip or classroom session just to go grab lunch, just because some thug might jump out of the shadows and try to take my gun away. That's paranoia. And I have pretty good reactions and training to deal with that. (Been there, unarmed, got blindsided, on my back with an armed attacker on top of me, and I was the one who walked away.)
The part about violence that folks seem to not get, is you can't control when it starts or what form it takes. But you can MOST ASSUREDLY control the outcome once it starts, and that is done through training, years of repetitive practice, and diligence to continue training once it has well-exceeded the point of routine. Choosing to wear or not wear a particular shirt that identifies me as an instructor? Not worried about it at all. Thought it through. The economic advantage and over 3 decades of training to deal with threats, combined with the minimal deterrence factor, outweighs the slightly elevated risk of it making me a target.
Will putting a bumper sticker on your car that's pro gun make your car a more likely target to break in to?
You betcha.
Will putting a sticker on your house window that says "protected by smith & wesson" make your house a burglary target when you are away on vacation?
You betcha.
The difference?
I'm not around to control the form and intensity of the violence.
startling, when they call their Rep, they become as anyone of us. Well, perhaps a bit better than some in this example because they actually called.
