The Power of the Pen

I like pens—a lot. My wife calls this an addiction. Superficially I agree; however, pens can serve an important defensive roll. It is all about layering your defenses. If the firearm is your only tool, shooting is how you will resolve your problems. The defensive pen is another layer. In the right set of hands a pen can be very effective. You may consider pens for writing; Jason Bourne taught us differently.

Pens are immediately available and can be taken into non-permissive environment.  A defensive pen is similar to a kubatan, or an ASP Defender, except that you can’t take those tools into restricted areas that you can take a simple pen. Picture yourself interviewing someone and filling out a Field Interview card when suddenly, the subject goes haywire. Knowing how to use the pen that is already in your hand is a better option than dropping everything you are holding and drawing your baton or your firearm. After you have gotten inside of his O.O.D.A. Loop, causing him to respond to your actions instead of you being reactionary.

For the armed, prepared citizen, there are some obvious advantages. Imagine leaving your office, going to a restaurant, or going pretty much anywhere, and you see someone coming in your direction that is setting off all sorts of alarms. Do you draw your handgun and assume liability when their behavior turns out to be innocuous? Skill with a tactical pen may quickly demonstrate that the bad guy picked the wrong victim. Pens, used defensively, can also buy you time to advance to the next level of defensive tools.

A pen can be used as a “focused impact weapon”. This means that the energy of the strike is focused into a very small impact point. It can be used to strike the soft, vulnerable areas like the face, neck, throat, ribs, etc. Even a fairly dull pen can break tissue. If you have to use a pen for survival, be vicious, be merciless, DO NOT fight fair.

What do I look for in a Defensive Pen?

A good pen for me must have a strong body, preferably without the weight of a strong-bodied pen. An aluminum bodied pen will work as well as a brass bodied pen without the weight. A good quality, brass bodied pen is a beauty to behold. It will be carried much more than it will be used as a fighting tool, hopefully. I also generally prefer that a defensive pen not “break”, or disassemble, in the middle of the body.

I also generally prefer retractable pens. I do not like pens that have removable caps—just one more thing for me to lose. I also want to be able to use the pen with one hand. I might be holding a small notebook, or paper with the other hand. I don’t want to put the pen in my mouth to pull off the cap. Twist pens and bolt-action pens can work just fine and I use them sometimes. I like pens to be slender, or thin. They may not be the best for defensive use, however, I will be writing with them much more than jabbing someone with them. Hopefully. A pen, to qualify as a defensive pen for me, must be longer than my fist. If they are not, they won’t make very good impact weapons, it would just be striking someone with a hammer fist.

Karas Kustoms Retrakt Pen

I contacted Paul Bennett of Karas Kustoms and he gave me some insight into the designing of their pens. I called him specifically about the Retrakt Pen, a brass bodied retractable pen. Bennett told me that the Retrakt was their third pen and released in 2013; the first was their Render K in 2011, and their second was the Bolt in 2012. He said that the Retrakt was based very loosely on the Parker Jotter pen. The aluminum Retrakt pens are only released in two-tone color schemes, other than silver, and that was intended to be a subtle nod to the Jotter.

The knurling at the top of the pen has become a bit of an unofficial trademark of their pens, after being used on their Render K pen.

The Retrakt uses the Pilot G2 refill because it is the most widely sold refill in the world, something I was not aware of, even though I consider myself a bit of a pen aficionado. That will explain the length of the pen, something I like very much. The Retrakt will take a Parker ballpoint refill if an included spacer is used.

Karas Kustoms has never designed their pens to be “tactical” or “defensive” pens. Their pens were not meant to be mistaken for anything other that a pen. They did not want the pens confiscated by courthouses, TSA, or at a sporting event because they were too “tactical”. I have heard of some limited examples of pens being confiscated by TSA, however, before I make any definitive statements about that I need more information.

One of the more notable comments made by Bennett was, “I guess if I were to address our law enforcement individuals or anyone using our pens as a self defense tool, I’d be legally obligated to say they were not designed to be used as such and technically that use voids their warranty. However, as they were designed to be highly durable, they can be used for a variety of applications and if I were in a life or death situation I’d pull out all of the stops to make sure I came out alive.” I could agree with him more.

Their intent was to produce a well-designed pen that was very functional. Their designs have been influenced by some of the pens from the 1950s to the 1970s. They wanted their pens to be marketable across multiple industries. The intent in the design was to make a durable pen with parts that would not wear out; those parts that could wear out had to be easily and inexpensively replaced. Karas Kustoms pens are designed to be exceptionally functional, highly durable and, “for the rare occasions when our pens fail we offer lifetime service on the parts we manufacture.” I believe they have achieved that. I started this article with a Retrakt pen, I now have one of their EDK pens and Bolt pens as well. I guess that says I like their product.

Tuff Writer Precision Pen

I was able to speak to Jack Roman, the owner and designer of pens for Tuff Writer. Tuff Writer pens started life as “tactical pens”. These pens are not “just pens”. They are meant to be used defensively as needed. Roman was taking some defensive tactics classes and became interested in weapons that can be used in non-permissive environments, such as courthouses, airports, schools, etc. When he started fighting with pens he found out how deficient they were. How fragile they were. At the same time he was going to grad school and one of his classes was to “develop a new product”. He merged the two projects and Tuff Writer was born.

The pen is a ubiquitous item. Everyone can have one and often does. Tuff Writer pens are solid, well built, sturdy self defense tools that work very well as a pen.

If you make a pen that has a DNA collection tool and looks like a “Klingon death stick”, it will look cool, but it will also look like a “tactical pen”. People won’t use it as a pen and it won’t be able to be taken into the non-permissive environments.

When Tuff Writer first came into the tactical pen market, there weren’t really many other competitors trying to sell “tactical pens”. The concept hadn’t taken off. People did not understand that a pen could be used for things other than writing on paper. When SureFire came out with their first tactical pen people started understanding a bit more about the uses of them. SureFire was already very well established in the “tactical” market so it was easy to associate the intended use of the pen with the pen itself.

The layered defense idea took a little longer to catch on. You have a gun, what more do you need? The pen will be used much more than a firearm. Your hand will get to know the pen very well—use that. If the pen is properly designed no one will know that it is nothing more than a pen. They may say that it is a “really cool looking pen” or maybe that it is a “very pretty pen”, but that should be it. They may even ask where they can get one. It should be very durable, have a positive grip, and be built to hold up to daily rigors and to training. If it starts to look like a “tactical tool” it will become very noticeable and will draw attention.

The retractable pens outsell the removable cap pens by about two to one for Tuff Writer. Most users will use them as normal pens. However, there are some that prefer the capped pens because there are no moveable parts—that makes them very strong and durable. That cap is also protective and keeps dirt and water from getting into the pen.

All Tuff Writer pens are sold with Fisher Pen refills. This is because those refills always work, in any environment. However, they are compatible with Parker style refills, which can be found at just about any office supply store and most grocery stores here in the U.S. 

Tuff Writer pens are, for the most part modular and all of the parts can be purchased individually, though some may need to be special ordered. In the case of Tuff Writer pens you definitely get what you pay for. The body of the pen is contoured and has the O-rings in order to give a positive gripping surface without sacrificing the aesthetics of the pen. 

The Tuff Writer pens are not meant to be the answer to everything tool. It is meant to be a phenomenal, reliable impact tool that writes very nicely, too. It is a transitional tool. The “tactical pen” can give a strike, cause a delay in the adversary’s advance, push them back in order to access your firearm that improves your survivability. It will give you options to improve your chances.

The weapon you have in your hand is the right weapon if you can hit your adversary with it and survive the fight. As Roman says, “Tactical pens should be fairly straightforward. They should be easy to use, sharper end goes towards the bad guy.” Even with that simplicity you still need training. Without that training that tool is a lucky rabbits foot. You need to remember that lucky foot didn’t do the rabbit any good.

Take a second look

An officer should have their firearm, two reloads for that firearm, a flashlight, an impact weapon such as a baton, a chemical irritant, a Taser, and probably a back-up weapon, while they are in uniform. What happens when they are not in uniform? What will they have with them? What will they be able to take into those non-permissive environments?

A good writing instrument that you will use daily, that can also be used to layer your defenses is a very good investment.