Bottle Bezel self defense tool by Osprey Innovations

Ok, now i've seen everything! I'm a big fan of "less lethal" or "less than lethal" self defense tools and also improvised weapons. I also really enjoy seeing what the "tactical" community comes up with, from a marketing standpoint. This is pretty ingenious, we're all familiar with crenelated/scalloped bezels such as those seen on certain Surefire flashlight models. It's said that the original purpose of those little bezel arcs was to allow light to spill out when the flashlight is placed face down on a hard surface, so the user would be aware the light was on and draining power. Then it seemed somebody realized that a small aluminum flashlight decked out with a crenelated bezel could do some serious damage in a self defense emergency.

I stumbled upon the Bottle Bezel at TAD Gear, one of my favorite places to browse for cool gadgets and weapon-tech online. [I borrowed these photos from their Bottle Bezel page too]

To anyone familiar with impact weapons, this concept should be easy to understand. The Bottle Bezel is a mean-looking piece of safety orange plastic that replaces the bottle cap on the vast majority of the world's plastic water and soda bottles. With just a few twists, you can turn your fruity beverage or elitist French water into a brutal striking device! This is ingenious, especially in our world of mass perpetuated "terrorist threats", real or imagined, which have enabled the American government to attempt to systematically castrate its citizenry by banning anything resembling a weapon. "For your safety we've taken sharp objects" and that sort of crap. Well, I think the idea behind the Bottle Bezel is ingenious. If I had a girlfriend or daughter in college or who used public transportation, I'd buy them a case of water, and a set of these bad-boys. I can see this concept selling especially well to joggers, soccer moms etc. I'd be willing to bet that a well-placed strike to the throat with a water bottle and the business end of the Bottle Bezel would be far more incapacitating to a drug fueled rapist than a shot of pepper spray, which would likely just piss an attacker off. But hey, I'm no expert. But against my better judgement, I did order a set of Bottle Bezels, just to play with them and see if they are indeed a good idea executed well, or just plain hype to make money off of paranoid folks like myself. Full report coming soon. In the meantime, you can check out the Bottle Bezel at Tadgear.com or go straight to the manufacturer's site, Osprey innovations, LLC

Thanks to tadgear for unwittingly letting me steal their cool pix, but they shouldn't care either way, as this lil' writeup is a free plug for them.