I’m so glad that with all the craziest going on in the world that we can rely on NBC News national investigative correspondent Jeff Rossen calling on self defense experts to teach our wives, mothers, and daughters how to defend themselves, and by “experts”, I of course mean waitresses with smart phones.

The case of Sherri Papini, who was allegedly abducted for three weeks, is making headlines. The Northern California mom’s family says she had her cellphone with her when she was kidnapped.

Could your smartphone help you when you’re out alone? The Rossen Reports team tried new apps and technology that promise to protect women and help them avoid attackers, including:

• Wearsafe records audio in real time at the press of a button, and even backtracks 60 seconds. It then sends the recording to friends with the user’s exact GPS location. “The cool thing about it is, it’s wearable,” said Missa Baker, a waitress who leaves work late at night who helped the Rossen Reports team test the gadget. “It clips right to my keys.” Wearsafe costs $5 a month and works with both iPhone and Android devices.
• bSafe is a free app that goes even further: It records video as soon as you trigger an alert. An alarm goes off as well, and the app both calls and texts a friend. “It’s really cool,” Baker told TODAY national investigative correspondent Jeff Rossen. bSafe is available both for iPhone and Android devices…

So let me get this straight.

The story that triggered all this was the alleged abduction, torture, and eventual escape of a middle-aged mother in California.

Instead of contacting personal protection or security experts to teach people how to be more aware of their surroundings and pre-attack cues, or contacting martial artists to see about useful defensive techniques, or law enforcement agencies, or anyone in the defensive  weapons training industry, NBC News sent less-talented-Perez-Hilton out to download a couple of apps and grab some utterly random person off the street for her opinions?

I can hardly wait for Rossen’s next riveting interview, where he asks Wendy’s drive thru employs about tips for preventing heart disease.

* * *

Responsible, intelligent adults know that the best way to avoid being attacked is to develop what Steve Tarani dubbed “prefense” skills to avoid putting yourself in compromising positions and learn pre-attack cues to either help you exit the area before a confrontation takes place, or helps present you as a target that criminals don’t want to tangle with (they prefer easy, weak, unaware marks with items of obvious value).

Of course, you can’t always avoid every potential threat, and if that actually happens, a stupid app on your phone isn’t going to do anymore than help police locate your body.

The only person responsible for your self defense is you, and there is only one “app” that has consistently been proven to make bad guys break off their attacks when applied correctly.

Get a handgun, get professional instruction on how to use that handgun from a professional defensive firearms instructor, and carry that gun everywhere you go.