News Station Offers 'Top 5 Personal Safety Tips That Could Save Your Life' — Guess What Didn't Make the List

Citing a series of violent crimes that have occurred in the area in the past month, a Texas news station offered the "top five personal safety tips that could save your life" — but one thing was noticeably missing from the list: personal firearms.

“People want to have that knowledge to protect themselves and their families just in case,” Jason Hanson, former CIA officer and founder of Spy Escape and Evasion, told KTVT-TV in Dallas. The station went on to list five tips on how individuals can protect themselves from potential violent crimes, along with what to do if they find themselves in certain, unthinkable situations.

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But the station didn't include open-carry in its list of tips, despite a new law in Texas allowing citizens to open carry firearms. As TheBlaze previously reported, the open carry law passed the Lone Star State legislature and was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) last year. The law took effect Jan. 1.

One of the tips the station did give, however, was that, if you feel like you're being followed, stop, turn around and look the person directly in the face. This eliminates the element of surprise, which criminals often go for, the station noted. Then, while continuing to look at the person, you can use your phone to call someone and tell them you're being followed, making sure the person who's following you can hear the conversation.

Another "tip" the station gave is to carry a tactical pen, which can be used to break glass in emergency situations in addition to its self-defense purposes. To keep from being carjacked, the station advised never to be on your cellphone when you're walking to your vehicle and to keep the keys to your vehicle in your hand. And when you're in your vehicle out on the road, stopped at a stoplight, make sure you keep enough distance between you and the car in front of you, so that if someone approaches your window, you're not boxed in.

The fourth tip advised individuals staying in hotels to request staying on the third, fourth, fifth or sixth floor, since criminals often target the first two floors of hotels to ensure a quicker escape. It also made the point that most fire rescue ladders do not reach beyond the sixth floor.

Finally, the station gave pointers on how to break out of duct tape, since that is what criminals normally use during invasions or kidnappings. It said that the angle from which you try to break the tape is key, adding that the best way to free yourself is to raise your hands above your head and then bring them down quickly to the side of your hips.