If you’ve watched television at all in the early evenings during the last few months, you’ve probably seen those catchy (albeit a little annoying) Jitterbug advertisements that market a simple-to-use cell phone to baby boomers and senior citizens. While their concept is simple and thoughtful for their boomer and beyond demographic, they’re really onto something! Baby boomers and seniors are concerned about their safety at home and away, and as the population in the United States ages, their need for personal emergency communication devices and self-defense tools is growing greater than ever.

Consider these staggering statistics relating to crimes committed against senior citizens in the United States alone:

In 2002, the U.S. Department of Justice reported that crime against senior citizens was actually lower than a previous analysis in 1997. However, seniors experience a higher rate of purse snatching and larceny.

• Approximately one in five personal crimes against seniors involves theft.

• Seniors are also are more vulnerable to property crimes, including vehicle theft and burglary.

• In addition, roughly 92 percent of crimes against those aged 65 and over are property crimes.

• Compared to other age groups, persons age 65 and older face male offenders about 79 percent of the time, usually strangers over the age of 30.

Today 1 in 8 Americans are aged 65 or older and among those 85 and older there are 43 men for every 100 women. And while for some people, taking a self-defense class that teaches physical tactics to use to defend oneself during an attack is plausible, for others it’s just not practical. As we age, among other things we naturally lose speed, strength, agility, stamina, hearing, and quite sadly are left physically defenseless by the chronic degenerative diseases that afflict the aging American population.

Rather than making our parents and grandparents, the very people we owe so much to and who deserve the utmost respect, feel even more unsure of themselves by pointing out their failing physical prowess in fending off a burglar or other criminal attack, we should instead be empowering them with the easy-to-use self-defense tools that are readily available today.

Self-defense experts and law enforcement officials give their top recommendation to the Taser C2 model stun gun, the most effective product for home protection on the market today and the only product that allows the homeowner the ability to maintain a safe 15 foot distance from his or her attacker or act as a close-range contact stun gun. Unlike conventional weapons, a Taser is effective when fired anywhere on an attacker’s body and is able to penetrate multiple layers of clothing.

For less than the cost of a Starbucks latte, your senior relative, friend, or neighbor could relax in the safety of knowing that he or she stood a chance should some criminal decide to launch an attack on their home.