So, I want to do some martial arts, for self defense. Ideally one that will be useful without giving me CTE, or any long term bad stuff, even though I feel this is already asking for too much 
I don't live in the U๐๐ so gun related stuff isn't really an option.
I'm somewhat heavy, with a year of experience in lifting, and my cardio is not the best, but I can do long walks (of 1 or 2 hours) before getting tired.
I'm going to move to a bigger city in September, and there's a lot of stuff available, so you can comment on the more niche options.
So yeah, any advice from your experiences is welcome lol
If I had known people started arguing over my post I wouldn't have made it.
If you're putting your hands on me I'm going to assume you're trying to kill me (or worse) and respond accordingly. Keep your fucking hands to yourself if you don't want to get smoked.
I'm not saying I endorse the practice, stop acting like the kind of people who do go around picking fights.
While you are correct that even a single punch carries a risk of death - that's why you don't pick fights - it remains a fact that humans have fought each other without death being the intended outcome for literally the entirety of human existence, and that currently in most places the vast majority of humans will never get into a fight where murder is intended.
Because of this, there is a certain etiquette around even self defensive violence that exists in all societies, and the majority almost universally regard pulling a weapon when attacked by an unarmed person to be a socially and legally unacceptable decision, regardless of the actual statistical reality of the risk of death in unarmed combat - unless there's some other mitigating factor like being jumped by a group or being a woman being attacked by a man, at least in theory.
While being thrown in jail for manslaughter is arguably better than being killed, it'd be better for neither to happen - and martial arts allow you to accomplish this.
I note also that you had no response to my assertion of the impractical nature of your advice - this is something police departments have put a lot of effort into analyzing and figuring out, as they're the only demographic of armed individuals who are somewhat regularly in combat with unarmed or melee-armed individuals. They have found that attempting to draw a firearm is useless even within distances as far as 21 feet - and most self defense situations turn violent when the people involved are FAR closer to that, often within or just out of arms reach.
better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6 ๐
I go back and forth on whether that's true, personally, but that's because of my particular circumstances.
For one, I'm already depressed as it is and I doubt prison would improve my misery circumstances. For two, I am a trans woman and I've heard all about v-coding and I'd rather die than be subject to that.
Ideally, however, neither. And that's probably what would happen if I responded to an attack by throwing the guy on the ground and running away really fast.