Victims of violent crime - including those in the April 16 massacre at Virginia Tech - often are unaware of the potential "weapons" that can save their lives, and much of what they've been taught about self-defense and crime prevention is wrong.The obvious response is the correct one: Ain't nothing like bringing a gun to a gunfight. And ex-"Only Ones" Debbie and Mike Gardner's advice will probably up the odds of an untrained person being killed.
But that doesn't mean we should dismiss their recommendations altogether. To those who take physical and martial training seriously, there is much to be said about improvising weapons from your environment--particularly for those times if a gun is not at hand. That's one of the reasons why I get such a kick out of Jackie Chan movies. He reminds us that just about anything can be used as a weapon, and does so with skill and oftentimes great humor.
In addition to consciously applying the late Col. Cooper's color codes, I recommend a supplemental situational awareness assessment: Look around and see what you could pick up and use if you really needed to, and visualize how it could be best deployed.
[Via KABA Newslinks]
8 comments:
Yep. I sometimes help teach self-defense seminars ( usually for women ). We try to get them to understand 1) your mind is your real weapon, anything else is a tool, and 2) fight like you're already dead. It's fascinating how much resistance you can get to those simple concepts, even from people that have chosen to come to a self-defense class. I'm guessing that some attendees have had so much exposure to the "puke-to-stop-a-rape" or "talk-to-your-abductor-to-make-him-empathize-with-you" crowd that they can't easily let go of that crap.
This is one of those things that get me in trouble with other 'gun nuts'.
I don't carry 24x7. Can't. I'd lose my job (they can pound sand about me keeping in my car, though). But I weigh the possibility / probability of an attack vs. keeping my job. Just like I take the risk of dying in my car ride to work.
That said, I have something that most people don't that makes me not carrying my gun not quite as troublesome - I have the will to protect myself and the complete ability to inflict massive violence.
I would use a chair as a club. A letter opener as a knife. Throw a stapler. And, if not gunned down on approach, my hands, teeth, and feet. I will fight.
Yes, I was trained as a Marine, but that was back in '91. I've not had to use hand to hand combat (aka fist fighting) in probably 14 years. I'm older, less in shape, and not as well practiced, but I guaran-frickin-tee I won't go down without enough of a fight to make my attacker think twice.
My gun is not lethal. I am lethal.
We, as gun owners, have a bad tendency to constantly harp on how guns are just tools but then make it sound like just having a gun protects you. It can't. It's just a tool. Just having a coping saw and a set of chisels won't make you a carpenter.
However, without the will and resolve to do what's needed, the gun will not make you any more safer than a wall of 2 ply tissue.
The weapon is the person. The tool they use is up to them. Guns just happen to be pretty damned effective.
Rob Allen has it right. It is the will that is most important.
I haven't been in an altercation in many a year, but my will to prevail has not wilted nor waned, even though my physical abilities have. I am a more dangerous man now than when I was strong and quick. Sounds contradictory, doesn't it? It isn't.
Once in my life I was jumped by four men, three of which were bigger than I, and one who was much quicker, and I was cat quick then. I figured I would die there, but I wasn't going to be cheap. I wasn't armed due to the law. When it was all over, I had bled a lot, but I was the only one standing when the sheriff arrived. I had put five men down, one of the four got back up, so I had to put him down again.
Another time I was jumped by three men. This time I was armed. But, they weren't very good and only one of them was bigger than me, a great deal bigger. I just beat the Hell out of them. Never went for my gun, didn't even consider it. Their ineptitude saved them. If they had been better I would have shot them. If I had been armed in the first incident I described I would have shot them out of hand. They were very good and I was outmatched and truly believed I would die there. They also had a reputation for viciousness. They weren't quite as scary after our meeting.
The point is this. I survived both times against odds. I had youth (30's), strength, speed and the confidence to use them. I was also stubborn and determined nobody would take me out on the cheap. If I died, there was to be sad singing and slow walking in more homes than just mine. As someone above said, fight like your already dead.
Now to address the seeming contradiction. I am more dangerous now because I am no longer strong over more than a few seconds. I have no stamina due to a heart that won't pump blood. I am old, still quick, but slower than I was. I have little confidence in my ability to hang in there long enough to prevail in a protracted struggle. That last is why I am more dangerous. Every thing I would do now would put somebody on the hospital side of me. I can't count on being in it long, so I must end it very quickly. No testing, no feeling out to see if I have a chance. I simply must strike with harmful intent immediately.
Taking out knees and eyeballs, etc. is now a necessity, amongst other things. If armed when accosted I now would consider using that tool as a priority.
A very many of us old guys didn't get old being easy. The will to survive and prevail is your most valuable weapon. The willingness to accept pain to survive is mandatory. If you are afraid you will be hurt if you resist, you have already lost.
I know it's "you're" not your. Forgive me.
Poofreding is my fiend.
SA, one of the reasons I've not been in a fight in years is for the same fact - Now, if I'm in a fight, someone either dies or will never walk again.
I'm 6'3", 210 pounds. Not lanky but not muscular in any sense. However my height intimidates people, as well as my habit of staring people in the face as they walk by me. I don't look like an easy target and carry myself that way.
However, I'm not strong. My stamina is short lived (having a 4 1/2 and a 2 year old proves that every night). If I must fight, I have to end it quickly. My military training showed me those places. Insides of knees. Eyeballs. How joints don't bend in certain directions, no matter how much muscle is attached to them. Removing ears. Teeth.
I don't want to get in a fight because I'm sure I can't box any more, have older joints that can't take that kind of beating, and I'm afraid my opponent might know what I know. Besides, at my age nobody fights over 'pride' any more, so the stakes are much, much higher.
tkdkerry sez:
> fight like you're already dead.
Wow. Was *that* ever a "blink moment". You don't experience the revelation of a Fundamental Truth every day...
I get so sick of hearing about people being properly trained in the textbook sense. When I was 9 years old my father took me out back behind the house with the 20 gauge shotgun that my grandfather gave me. In one hand he held the shotgun, in the other he held a watermelon. He set up the watermelon at about 25 yards out and the blasted the thing into a million pieces. Then he said, "This is you or your buddies head if you f**k up with a gun." A lesson that has stood the test of time. I've never had to be told not to keep my finger off of the trigger or to not point my weapon at someone or something that I did not intend to kill. Where are all the fathers in this country? Now back to my comment about the article. A gun in any victims hands is the right choice, training or no. My dad always said, "Ain't nothin' scarier than a nervous woman with a gun!" And I agree. What would that waste of skin "Cho" think about while staring down the barrel of a pistol held by an extremely frightened young woman? Probably his last thought ever. All I am saying is that regardless of training most Americans would react properly. I think this is what scares the euroweenies and statist politicians to wetting themselves. Just my opinion.
Jeff in Wisconsin
Yeah Rob, some people get too sick to fight when you wave their ear at them.
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