I used to teach a young man who was my youngest daughter's age. That would make him about 26 now. My daughter saw him recently and as they chatted, he related an incident that happened a few months ago. This young man is pretty stocky and and solid, but a nicer, milder mannered young man you'd never meet. He had stopped at a McDonald's in a marginal area of the city.
A big rough looking guy came up to him and stuck a gun in his face and demanded his wallet and his keys. Bill had thought this scene through before and that's often all it takes. Remember, for all but a rare few, it is much harder to react than it is to act. In this case, Bill acted consciously as he'd been taught. Without hesitation he smacked the guy with a right hook square on the side of his head.
The guy didn't shoot him, he hit the concrete like a ton of bricks. Bill kicked the gun, which had fallen next to him, away, jumped into his car and split. He called the incident in to the police who quickly responded, but the guy was gone. Good enough outcome for me.
I'm not saying that this is the correct procedure in every situation, but probably for most. Recall my Delta System of Defense. To revue, imagine the Greek letter Delta, which is sort of like a triangle-D, for lack of a graphic, each point representing your choices when attacked. 1) First option is to Do Nothing, and Probably Die. 2) Progress to Distract, Depart, Dodge & Dart, and this should greatly enhance your survival chances, statistically. 3) The final option is to Distract, Disable, Depart, Dodge & Dart.
The third option is the one that my young friend chose. Thankfully it worked.
To prove this method to yourself, get a partner to arm himself with a water gun. Tell him that you are going to either knock it away or disarm him. Even though he is at ready, which a real opponent will not be, odds are in your favor that you can knock the water-gun away and/or Disarm him, and Depart, Dodge, and Dart, without him being able to get you wet.
Another drill is to use a water-soluble magic market as a knife and try the same thing. I might add that even if you are injured,your likeihood of taking a bullet or a blade in a vital area vastly decrease with this maneuver. No one wants to get shot or stabbed, but if it is going to happen, you are much better to make the mug work for it, possibly hurt him or her in the process, and take the blade or bullet on your terms, which is less-likely tp be fatal.
Maybe that doesn't sound real good, but the truth is, statistacally speaking, that only one out of elen gunshot wounds are fatal. I don't know what the stats are for knife wounds, but I would guess them to be much beeter odds in your favor. It sounds like a feeble argument, but it really doesn't hurt that much to be shot or stabbed, at least not immediately. Your body has an amzing capacity to shut down pain and shock while you are pumped with adrenaline and taking positive survival measures. For sure, you will need fairly immediate medical attention in some, if not most cases. But the odds for survival and even full recovery are very good. Let me add too, as a competitive combat shooter with a lifetime of practice, I'm not sure I could hit s zig-zagging person on the flee. And gang-bangers generalloy don't get that much practice.
Remember, the remedy for being shot or stabbed requires surprise, distance, unpredictable movement, and cover, if and when available. All of this advice is assuming that you are not armed yourself. And it doesn't really matter whethr there is one assailant or ten, one will be the leader, usually weilding the weapon. Even if the whole group has the presence of mind to produce weapons and use them, they will all be surprised and at even more of a handicap than the leader. As a kid, living in the wilds and watching friends to shoot into a tight and thick flock of starlings at close range with a scattergun full of 30 or so projectiles per shell, I have often marvelled at how seldom any of the birds would be hit (I never participated in such useless wasting of life, as I hadbeen strongly taught not to).
It takes some live practice, but gutsy as it is, you can actually grab a handgun in a way making it unable to fire, twist it our of an opponents and, and fire it at your opponent, even oriented upside down. I can also almost always disarm a ready opponent by under-handedly striking the bottom ofhis his knife-wielding arm close to the elbow with the back of my out stretched hand.
You might think that the opponent would be able to respond quickly enough to cut you with a forward thrust of the knife. This is never what happens. His automatic and involuntary action will cause him to withdraw his hand toward himself. It is the slickest thing, but with your hand flat and waiting, the grip of the knife will enter your hand as you either strip it away or actually close your hand on it and turn it on your opponent.
Another fairly sure defense to a weapon-wielding assailant is to quickly stomp foward and down at his shin at near the knee or lower, riding it down with your full forward weight to smash his instep. You may follow this with a low, natural side kick to his opposite knee, taking a small, weight-shifting step forward and, as you do--using both hands to shove the opponents chest; his knees are weakened and he is instinctively going into an involuntary retreat. Your foot is still anchoring his instep in place or at least causing him to pull backward and off-balance. He almost certainly godown and often is propelled a good ten feet or more from you.
I used to have a friend who liked to bar fight. He had been cut quite a few times in the process. He learned what he claimed was a sure-fire method of dealing with a knife attack. He said with a big goofy grin, "Just keep hitting them in the face. They'll drop the knife." I'm guessing this to be nore or less true. They won't be thinking about stabbing you while their face is being pounded, they'll be trying to protect their face and stop your blows. "Just keep hitting him and he'll drop that knife," my firend said.
What the guy was referring to is called automatic behavior. Automatic behavior is involuntary and can't be helped. Another example is that if you are in a headlock, you can reach your hand over your opponent's head and stick a thumb or finger into an eye-socket (there are many other effective pressure points as described elsewhere in this blog), or with a man, you can slug, grasp, and twist his testicles. He has no choice but to act automatically. Then you can administer other blows and make good your escape. These techniques are generally nottaught in formal Martial Art Sports, as they are not allowed in competition. But these types of actions form the foundation of real combat self-defense training taught to the military of the world. I call it "Maim-and-Kill-do".
I have contempt for most of what I call pseudo-martial arts that teach elaborate maneuvers for various defenses. They seldom work, unless you are a professional fighter or a martial arts master. Your body undergoes physiological changes under the influence of adrenaline. You get stiff and have tunnel vision. Kicks should not be higher than the knee and strikes with the fists and elbows should be fairly lateral and natural. Exceptions to this is if you have practiced a maneuver hundreds or thousands of times over years until it become natural muscle-memory. Even then, you must know to agress beyound the level used in competitive sports.
Of course if you follow my number one rule and carry an object that can be used as a weapon, it makes a huge difference. It can be used to strike and inflict serious distraction, pain, and provide time to escape. One of my favorite objects is a steering wheel lock (maybe too heavy for those of slight build). It is about the length of a Filipino fighting stick, made of solid steel and quite heavy. One blow to an arm or a head can disable or even kill you opponent. Killing is not your object, but if you are defending against a weapon or a much larger opponent, it is totally justified. It is also better than dieing.
Visualize scenarios periodically. The metro section of any largecity newspaper will be full of them. It is proven that imagined experience is often as good as the real thing. I must admit that I have been a student and instructor of self-defense for most of my life. I may also be a bit compulsive-obsessive. But when I have a few minutes doing nothing in particular, or as I am going to sleep, I am often visualizing some scenario or maneuver. While I don't necessarily recommend this approach, I credit this procedure with saving my life many times. My life-style has not been typical, but just a little such foreh=thought will go a long way toward preparing you for what is statistically inevitable
In summation, the main thing is to make your mind up to REFUSE to be a victim.
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