Is weapon defences any good for self defence or are they just dodgy? I have been told that they are not any good and the best thing to do is not try to defend but run!
Of course the best thing to do is get away if you can. You should never listen to anybody if they tell you to stay and try and fight somebody with a weapon. It could cost you your life, and no possession is worth that.
However, if you must fight for your life and the person has a weapon, some tactics are very good and some are very bad. The only way to know if the instructor knows what they are doing is to observe more than one. (Hint – if the technique takes a long time to execute or has awkward movements its bad.)
EDIT – To offer two situations that are different and showing when and where to do what I’ll say this…
When I was younger, I was at a friend’s house getting ready for a party when somebody came to the door. We were expecting company so I answered and was promptly yanked out onto the front porch held against the wall by my neck and had a gun to my chin. I COMPLIED with everything the gunman wanted, and am still here to talk about it.
Not too many years ago I was at a favorite pool hall, when a visiting thug (some real gang-banger) was in town. His sister was hit on by a moronic drunk who couldn’t tell if he was talking to a tree or a person. The thug from the ‘305′ began beating the snot out of this person, who never fought back… not once. The entire time he kept apologizing. I tried verbally ending the attack, but that was not successful. So I grabbed the guy from smashing the other person’s head between the truck door and the door jam. He immediately turned around "N**** I’m from the 305, I’ll kill you" He then encroached repeating his line saying he was going to stab me. He reached his hand and I took him out. When he woke up he had no memory of what happened. His sister was all over the place, and explained what happened to him. He asked me why I hit him, and then started the same nonsense all over again. I got in my car and left as he was still dizzy from being unconscious.
Of course the best thing to do is get away if you can. You should never listen to anybody if they tell you to stay and try and fight somebody with a weapon. It could cost you your life, and no possession is worth that.
However, if you must fight for your life and the person has a weapon, some tactics are very good and some are very bad. The only way to know if the instructor knows what they are doing is to observe more than one. (Hint – if the technique takes a long time to execute or has awkward movements its bad.)
EDIT – To offer two situations that are different and showing when and where to do what I’ll say this…
When I was younger, I was at a friend’s house getting ready for a party when somebody came to the door. We were expecting company so I answered and was promptly yanked out onto the front porch held against the wall by my neck and had a gun to my chin. I COMPLIED with everything the gunman wanted, and am still here to talk about it.
Not too many years ago I was at a favorite pool hall, when a visiting thug (some real gang-banger) was in town. His sister was hit on by a moronic drunk who couldn’t tell if he was talking to a tree or a person. The thug from the ‘305′ began beating the snot out of this person, who never fought back… not once. The entire time he kept apologizing. I tried verbally ending the attack, but that was not successful. So I grabbed the guy from smashing the other person’s head between the truck door and the door jam. He immediately turned around "N**** I’m from the 305, I’ll kill you" He then encroached repeating his line saying he was going to stab me. He reached his hand and I took him out. When he woke up he had no memory of what happened. His sister was all over the place, and explained what happened to him. He asked me why I hit him, and then started the same nonsense all over again. I got in my car and left as he was still dizzy from being unconscious.
References :
20 years Shurite Karate Jitsu, 6 years military antiterrorism
When weapons become involved, things go from bad to worse. When knives are involved, someone will most likely die. So if you are prepared to kill someone or be killed, then by all means get in a fight using weapons.
If you’re smart, you’ll run away.
References :
In situations where you cannot run away (you’re cornered, you’re walking with your wife and 3 year old kid etc.) it’s a good idea to have at least a rough idea on how to handle being attacked with a weapon.
Interestingly, I have found that weapon defense is also an excellent teaching tool: it teaches you to better appreciate your opponent’s range/reach, and how a weapon affects it, and it adds an element of urgency to your unarmed technique when facing an armed training partner.
References :
The trick to weapons defense is training against some one trying to stab or shoot you. There are training knives and soft air guns that you can use for this (wear safety glasses).
If you want to learn how to defend against weapons you had better not be focusing your training on partner who is doing preset moves that you have a preset answer to. You had better be going full forces against a person who fully resisting and going to pull the trigger or stab you.
In the end though if some one pulls a gun or knife and asks for your wallet…give it to them. Escape is always the best means of self defense even especially if weapons are involved!
References :
If you look at Department of Justice statistics on violent crime in about half of those events where the victim was hurt or killed and they cooperated it did not matter. Along with this I think you also have to consider that most people don’t develop their skills to a high enough level and being able to successfully execute something under pressure when their life and safety hang in the balance. This is why awareness and avoidance is so important and along with that the idea of cooperating and using your head rather than relying on your skills if caught up in a situation and I have done that before. At the same time I also know what it is like to act and take a more aggressive course of action and in both of those situations there were other factors that also forced as well as made it possible for me to do so. No two situations are the same and there are so many variables and outside factors beyond your control that along with awareness and avoidance I think for most cooperation and smart, level headed thinking is what is needed and resistance while on the table is a card that should probably not be played unless it becomes apparent that they are going to hurt or shot you anyways.
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