Rangemaster Student Involved Incident #51

This just came in via the Rangemaster mailing list.

Student Involved Incident #51

Monday evening, at 10:40pm, we had the 51st  self defense incident involving a Rangemaster student that we know of. This one occurred in an upscale area in the Southeast part of the county, just outside the Memphis city limits.

The male resident had just arrived home, exited his car, and was walking up the sidewalk to his home when he was accosted by two armed robbery suspects. A struggle ensued, during which the homeowner was shot in the thigh by one of the suspects. The homeowner’s wife was at the front door to greet her husband, and saw the attack. She ran upstairs, got her handgun, opened the bedroom window and engaged the suspects with several shots from the window. She hit one suspect, and both fled.

The homeowner was taken to a local hospital and treated. About 1:00am, police received a call from Delta Medical Hospital on Getwell about a male with a gunshot wound. He was positively identified by the victim as one of the robbers, and was arrested and transferred to the jail unit at the Med. The second suspect was still at large at the time of the police report.

Comments:

1. Both the homeowner and his wife have been through training here. The wife’s ability to engage the suspects likely saved her husband’s life. Had she not intervened he probably would have been shot more.

2. The victim owns several businesses, including a couple of convenience stores in Hickory Hill. It appears he was followed home, and possibly deliberately targeted on the theory that he would be carrying the store’s cash. Be alert, and as you draw near your home or other destination, check your rear view mirrors! If you have made some turns and the same vehicle is right behind you, don’t go home.

3. Practice! Not all defensive shootings involve a suspect a few feet away. In this instance, the wife had to shoot past her husband from the second floor window, without hitting him.

Point #3 is something I touched upon in my recent article about XS Sights. You just don’t know and cannot predict what a self-defense situation is going to be like. Odds may say it’s likely to go in some particular way, but wouldn’t it just be your luck that you get to be the statistical anomaly?  It’s one big reason I stopped using the XS Sights and got better sights (Dawson Precision). It’s also a reason that we need to practice things we may not always think or want to practice, like shooting groups at 25 yards.

Dewain Perry – Black Belt Magazine

Black Belt Magazine has made much of their archives available via Google Books.

The March 1993 issue contains some mentions of my former Kuk Sool teacher, Dewain Perry.

The article is coverage of a WKSA tournament. I actually recall seeing these pictures and article snippets in a framed “collage” in my old dojang.

And although sparring is not heavily emphasized in the kuk sool system, you would never have known it by the tournament’s strident matches. In the men’s first-degree black belt middle-weight final, Richard Brown’s power proved too much for Dewain Perry’s finesse. The men’s second-degree black belt heavy-weight final was a war of titans, as Darren Hart defeated Daniel Vincent Jolly for the title.

(above image is a screen-capture from the Black Belt Magazine online archive, preserved here in a local image in case the BB Mag version ever goes away).

The same article mentions Dewain taking 1st place in sword form (1st degree, 14-34) and techniques (1st degree men). Frankly neither of those surprise me as Dewain was always excellent with sword and technique work.

Another cool thing about the article was seeing all the people that were 1st and 2nd degree winners, and seeing how many of those people are now 5th or 6th degree Masters, school owners, and other such things. Sometimes it’s hard to believe they ever were white belts.

Interview with Dr. He-Young Kimm

Interview with Dr. He-Young Kimm, founder of Han Mu Do.

Provides an explanation of Han Mu Do, what it is, where it came from, philosophy, with lots of display.

I did find it interesting that in the discussion of his background he didn’t mention his connection with Kuk Sool. Might not be anything significant (it’s an interview, only so much detail can be said) but still a lot of HMD’s technique work comes from Hapkido and Kuk Sool.

iPhone Shot Timers

So now I see Taurus has a free shot timer app for the iPhone.

I already have the SureFire shot timer app. It’s not bad, but I didn’t have much success with it the time I tried it. It just didn’t pick everything up. I’m not sure if Tom was shooting faster than it could pick up, or if because of the tin roof over the shooting bay the echo muddled things up and it couldn’t pick it out. Of course Tom’s dedicated proper shot timer had no problems in the same environment. Still, you get what you pay for.

I’ll see about doing a review of the 2 apps one of these days.

Shotgun Ammo Video

Via TFG, a video showing the effects of various shotgun ammo.

Again, birdshot is for birds. Not saying I’m volunteering to get shot with it (it still won’t be pleasant), but for self-defense it’s buckshot for general use and slugs for distance.

Some of those exotic rounds were interesting to watch.

Back in the saddle, but needing a 15-gallon hat

Over the past month-plus I’ve not been able to regularly attend my martial arts classes. 😦  Be it being injured, sick, work, life, something has just prevented me from attending classes. Things are normalizing and I’m finally able to get back into the swing of it. Damn it feels good.

One thing I’ve been working on lately is my kicking. No, I’m not abandoning all the kicking skills from Kuk Sool, but I’m really trying to learn Muay Thai roundhouse kicks. It’s just different. Whereas a Kuk Sool roundhouse would be more of a “flick” of the lower leg from a chambered position, the Muay Thai kick is quite different and far more devastating. At this point I have a basic understanding of the mechanics, so I no longer feel clueless… just inept. 🙂  But that’s what practice is for.

What I’m learning now I so appreciate more. It’s far more alive. It’s far more useful for real empty-hand fighting.

What I need to do is find a helmet. I’ve got rather a large hat size and it’s been difficult to find a helmet that provides enough protection for free sparring. I haven’t started total free-sparring at the school yet because 1. I wanted to get a little more comfortable with the place and what’s being taught. I’m now at that point where I feel comfortable enough to go, so 2. I’m lacking equipment. It’s just been tough to find something that fits my fat head.

Key thing is that it fits, is comfortable, and provides protection. Wife has a hard enough time when I come home all bruised up all over my body. She doesn’t want to see my face getting all banged up (broken noses and cauliflower ears are not acceptable). The school obtained a ProForce Headguard with Face Cage, which would please the wife, but even the XL size was a bit tight and just didn’t fit right.

Equipment suggestions are welcome.

KR Training December 2009 Newsletter

The KR Training December 2009 Newsletter is posted.

Many classes coming up. I’m trying to figure out which ones I’m going to help with and which ones I’m going to take.

This is cool, but it’d be nice if it was a real RSS feed.

One of the best parts of the newsletter? 21 things a burglar won’t tell you:

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