self defense

What can we learn from Mir vs. Nogueira – keep fighting until the end

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Keep fighting. Push beyond. Don’t give up. Be it self-defense, competition, or anything in life.

If you haven’t heard, in UFC 140 this past weekend, Frank Mir vs. Minotauro Nogueira, Mir won because Norgueira’s arm broke… not sure exactly what happened, looks like joint dislocation (maybe both elbow and shoulder) and not bone breakage, but I can’t find exact medical reports at this time. Either way, it was pretty ugly.

But the details don’t matter. There’s a good lesson to be learned from this.

Never give up.

If you know anything about Nogueira’s career, the man doesn’t give up. He fights until the end, and this was proof. Yeah he finally tapped but only AFTER his arm snapped (the ref saw and immediately stopped the bout anyways). The fight wasn’t over until he couldn’t fight anymore. He kept looking for a way to get out, to escape, to work to his advantage, to turn the fight around, to win.

This is something you have to do with anything in life: don’t give up. You can keep going far longer than you think. Our mind and bodies are programmed to stop well in advance of actual failure as a preservation technique/instinct. You have to learn to push beyond that. It will be uncomfortable, it may not be fun, but it may be what you need in order to succeed, to grow, to improve, to win.

In a self-defense situation, you have to keep going. You get kicked, you get punched, you shot shit, you get stabbed, but you keep fighting. When you’re dead, you’ll be dead and then you can stop fighting. Until that point, you’re not dead and you have no excuse to not keep fighting because you may still make it out alive. Isn’t that the whole point?

Keep fighting. Push beyond. Don’t give up. Be it self-defense, competition, or anything in life.

Morning Excitement

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Some excitement this early morning in South Austin:

Following two stolen cars, two house burglaries and shots fired from police, a suspect is now barricaded inside a home on Brodie Lane — to which SWAT teams are responding.

Full Story, with last update at 9:38 AM this morning. I’m sure more information will be coming as the morning progresses.

Looks like someone broke into a house, stole a car. Police responded, found the car. Suspect bailed, went into another house, stole their car, attempted to ram police, shots fired, suspect bailed, presently holed up in a house. SWAT responding.

This is going down about a mile from my house.

Some take homes:

  • Bad things can happen any time. It started around 5:30 AM, and is currently in progress (as of my writing this).
  • All of the neighborhoods where the various break-ins and thefts occurred? They’re all “good neighborhoods”, generally well-off people. Crime can happen anywhere, not just in “bad areas”. Sure statistics might say one thing, but statistics are of little comfort when you’re the anomaly.
  • Are you prepared for such events? You’re probably just waking up around that time, walking around the house in your PJ’s and robe. If someone came bursting through your door, would you be able to handle it? It’ll all go down in a matter of seconds, and you’ll likely spend a good portion of those first few seconds overcoming surprise and trying to process what’s happening, which means you’re really behind the curve. Can you make up for lost time? It’s one reason why I carry always — even at home — because shit happens in an instant, and the faster I can respond the better. Taking 3-5 seconds to run to find my pistol/rifle/shotgun is potentially too much time spent/wasted.
  • Consider other lines of defense. A home alarm may not have been of much use in this situation because it sounds like the suspect was in a rush and just burst into the nearest house — alarm wouldn’t deter, police were already alert and on-scene, but it would notify you if say you were in another part of the house. A good and useful defensive dog (not just a yippy dog) might be more useful here, if it’s in the dog’s nature to actively guard, chase, and otherwise “dive in” to drive the offender away.
  • I wonder how, under his time pressures, the suspect was able to break into the latter two houses. I wonder about the state of the homes. Were doors unlocked? Were the homes occupied? Where was entry made? Could something have been done to make it more difficult? No way to know at this point, but I wonder.

Truth about Violence

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

Just as it is prudent to wear your seat belt while driving, it makes sense to know how best to respond to violence. In fact, it is overwhelmingly likely that some of you will become the targets of violence in the future. The purpose of this essay is to help you prepare for it.

A very good essay about self-defense, touching on 3 key principles of how to stay alive and out of trouble. (h/t Low Tech Combat)

Go read the article. On the whole I agree with it, but I do have some comments.

Principle #1: Avoid dangerous people and dangerous places.

This is true. The more you do to avoid trouble in the first place, the better. Some gun-folk may have heard it as “don’t go anywhere with a gun that you wouldn’t go without a gun”. Training courses such as Insights Training Center’s Street and Vehicle Tactics, and building upon that, SouthNarc’s Managing Unknown Contacts (MUC) can be quite useful in this realm.

Just remember Insight’s ABC’s: Always Be Cool.

Principle #2: Do not defend your property.

When I first read this, my gut feeling was to disagree. There can be very valid and just reasons for defense of property. However, when you read his elaboration on the principle, he’s basically alluding to the “beer and tv maxim“. I do agree with that and believe it a worthwhile guiding principle.

Principle #3: Respond immediately and escape.

I’ll agree here. When it comes, you must respond swiftly. Get away? Yes. It’s a good way to ensure you can live another day. We’re not out to have some sort of just fight, we’re not crime-fighters, we’re merely trying to defend our lives and keep on living. Escape enables that end.

And yes:

If someone puts a gun to your head and demands your purse or wallet, hand it over immediately and run. Don’t worry about being shot in the back: If your attacker is going to shoot you for running, he was going to shoot you if you stayed in place, and at point-blank range. By running, you make yourself harder to kill.

By running, you do make yourself harder to kill. For a lot of gun people, think about it like the Tueller Drill in reverse. If someone can close the gap that quickly, someone can also increase the gap that quickly. That means it doesn’t take you all that long to get out of range. I recall in a class with Tom Givens that he said something to the effect of about 8 yards (or maybe 10 yards?) or so, most people can’t hit worth a darn after that distance. So if someone can close a 7 yard gap in 1.5 seconds, you can make a 7 yard gap in 1.5 seconds… not much time at all to put yourself at a distance that most people can’t hit you at… and since you’re moving, you’ll be an even more difficult target. So indeed, there’s something to Nike-Fu as a self-defense tactic.

But is it always that easy? Can you always “just escape”?

What if your attacker has a knife to your child’s throat and tells you that everything is going to be okay as long as you cooperate by lying face down on the floor? Don’t do it. It would be better to flee the house—because as soon as you leave, he will know that the clock is ticking: Within moments, you will be at a neighbor’s home summoning help. If this intruder is going to murder your child before fleeing himself, he was going to murder your child anyway—either before or after he killed you. And he was going to take his time doing it. Granted, it is almost impossible to imagine leaving one’s child in such a circumstance—but if you can’t leave, you must grab a weapon and press your own attack. Complying in the hope that a sociopath will keep his promise to you is always the wrong move.

I admit, I haven’t considered that option in that scenario. And I’m not sure I can. I cannot see myself fleeing from my children in their most dire moment of need. I admit, I don’t believe compliance with a nutjob is going to get me anywhere, but I’m also just not sure that escaping to call for help is going to accomplish good things. Or at least, it seems that either way things could go good or things could go ugly… and I guess I’d rather take my chances sticking around. If I leave my child, not only the feeling that gives them of Dad leaving them (and while my kids might know how to fight, they’re still children and my leaving could easily destroy their morale), but now I don’t know where they are and what’s going on… is child going to be taken to crime scene #2?

A perfect example that just happened down in Houston.

It all started when Goodie’s 14-year-old daughter, Moriah, was headed to school around 6:30 a.m. Investigators said she’d just locked up her home and was walking down the sidewalk when she was approached by two men.

[…]

“The gentlemen that had her around the neck said he was going to kill her if [the father] did not back away. [The suspect] started dragging the young girl into the street. There was some separation, and at that point the daddy was able to fire one shot at the suspect,” Stauber said.

Read the full article. Does YOU escaping really sound like a viable option in that circumstance? Or does pressing the attack to enable your child to escape seem like the better option?

Still, to have the option put into my head? I’m not unhappy it happened. I never considered it before, but I’m sure I’ll contemplate it now to determine pros, cons, appropriate situations, under what circumstances it might actually be the best option. I’m not going to outright poo-poo it, but I will admit it may be difficult for me to overcome and accept it as a possible option.

Regardless, the article is overall a good one. The core is solid, and even if you don’t agree with it, I think what the article presents is well-worth considering… if for nothing else, the expansion and presentation of new ideas helps you find better solutions: either the new one is better, or you add more support to your existing solutions.

Low Tech Combat

/ hsoi

The guys over at Low Tech Combat made a video to introduce their concepts.

The video seems a little different for the context… seems like a business presentation more than self-defense. Nevertheless, it highlights what LTC is all about. If you’re interested in self-defense by any means (guns, martial arts, whatever), these guys have some useful insights worth heeding.

Why I carry on both sides

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

Via Unc, a discussion of carrying a folding knife on the weak-hand side.

He lists very good reasons for carrying that way, but I say why limit yourself to one side or the other?

Carry both.

I carry two Spyderco Delicas, one clipped inside of each front pants pocket. They are set up in the same way, tip-up carry, clip on the same side. Not sure how to describe which side and orientation the clip has, so here’s a picture:

Of course, the only picture I have doesn’t show the clips but…they are on the other side of the body, with the clip fastened to the bottom end…. so when closed, the blade tip and clip “screws” meet. Allows tip-up carry. You can figure it out. 🙂

And then, one into each pocket.

What this allows is access to a blade by either hand, either side. And to work the knife is consistent for each hand. So if the right hand gets the knife on the right side, it’s a simple motion to open the knife. If the right hand reaches for the left knife, the orientation remains the same and opens the same. The left hand only requires a small rotation of the knife in the hand, but it’s the same rotation regardless of knife.

This way, I have no limits. Any hand, any side, any blade.

For those that carry only one knife on one side (either side), what if you can’t get to that side when you need your knife? What will you do?

You can also argue the “2 is 1, 1 is none” angle. Of course, I have 3 if you count the Leatherman.

To me, these are useful everyday tools. Heck, I used my Leatherman Wave’s wire cutters a few days ago to trim a couple stray branches off our barbados cherry bushes where they were overhanging into the sidewalk. I use the Delica’s every day for things like opening letters. I know some say if it’s a knife for fighting you shouldn’t use it, keep it clean, sharp, ready. I say, I can clean and sharpen my knife, and every time I take the knife out to use it to open a letter that’s another repetition at drawing and opening to keep me in practice.

To carry two comes from Insights Training Center and their Defensive Folding Knife class.

You’ve got a hammer, but everything isn’t a nail

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

Michael Bane and Michael Janich discuss an important construct in self-defense: that one solution isn’t always the appropriate answer.

Can’t embed the 5 minute video… you just have to click the above to watch it.

I like Janich and he speaks a lot of truth here. I’ve dealt with two realms of “self-defense” training: guns, and empty hand martial arts. In the past and even today, people tend to choose one or the other. As well, many schools tend to only teach one or the other, tho thankfully that’s improving in recent years.

The reality is, like Janich points out, if you have a gun that’s great but that is not the appropriate nor possible response in all possible situations. It doesn’t mean you need to become a black belt in some deadly art, but having more responses programmed in, from simple verbal commands, to escapes, to perhaps basic empty-hand strikes can be a useful thing to allow you to respond appropriately to what’s presented. Insights Training Center is a good place for this sort of integrated methodology. If you want to go a more traditional route, consider Filipino arts, like Pekiti Tirsia Kali (in Austin, check out Leslie Buck).

On the other side, a lot of people take empty hand training but won’t progress to the level of firearms. Well, many traditional martial arts will teach weaponry, but it’s interesting how much of that ends up being demonstration and never application. Granted, it’s difficult to apply sword or nunchaku in a modern context, but what’s the point in learning a weapon if you do not know how to actually fight with it? However, I’d argue to move beyond those weapons because technology has evolved (else we’d all be using clay tablets and not iPad’s) and firearms are the modern sword. Empty hand skills can take you far, but not far enough because I’m sorry… a 5’4″ 95# woman no matter how skilled is just going to have a tough time against a 6’6″ 275# strong man hell-bent on raping her. A gun is a force equalizer.

I know some argue against the notion of “another tool in the toolbox” because then you start to collect a zillion tools and won’t know how to deploy anything. This is true. But there’s a balance point, and it starts by having to acquire more tools. Let’s be literal with the notion of toolbox. If the only thing you have in your toolbox is a hammer, yes everything looks like a nail. You’ll pound screws, if you need a hole in something you’ll just have to whack the hammer through it, if you need to measure something it will be “3 hammers long”, and so on. Well sure that might work, but it’s not very efficient and could cause collateral damage. That’s why you have to acquire more tools for your toolbox: to have a screwdriver, to have a drill, to have a tape measure. There are enough basic tools that one needs in order to have a complete toolbox. The problem starts to arise when you start to acquire too many tape measures… how many rulers does one need? For me, a simple 25′ tape measure is fine and covers all my needs. But a professional carpenter might want a carpenters ruler. Most people only need a claw hammer, but the handyman might also have a drywall hammer, and the roofer a roofing hammer.

So most people don’t need a taser and handcuffs, but a police officer does. A bouncer at a nightclub needs a lot of empty hand arrest and control techniques, as well as good verbal skills. So you can see, toolbox contents, literal or figurative, can vary from person to person and situation to situation. What matters in this self-defense context is that you can go too far. Bragging about having 3608 techniques means… what? Consider Bruce Lee: “Take what is useful and discard the rest”. Or Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”  Whether you listen to the martial artist or the writer, they are both saying that it’s about stripping away, but first you must have something to strip away. If all you have is a hammer, you have nothing to strip away. If you have 3608 techniques, you have a lot you can strip away. In the journey of life, we start with nothing and acquire as we go along. This is the way it has to be, because how else can we find what is useful? How else can we discover what we need? How else can we know what to discard if we’ve never acquired it in the first place? The key, however, is to not just collect, but ensure you periodically review and discard the useless so your collection is meaningful. So, “another tool in the toolbox” is good, but only if it’s useful to you. If all you have is a hammer, it should be because you had an entire hardware store and were able to discard everything else.

Lessons from a gas station robbery video

/ hsoi / 11 Comments

Karl passed this to me. Some good CC footage of a convenience store robbery.

Some things to note:

  • Look how quickly it unfolded. Once second you’re helping a customer paying for their stuff, the next second you’ve got a gun in your face.
  • As well, look how quickly it ended. This isn’t a sporting event with 3 5-minute rounds. The sooner you can end it, the better.
  • The clerk had a gun, but it was on a shelf under the counter. He’s lucky he was able to retrieve the gun, but only barely. Better choice is to have the gun on you in a holster, that way wherever you are, there it is at hand.
  • Concealment isn’t cover. It’s better than standing out in the open, and making yourself small and difficult to hit is good (better to not get shot than it is to shoot). But also remember, not only can they shoot through cover, so can you. Consider that to your advantage.
  • When the fur flies and the adrenaline is pumping, tunnel vision will set in hard. This is one reason why in Defensive Pistol Skills 1 we emphasize the need to SCAN SCAN SCAN!

Another thing to consider. If you were the man in the cowboy hat, what would you have done? There’s no right or wrong answer, it’s a matter of considering yourself in that situation and figuring out what you would do. Better to have a plan before things happen than to come up with one while things are unfolding.

Emily gets her gun… well… tries to

/ hsoi

Emily Miller lives in Washington D.C.. She wants a gun to protect herself.

It’s proving to be most difficult to do so, and she’s writing a series about it at the Washington Times.

All you that believe in a woman’s right to choose? That “no means no”? That participate in “slutwalks”? Why are those of this same group so hell-bent on denying her the ability to protect herself in her chosen way? The inconsistency bothers me.

Austin Police Department Burglary Unit – on Facebook

/ hsoi

The Austin Police Department’s Burglary Unit has set up a Facebook page. Why? To enlist the public’s help in locating victims of theft or burglary.

Starting Tuesday October 4th, 2011 the APD Burglary Unit will begin posting updates with recovered stolen property, surveillance videos, success stories of victims reunited with property, top property offenders, and crime alerts.

I think that’s pretty cool. If you’re on Facebook and in the Austin area, go Like the page.