self defense

Guns and Catholics

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Robb posts that Louisiana Catholic Churches are banning concealed handguns.

“We don’t think it is appropriate to have guns in churches,” said Danny Loar, executive director of the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Hrm. Methinks someone doesn’t get it and could use a review of Catechism:

Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for one who is responsible for the lives of others. The defense of the common good requires that an unjust aggressor be rendered unable to cause harm. For this reason, those who legitimately hold authority also have the right to use arms to repel aggressors against the civil community entrusted to their responsibility.

and

2321 The prohibition of murder does not abrogate the right to render an unjust aggressor unable to inflict harm. Legitimate defense is a grave duty for whoever is responsible for the lives of others or the common good.

Note the use of the word duty. By banning law-abiding citizens the ability to defend themselves — because no fighting on sacred ground is only honored in The Highlander — they are denying parishioners their ability to fulfill their God-given duty.

See prior posts here and here.

Pour it on

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Brock Lesnar is an impressive physical specimen.

In UFC 116, Shane Carwin gave Brock one hell of a fight.

Carwin spent most of the first round on top of Brock, pounding the hell out of him. This was smart strategy for Carwin. He knows if the fight goes on longer, it favors Lesnar. He also knows that if he gives Brock a moment, Brock will take the opening. That first round teaches and important lesson for self-defense.

Do everything you can to avoid the fight. Avoid, deescalate, evade, escape. But if the fight must come, if there must be violence, then it must be ultra-violence (phrase from Greg Hamilton); you must turn it up to 11, be more aggressive, give your attacker one massive reboot to their OODA loop. Carwin didn’t win the match, but without question he decisively took that round… and all because he poured it on.

To get involved, or not

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When you’re of the sheepdog ilk, when you carry a gun, when you make a decision to defend right and stop wrong, one question that comes up — and that you must ask yourself — is, do I get involved?

If someone is striving to harm myself or my family members, yes I get involved. But if you’re just out in the world and you see something ugly going down, should you get involved? It depends.

Gabe Suarez wrote what I think is a pretty good piece on the matter. It’s still not going to give any clear-cut answers, because how you answer is a personal matter. It also goes back to the Insights “beer & TV” maxim.

Class AAR: AT-2A Home Defense Tactics

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Last night I had the pleasure of attending KR Training’s AT-2A: Home Defense Tactics course.

The class is what it sounds like: a class about home defense tactics. While a some of the material is stuff you get via other KR Training courses (e.g. AT-1A Low-Light Shooting covers “night” and flashlight techniques, some building clearing issues), what makes this class novel is the presentation. AT-2A is not a range course but is held at the home of a student. This changes the presentation and feel of the course. First, the number of students is small due to the logistics of people going around a home. Second, while Karl does instruct and there is “lecture”, the format ends up being a lot more interactive and full of discussion and Q&A — the smaller class size and the nature of the class just lends to that. For example, Karl would take us into a room and discuss a defensible position in the room, and while doing that some furniture might be moved to create a better position, then each student would take up positions and see how they actually worked out, asking questions, discussing pros and cons.

For the homeowner hosting the event, it’s of course very informative because it’s their house getting reviewed and analyzed. As for the rest of us, the techniques remain the same and you go home with a sense of what to look for. Homework is looking at your home and figuring out how it’s going to work. Some spots in the home may be good, some bad, some ugly. Some things may be able to be changed, other things may just be situations to avoid. You learn how to deal with quiet situations, worst-case situations, low-light situations. How to set up the house, how to deal with common criminal activity (e.g. don’t make things inviting, make their life difficult because if it’s hard, most criminals won’t bother… they want what’s quick and easy).

A good class and most informative.

The importance of power

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OldStyleMuayThai has an article on the importance of power, especially in practice.

In a streetfight you have about a three to eight second window of opportunity to finish your opponent and get away before it becomes more dangerous for you.

After the window of opportunity is closed anything can happen and it’s usually not very good.

You can both end up on the ground, more than one adversary can appear, weapons can be drawn against you, and your energy will be severely drained.

So why would you be throwing love taps at your attacker when he is totally committed to ripping your head from your shoulders and kicking it down the street.

There is no reason why anybody should be sparring with their adversary when in a streetfight.

That’s why I tell people to have intent when they train in the gym or dojo, spar like you’re in a streetfight, and not like you’re in a cardio boxing class.

While he’s talking within the context of fisticuffs, really the principle is applicable to any context. And it’s summed up in one line:

GET REAL AND START TRAINING LIKE YOU MEAN IT!!!

Whatever the reason you’re training, remember that reason. When you are training, train towards that goal. So if your goal is self-defense, hit that punching bag like it’s someone intent on ripping your head off. Shoot that target like it’s someone intent on raping your wife and leaving you for dead. Put your mindset where it needs to be.

Granted, not all training sessions can be this way, and it’s not always applicable. For instance, I may be training for a competition instead of self-defense; that is, I may have multiple goals that I’m working towards. That’s fine, because the key remains to not just go out there and tap the bag or fling lead downrange or whatever. Set your goal, work towards it.

Going to the ground

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You know what can happen if you end up on the ground in a fight?

You can get killed.

Colbert was charged Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. with two counts of murder, police said. He was arrested at his home Monday at 8 p.m. for being one of the individuals who kicked Albert several times in the head and torso after Albert was on the ground — ultimately causing his death, according to a police report.

I know MMA and BJJ is all the rage. I love watching UFC and WEC fights. I loved my study of Muay Thai. I enjoy joint locks and submission moves. I totally agree that you do yourself a favor by knowing how to handle yourself in grappling situations.

But in a true fight (i.e. not sport/competition), should going to the ground be your strategy? Well, every situation is different and who knows what your situation at the time may call for. But as a general rule, I would say no, you should not try to take it to the ground. If you end up on the ground (very possible), you should do your best to get up off the ground as quickly as possible. Why? Well, as the above story reads: guy’s going to have friends, and they’re going to stomp your head into the pavement. It takes no skill to stomp someone’s head into the pavement, just determination. And it doesn’t take much for you to get your bell rung… one good stomp to the head and your head meets the pavement could be all that’s needed to knock you out.

So again, don’t get me wrong, I think it’s good to have grappling skills. I think it’s good to know how to handle yourself on the ground. If you are training for pure self-defense, part of your ground skills should be knowing how to quickly get up off the ground, back on your feet, and back into the fight or escaping. Being on the ground is not where you want to be.

Rangemaster June 2010 Newsletter

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Rangemaster’s June 2010 newsletter is now posted.

While other topics are covered, the article of most interest to me is a debrief of their 52nd student-involved self-defense shooting. This is something worth reading.

One thing that may come as a surprise to folks is that the incident was on a Sunday afternoon, broad daylight, in a “good part of town”. Many would say such an incident would be unpossible under such circumstances. Folks, you don’t get to choose when bad things are going to happen to you. But you can choose whether or not you’ll be prepared for when those bad things happen.

There are a host of lessons to be learned from that incident, apart from the analysis by Tom Givens (which you can get by reading the article). Many things to think about and discuss.

Using deadly force doesn’t always lead to more beer and TV time.

/ hsoi

A man witnesses a robbery and attempts to use his gun to shoot out the tires of the getaway car. Gets thrown in jail for it.

I hate to say it but, yes he was in the wrong.

If you shoot a gun at someone, you are using deadly force. These guys were obviously fleeing, they were not posing a threat to this man or his life (as far as I can tell from the reported story), there’s no reason the gun should have been drawn and fired. Truly if he was in fear of his life that’s one thing, but all signs are pointing to him not being in fear of his life — he even admits he just did it in an attempt to detain the robbers for police.

Witter said he advises other people to think twice before they step in to stop a crime.

“I guess the message is don’t do anything and let stuff like this just happen and just let it go, I guess,” Witter said.

Not necessarily. I’ll harken back to the maxim from the Insights Training guys: “do whatever it takes to maximize your beer and TV time.”  If your life is in danger, defending it is likely to increase your ability to enjoy beer and TV. If two guys ripped off some iPhones from a store that isn’t your store and are running away, while I commend your desire to not let crap like that happen, getting involved is unlikely to increase your ability to enjoy beer and TV. Yes it sucks that assholes like that exist in this world, but until that asshole is going to directly infringe upon my life I just have to learn to let it go (and ensure my insurance is paid up).

A couple links

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KR Training attended the 2010 Polite Society event. Here’s a write-up. I highly recommend visiting the page and reading up on the 4 Force-on-Force scenarios. The write-up describes the scenarios and “results” from them. Very enlightening, and as with many FoF situations, a sober read. Many implications on what we need to practice, and it’s not just our marksmanship skills. There’s also a few videos of their shoothouse runs.

Rangemaster’s May 2010 newsletter is posted. Congratulations to Lynn Givens for her recognition by the Shelby County AG. This newsletter contains a good article about safety while traveling, especially in regards to hotels.