self defense

A Simple Experiment

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

What I’m about to say I’ve said before, but after reading this, I think it bears repeating in a post all its own.

The post over at Hecate’s points out that the police were nearby… about 200 yards away in an adjacent parking lot. The responding officer was on the scene about a minute after the 911 call went through. But yet, 5 dead, 1 wounded, and the gunman was nowhere to be found.

Moral: even if the cops had to protect you, even if they wanted to protect you, they can’t. They just can’t be everywhere all the time. They just can’t respond fast enough to save you and prevent tragedy.

Some still refuse to believe this. So I offer this simple experiment. I find this useful to present in either a one-on-one or small group discussion. Usually it’s met by stunned silence because people don’t want to think about such things, especially such things happening to them. I only hope it gets people to seriously think about taking care of and responsibility for themselves. NOTE: I’m not actually advocating doing what I write below; it’s a presentation of a  hypothetical situation for the purposes of discussion. 

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KR Training

/ hsoi

For firearms training in the Austin, Texas area, there’s none better than KR Training.

Karl just redid the KR Training website (looks good), and added a LOT more classes for the coming months.

I’m a graduate of many of the KR Training classes, and am taking more in the future. It’s top notch training with a great instructor. There are those that know their stuff but can’t teach, then there are those that can teach but don’t know their stuff; Karl’s one of those few that knows his stuff and can teach. One thing I think he’s especially skilled in is helping beginners. He’s friendly, he’s personable, his knowledge is vast, and what’s also nice is that Karl doesn’t rest on his laurels. Karl keeps up with things, he’s willing to challenge established notions if it leads towards a better end result, and he’s an avid competitor.

Whether you’re a seasoned gun owner or someone looking to take their first step into firearms ownership, I recommend getting formal training. If you live within a few hour drive of Austin, I recommend checking out KR Training.

Gun Free Kids

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Via SayUncle I learn about Gun Free Kids. They are, of course, against concealed carry on campus.

America’s colleges and universities are under attack from the gun lobby.

We’ll ignore the fact they’re under attack by crazy people bent on hurting innocent students.

The Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus is writing to colleges and universities across the country to alert them of the threat and to urge them to band together to oppose the gun lobby’s agenda to push guns into college campuses.

The is no agenda to push guns into college campuses. All there is is a movement to break down artificial legal barriers that keep law-abiding citizens from engaging in law-abiding activities, such as self-defense. Look, Virginia Tech already had policies prohibiting guns on campus, but that didn’t stop Cho Seung-Hui from going crazy. I dare say the only thing that could have stopped crazy would have been an armed student willing to shoot back. But instead all we have are sheep and wolves, and if there are any sheepdogs on campus the law forced them to leave their teeth elsewhere.

The case against guns on campus is strong. There are many reasons why it would be dangerous to introduce guns into colleges and universities.

  • Arming students would make campuses more dangerous every hour of every day
  • Armed students would be accountable to no one
  • Arming students would not deter the rare campus shooting
  • Academic debate cannot flourish in a room full of guns
  • There are better ways to make college campuses safer

Ok….

  1. And how is that? Proof please? Just about every state has concealed and/or open carry. There’s no “OK Corral” shootouts going on. The Good Guys are still Good Guys, obeying the law, solving their disagreements by peaceful means. Statistics and data show that after a State implements a concealed carry law, crime rates fall (or at least don’t rise). Concealed carry holders are also statistically less likely to commit crimes than the general populace.
  2. Really? Wow… I didn’t know having a concealed carry license suddenly put you above the law.
  3. Concealed carry on campus will not stop someone from going crazy. However, if someone is going crazy, having lots of armed Good Guys around could certainly minimize the damage crazy inflicts. Furthermore, let’s not just focus on big, rare shooting events. What about college girls walking across campus to their dorm rooms and being sexually assaulted? Let’s not focus on the rare event, let’s look at common campus crime and try to prevent that too.
  4. Why not? Are you saying that just because someone has a gun that they’re crazy? That if there’s disagreement over how to interpret a poem in English class that suddenly a gun owner is going to get all bloodthirsty and blow you away? Who’s calling who irrational here?
  5. Such as?

You’re not going to stop violence and evil by banning guns; in fact, gun bans tend to lead to increases in crime (why? because Joe Citizen is now too weak to adequately fight back). Guns are merely a tool, and guess what? That tool works great in the hands of The Good Guys against Bad Guys! The Good Guys obey the law, so pass a law to ban guns, now the Good Guys won’t have guns — but The Bad Guys still will. 

This group’s tag line is “protecting families from gun violence”. But as I look around their website, I fail to see how they’re doing anything to protect me and my family from gun violence, or even just plain old violence. I’d like them to explain that better. All I see right now are a lot of emotional appeals, no facts, and no real substance as to how they’re protecting anyone from anything.

I don’t deny there are stupid people out there, that there are dangerous people out there, that there are evil people out there. That these people are out to cause harm to innocent lives. And many times these people choose guns as the tool by which they inflict their harm. And when they go to inflict their harm, they have demonstrated they don’t care about social norms, standards, laws, ordinances, agreements, boundaries, signs, or you and your well-being. If you wish to abridge these people, I’m all for it. But until you can present me (y’know, one of The Good Guys) with some failsafe and foolproof way to keep them from injuring me, my family, my friends, and other good people in this world, please don’t cripple me and rob me of my choice of tools.

Maek Chi Ki

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

The first “dynamic” technique you learn in Kuk Sool is called Maek Chi Ki:

The set is about hand strikes to particular points. Some are pressure points, some are not; the intent is to hit places on the body where you can do the most damage. For instance, strikes to the temple, strikes to the side of the neck (jugular vein), soft cavities. When people say “hit him in the face”, that’s not specific enough. Side of the jaw? chin? to the nose (and then upwards, into, downwards?), temple, crown, ears. Learn to go for specific places, increasing your chance of hitting them and doing maximum damage.

Now, no one attacks this way (with a kick and punch), but as a teaching tool it strives to help teach distance, timing, footwork, movement, blocking, avoiding. While the set seems very simple, it’s one well worth practicing over and over, working to get as fast as possible while staying highly accurate.

One interesting thing about this particular presentation of the set is the contents of the set. As Maek Chi Ki is taught today, the set differs in about half of the strikes/techniques. What the video shows is an old version of the set, and if you have a copy of Dr. He-Young Kimm’s Kuk Sool book, you’ll see his version is the same as what’s shown in the video. I don’t know when or why the set changed, but it did. IMHO, there’s merit in both. Take a look around the 1:41 point in the video (after the 4-knuckle strike to the windpipe). The two techniques at that point in the video are single-hand techniques: same hand blocks then strikes. I’m unaware of any modern technique in Kuk Sool that formally teaches that.

Guns and church

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

Arkansas’s House just passed a bill approving concealed carry in church.

I applaud this. Texas’ concealed carry laws originally prohibited carry in church but the law changed to allow it (unless, like any place they post a valid 30.06 sign). 

Like I said before, having such laws only stop the law-abiding good guys. The law-breaking bad guys don’t care. The wolves will roam where they please, especially to places where it’s easy to pick off the sheep. Laws don’t erect magical force-fields to keep out the bad guys. 

From the article:

Rep. Steven Breedlove, D-Greenwood, a minister at the Valley View Church of Christ, said allowing concealed handguns won’t stop someone from opening fire inside a church.

“Ronald Reagan was completely surrounded by armed guards and he was still shot,” Breedlove said. “And that is why we must put our faith in God and not put our faith in something else … Let us keep the sanctity of churches and put our faith in God and not in guns.”

No, it won’t stop someone bent on crazy. John Hinckley Jr. was crazy. A minister should know that bad things can happen to good people and we can’t stop it all. And although a subject of much debate, it seems rather a Christian thing to defend yourself and others.

Self-defense may actually result in one of the greatest examples of human love. Christ Himself said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:14). When protecting one’s family or neighbor, a Christian is unselfishly risking his or her life for the sake of others.

Theologians J. P. Moreland and Norman Geisler say that “to permit murder when one could have prevented it is morally wrong. To allow a rape when one could have hindered it is an evil. To watch an act of cruelty to children without trying to intervene is morally inexcusable. In brief, not resisting evil is an evil of omission, and an evil of omission can be just as evil as an evil of commission. Any man who refuses to protect his wife and children against a violent intruder fails them morally.”

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

2265 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.

So while allowing good people to possess useful tools wherever they man roam may not stop crazy, it can act as a deterrent and discourager, and at least give you a fighting chance. Yea, it even appears to be a moral obligation.

I agree. Do not put your faith in an inanimate object — a gun. But perhaps you can have faith that God might be guiding some to do His will, to be the sheepdogs helping The Shepherd guard his flock. Just ask Jeanna Assam.

 

Update: Robb chimes in with his take on the matter.

Capacity

/ hsoi / 10 Comments

Oh t3h interwebtubes are rife with endless debate about gun stuff, from your choice of gun sucks to your caliber sucks and every possible debate in between.

One thing tho I haven’t seen much debate on tho is capacity… well, at least within the gun-toting community. Across the lines there are those that believe a capacity of zero is ideal, or if they’re feeling generous might think 10 is the most one could ever need. I mean, what reason could you ever have to need to fire more than 10 rounds?

I give you one reason.

When you look at the reports of police under pressure in gunfights, what is their ratio of hits to misses? Depending on the amount of training the police force gets and then the particular force, I’ve seen numbers ranging from 25-33%. So think about that. These trained professionals, and only at most 1/3 of the shots fired actually find their mark. You have to realize in a gunfight tho, that’s probably fair. Training takes you so far, then you’ve got adrenaline rushing, you’re moving, the bad guy is moving, you’re not going to bat 1000 under those circumstances.

So now let’s look at you, average citizen. You may not have as much training or at least as much exposure and conditioning to such pressure-filled situations. So let’s put things on the lower end of the spectrum at 25% hit ratio. That means 1 out of every 4 bullets fired will hit its mark. Now we have to understand that handguns are woefully underpowered and it’s unlikely that only 1 bullet will stop the attacker. Let’s say you’ll need at least two (but there’s no guarantee how many you’ll need). So that means you’ll need to fire at least 8 bullets. If you’re arbitrarily limited to 10 rounds, well… you might be ok.

Now note that few attackers act alone. Sure maybe you might only confront one person, but there’s usually a lookout or backup hiding off in the shadows. So now you’ve got 2 guys to deal with… that’d be what? at least 16 bullets needed?

And you can see where this math can go.

Now I admit, I’m just playing with numbers. But I prefer to err on the side of caution. You never know what you’re going to need or what you may be up against. Sure .45 ACP is a great round, but a lot of 1911-style handguns can only carry 8 of them, but a XD-45 can carry 14. Or you could get a XD(m) in 9mm and carry 20 rounds. .45 ACP sucks just as much as 9mm sucks just as much as .40 S&W sucks just as much as most any handgun round sucks. So, all sucking being equal, I like that 9mm allows increased capacity.

Wolves tend to travel in packs. How does it help the sheep if the sheepdogs can’t have all their teeth?

Cutbacks

/ hsoi

So until we’ve all been fully stimulated and the rainbow-farting unicorns appear, we’ve got to cut back. It’s happening around my household, and I’m sure it’s happening around yours.

It’s happening in your cities too. Massad Ayoob writes about how various municipalities are cutting back on law enforcement because they just can’t afford it. Even here in Austin. APD Top Cop Art Acevedo cut $3.7 million from the police department budget by reducing overtime and delaying a cadet class until September.

What does this all mean? Simple. Less cops on the street.

For those of you that put your safety and security into the hands of others, there weren’t many of those others before, and now there will be even less. That means there’s less to protect you… fewer hands into which to put your safety and security. The corollary is the bad guys will be aware of this reduced police presence, and you better believe they’ll take advantage of it.

It’s your life. It’s your liberty. It’s your property. It’s your happiness. How much do you value it? How much responsibility for it are you willing to take?

Self-Defense Acronyms

/ hsoi / 6 Comments

Hecate ponders about betting your life. She makes many valid points about self-defense and personal responsibility, the biggest of which is that self-defense is your own responsibility.

Like anything we must learn, ways and tricks to help us learn and retain the information is useful. One learning technique is using acronyms. Hecate’s article points out a couple and I wanted to add a couple more.

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Ki Bohn Soo

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

Probably my favorite technique set in Kuk Sool is the first set: Ki Bohn Soo.

(You can turn down/off the sound if you wish… you’ll only lose the 70’s disco soundtrack).

While it’s a set learned at white belt, you have to remember the translation: Fundamental/Foundational Techniques. These 15 techniques are designed to teach basic principles: of body mechanics (how your opponent’s body does and doesn’t work), body positioning (where to place your body relative to your opponent), balance (keeping yours, disrupting your opponent’s). It also teaches you basics of how to move, and even basic gross motions that with repetition can just come to you when you need it. No they’re not necessarily techinques for street fighting, but knowing them well can help you out (when I do pressure/aliveness drills from a standing position, I find myself utilizing #9 quite often). And in theory, being the first set you learn they’ll be the motions that you do more than any other. This is what foundations are all about, and Ki Bohn Soo gives you that solid foundation.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, all the advanced cool flashy stuff in anything you do is nice, but if you don’t have fundamentals, the flash is worthless. I’d rather spend my time working to master fundamentals than doing really advanced and difficult but marginally useful stuff.

One thing that’s nice about this particular video is the man performing the techniques is SUH In Hyuk, founder of Kuk Sool Won. Point being, high level accomplished individual. I enjoy watching high level accomplished folks performing fundamentals because it helps you get better at the fundamentals. Watch this video now. Go practice, go to class and learn more. In a year, come back and watch the video again and I’m sure you’ll catch subtle things that you were unaware of before. Watch the video again in 5 years, and again you’ll catch subtle things that you missed before. And if this improves your fundamentals, if it strengthens your foundation, everything built on top of that will get stronger.

Preach on Uncle Ted

/ hsoi

Uncle Ted on why gun sales are up.

FTFA:

Our founding fathers supported an individual’s right to own guns. Unlike Obama and Holder, those vanguards of freedom understood that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness can not be achieved without being able to protect yourself and your loved ones from human scum who would deny you your fundamental God-given rights.

What our new president and his attorney general obviously want is control. Studying other gun-grabbing regimes of the past, they know the first thing that needs to be done to turn us from citizens to subjects is to disarm us.