Violence in self defense
In many ways I believe most self defense instructors and students, especially in the world of martial arts, have got it all wrong. This could also be said of many hand gun defense and concealed carry instructors as well.
Most people have a natural tendency to adhere to the social norms of our society. As a law abiding citizen it is hard to imagine hurting another person. The kind of violence committed by criminals on a regular basis is hard to grasp for people who have never considered such a thing.
This is the root cause for most people’s failed approach at self defense. We all have a tendency to approach self defense from the perspective of social interaction. We imagine getting in a fight in a bar, or having some person try and start a fight with us in public. This should not even be considered in the realm of self defense as it both examples are cases of social interaction where simply leaving the situation, or backing down would result in safety.
The problem is that we approach real criminal acts the same way. When we consider rape, robbery, or assaults, we think these will happen in much the same way. We imagine a duel where body stance, skill, technique, and athleticism are the key players in our survival. We fail to recognize that no amount of skill, technique, or training will help us if we are the victim of a violent act.
What is a violent act?
A violent act reaches outside the norms of society into the realm of the criminal. In the case of a violent act there is always the same scenario. Person A is injured, and had the act performed on them. Person B performed the act, and was not the victim.
This is actually a simple equation, the best way to survive a violent act is to be the one using the violence! How backwards does that sound as a non-criminal? It sounds very foreign to me, but it is simple and true.
Dispelling the myth of martial arts
Martial arts is a very neat and interesting practice, that may have value when dueling against an opponent, but has little value in a violent encounter.
Wait a second.. little value? Yes. In reality people who plan to take a knife away from an attacker using some disarm technique will most often end up getting stabbed a lot in the actual situation. People who believe they can take a gun away will usually get shot. People who believe they can block a blow will have another thing coming when they are hit when least expecting it. Beyond all of this, the truth is that injury is the common denominator. A black belt with his eyes out of socket is not going to do much to his attacker. The same could be said if his neck were collapsed, his legs broken, or his testicles bursted. These sound terrible, but they are exactly the kinds of things that an un-trained violent criminal could do to bruce lee if given the right circumstances and opportunity. Martial arts are very cool, but they don’t stop bullets, blades, and surprise.
Survival Self Defense
Fighting for survival is not the same as social interaction where no one intends on killing anyone else. In the realm of actual rape, robbery, or murder violence is committed against a person.
The best defense in a situation where you believe you are about to become the victim of violence is to become more violent than the person attacking you. How long do you think a rapist will continue when your thumb is in the back of his eye socket? How will a murderer stab you when you just put 10 rounds in his chest? This may sound extreme but its actually very logical.
Watch prison fights on the internet and you will notice they are never a duel between two equals, they are always one person committing a violent act against another. The same could be said of riot police beating protesters, or even Rodney King back in the day. The illusion of dueling where you must potect yourself and guard against your opponents blows is something that could actually kill you. In the same split second an act of overt violence could have saved your life.
Shooting as an example
In war it is stunning how many people do not actually shoot at the enemy. When we go to war studies are done on how many soldiers fake shooting at the enemy, and the truth is that more will fake it than actually shoot another human being. Our morals and values have made us good people who are unwilling to kill another person.
How many times have you heard the phrase “Kill or be killed” in reference to war. Stop and actually consider that phrase for a moment because it is justification for violence. Men in war often must tell themselves that they will die unless they kill because that fear is the only thing that can drive them to be violent.
As citizens we must have the same understanding of violent confrontation. By in large the police advise people to do anything a criminal tells them because they know most people would only hurt themselves if they tried to stand up to an attacker. If you are a concealed carry holder that does carry a gun you must come to grips with this fact.
You must be willing to do great harm, and in fact kill another human being before you wear that gun. Once you wear it you are taking on the responsibility of protecting yourself and your family. I would say bravo, and that you are a stand up individual.. BUT
Have you really considered what it really means to defend yourself?
There is rarely a case where a person is shot by a permit holder and the holder is found to be in error. It is far more often that people hesitate and end up getting killed. If you have the legal reason to pull it out of its holster you have the legal right to kill with it!
If you know a person has the intent, opportunity, and ability to do violence against you the barrier for violent and lethal response has already been crossed.
It should be noted that if you were a part of causing the outburst that lead to that point you have no legal recourse for defending yourself. Lets think that through.. because if you have no right to use lethal force, you have no real right to defend yourself in any meaningful way.
A few guidelines to remember for personal defense.
1. Always be willing to back down from a fight. This means that you should back down from a fight every single time. When you get in their face you lost your right to defend your life.. no argument is worth losing that right. This does not mean you should back down from protecting your family or others, just don’t start anything .
2. Every fight is to the death, until someone can’t fight anymore. Neither I nor you are psychics that can read the minds of our attackers. This means that you should have every reason to believe they guy with a gun in your face is going to pull the trigger. That rapist is going to kill you when he is done. This is one of the biggest reasons to keep item number one in mind. It also does not justify walking up to the guy you just shot in the chest who is bleeding out through a sucking chest wound and cutting his head off even though he is no longer a threat.
3. Be Committed 100%. When you do decide its time to take violent action in self defense make sure you have fully committed yourself. There is never a reason to “square off’ with a bad guy, quick decisive action with no regret or concern for life is the only way to defend your life. There is no such thing as a fair fight, only victims and survivors of violence.
4. Be Vocal. Unless your trying to sneak out of a cage, yelling and screaming are a good idea. Yelling “Stop, back off, leave me alone” while you are will help others in the area understand you were the one being attacked. This can be very valuable in getting help from others as well, just always be aware every bystander is not an ally. You may find one of his buddies come running up just as quickly as one of yours.
5. Ruthlessness of action could save your life. There are not to many bullets to fire at a person trying to kill you, but there are instances where lack of ruthlessness is a weakness that can get you killed. Don’t be a victim, be the aggressor when your life is at risk. No violent act is unjustified when deadly force is justified. Always remember criminals are ruthless, and if they are going to hurt you, they don’t care about your feelings.
6. Injury not pain, death before revenge. If you must do something violent to anther person your goal should be to produce injury, not pain. You don’t want to hurt them, you want to change the way their body works in a negative way. You want to cause for instance: the inability to walk, lack of ability to balance, ruptured organs, gouged out eyes, broken limbs, crushed windpipe, severe bleeding etc.. Injury is a sure way to stop further attacks, pain is just something that makes people mad. You would be better off shooting a criminal in the head than spending one punch to get your revenge. Revenge is a social interaction, and has no place in the realm of self defense.
Lastly I would recommend:
I may have missed it but I think you forgot one thing. If you EVER have to use your gun to defend yourself…Never, Ever, EVER talk to the police without a lawyer. “Officer I have every intention of cooperating with you in this investigation but I will not talk without my attorney present.” is what you should say. NOTHING you say can be used to exonerate you. In fact what does Miranda say? ” Anything you say can and will be used AGAINST you in a court of law.”
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8167533318153586646#