Many people will practice pistol disarms by rote. They stand in the dojo or the police academy and snatch a replica pistol from a training partner's hand who is usually standing as still and quiet as a statue. Sometimes the trainer and the trainee can make it look real good too. Real tough. But this training dance is quite sterile from the infections found "in the field."
A pistol disarm action actually consists of three parties. You. Him. And "the room." By the room I mean the situation. All are ugly participants that infect the sterile disarm with problems. Diseased, now you must read and problem solve the room too - the overall situation! Who is the gunman? What does he want? Where are you? When will he shoot? When should you make your move? How will you do it? Why is he there? Why should you move now? Why will he shoot you if you do or don't make a move that instant? Yeah, yeah, its my classic "Who, What, Where, When, How and Why" that is the very DNA of my teaching and the core equation of self defense and national defense preparation.
How many times through the years have you learned a disarm or two in a class and come home or back to work and brag about the lessons.
"I learned cool disarms today."
Your friend says ,"great. Show me."
He gets a toy clicker gun and stands before you. He is stoked! His beady eyes and toy barrel are dead on you. He awaits your trick. Of course, he has nothing else to worry about except you and your disarm. He is not "managing" a crime scene. And, if so much as a blood vessel pumps on your forehead? He pulls the trigger. Click! Man! So next you put your surrendering hands up as the instructor prescribed. You move a hand...CLICK! MAN! This goes on and on and the disarms you learned in class? You can't even do to your friend in your living room, or in the the police station, break-room. This ever happen to you? It has happened to me. It was really confusing and depressing until I learned a few things about life. Violent life that is.
Fact is, if a bad guy is pointing a gun at you, and has nothing else to worry about and watch over, and he is ready in a microsecond to shoot you on the slightest perception of your movement, you will probably never do your cool disarms or may have a real sloppy time of it if you do.
But is every criminal's real and only goal to stand there and shoot you dead when you move at all? Why then hasn't he just done it already? Is this what a criminal will always do? This his real motive? Or, is he "interested" in something else? Distracted by something else? Is he robbing a store? A bank? Is this a hijacking? A kidnapping? An interrupted burglary? A mugging? A prisoner of war snatch? Why is he there? What does he want? Where are you and what is going on? You see this all leads to a discussion of...the distraction. A Distraction Continuum. Is the robber distracted by a crying customer? A pleading hostage? The person who walks by the store window? The phone? We are already deep into this little essay and I officially announce here and now it is about...the distraction. The distracted armed criminal.
What IS distracting him?
What HAS distracted him?
What MIGHT happen next to distract him again?
It may be be easier to disarm a distracted gunman than one standing in front of your face, eyes boring holes in your head, waiting to shoot you the instant your forehead, blood vein pulses.
Smart "students/practitioners" should ask "when should I disarm?" And one very good time is when he is distracted. This is hard to recreate in the sterile dojo or academy, but still elements of this can be rehearsed and taught. There are a few drills to enhance this. One is to have a gunman stand in front of your student as a trainer and give him some distraction responses. The trainee can adjust himself to these three main distractions.
Distraction 1: The gunman's eyes cut to the distraction.
Distraction 2: The gunman's eyes and head cut to the distraction
Distraction 3: The gunman's eyes, head AND GUN cut to the distraction.
So, rather than lunge forward and disarm a statue-like , trainer's presented pistol in class over and over again, challenge the trainee with responding to the common distractions of a bad guy. The trainer will hold a gun, then act out one of the distractions. He does one and the trainee responds with the disarm. Do it enough and you build the distraction into the disarm. These are smarter, proven times to make your disarm lunge. Expose your students to this concept. In some circumstances you can stage a distraction in class with a third party. Get creative. (Real reality training always requires good acting and good actors).
The Distraction Continuum in Disarming. This is but one element of many elements in the pistol disarming module of life. This same continuum works with long guns and knives. Sticks too. You have to be in the position of standing right in front of the gunman, the weapon and/or weapon limb within lunge range, and he in the act of a crime or an act of war.
Yes, sometimes you may be in the worst of worst case scenarios, about to executed and your disarm might be just as hard as that break-room challenge by your friend with the toy clicker gun. It is not impossible. The killer may be a slow, uncoordinated slug! Drunk or drugged! Never say die. Its just harder without a distraction.
"When should I disarm?" Another good time is when he moves his gun to "orchestrate" his crime scene, which is a whole other essay.
And remember, if you are capturing the criminal or enemy soldier, you too cannot be distracted. If you lose your pistola? Then we enter into the weapon recovery phase, which is yet another enchilada.
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