Weapons vs Willpower

 The following applies to both police and civilians equally at times I see outdated logic with both. The fact is that I know alot of people who still don't think unarmed combatives are important. They think if they carry a weapon if they get in trouble they can just use that. The truth is sometimes you can and sometimes you can't but you can't depend on it. Many officers are too reliant on their weapons and many concealed and carry civilians are the same way. This is a dangerous game your playing. The fact is even if you can get your weapon out in time(which you usually can't) and even on top of that if you hit the guy it still may not stop the attack. I see this myth in knife sparring all the time in so-called reality based self defense schools. I want to show you a couple videos just to illustrate my point. I do want to warn you these are very graphic.

 In the above video sadly a man was shot to death and we hope the scum responsible are brought to justice. Our condolences go out the the family who suffered this loss. What I do want to point out in this video however is that this man was shot in the head and continued to fight until another person intervened and he was finally killed with his own gun. One shot didn't top him. Two shots didn't stop him. He kept fighting even with a head wound. Even fighting on the ground to pull his weapon if that other person hadn't jumped in he may have gotten to it and survived. We see it all the time in airsoft training one shot one kill and there are hundreds of videos on the internet that show this isn't always the case. Of course the caliber of the gun will definitely have alot to do with it but one shot isn't always a kill. On the other side of this which is valuable when your training in self defense you need to know that just because you've been hit with a bullet doesn't always mean your dead. You need to keep fighting you could actually survive. I know many people who have been shot and lived to tell about it. Some unarmed training wouldn't have hurt his chances in the above video alot of time was lost trying to get to a weapon. Yes if the attacker is carrying a pocket canon and you get shot in the head it's going to be over more than likely but that isn't always the case either. Training should reflect these variables. I've seen criminals use sheer willpower to override TASER successfully and everything else. If you carry a gun you STILL need unarmed training and your delusional if you think otherwise no matter if your law enforcement or a civilian.

 This is a well known video from Thailand. Fortunately everyone survived this one. There's no telling how many times this security guard was stabbed yet he survived. I have several instructor friends that train with the Shock Knife. Looking at how they knife spar I really don't like it they get shocked once and stop. This is bad training and it isn't realistic. Now I've never been shot but I have been cut in a knife fight. When I used to work as a bouncer we had a scuffle one time in the club(well there were many scuffles in the club but this specific one)  and we threw a bunch of guys out and turned them over to the police. Late that night when I got home and was taking off my shirt  to take a shower I realized I'd been sliced open below my left shoulder blade. I didn't even know it when it happened I even had to get stitches though I can't remember how many it seems like it was 8 or 9. Most of the time when people find out they were stabbed afterward they say things like they thought they were being hammerfisted or something. This man was stabbed countless times and kept fighting and survived. The criminal attacking the guard was hit with pretty much everything but the kitchen sink and didn't even go down. One stab one kill in training doesn't get it so get real.

   In closing if you carry a weapon for whatever reason it isn't a valid replacement for unarmed training so do yourself a favor and get some. Just because you shoot someone or stab them doesn't mean they will stop fighting you. Just because you've been shot or stabbed it doesn't mean your necessarily going to die and it definitely doesn't mean your going to stop fighting for your life so if your training doesn't reflect these variables then you need to address it.