Another Entangled Fight for a Private Citizen

Well look at this. A Student just sent me this.

Once again, it fits into everyhting I have taught and spoke/wrote about for decades.

1) an entangled weapon fight with a private citizen

2) it goes to the ground, which helps the good guy to do so

3) what is covered on the video lasts more than 90 seconds, and it apparently went longer than what is show here. Do you think fighting for your life agianst someone armed with a wepaon that can end you in a flash may drain your physical cpaablity and battery? Is some idiot online commentator going to argue against clearly having the physical conditioning to fight for this long is what allowed the good guy to prevail? Only someone with an agenda would say that.

Even More Fitness for Self-Defense

In the previous part of this series where we discuss the role physical fitness plays in self-defense, we looked at how common it is that fights last more than a couple of seconds, and that thinking you will be fine in a violent encounter without the ability to walk across a parking lot without having a heart attack may lead to bad outcomes

Today, we will look at the single best reason to have a modicum of physical fitness for self defense. Take a look at the following picture:

It is a snapshot of a recent incident where LE had to interact with someone who was hostile. I couldn’t find a good video of the incident (you can find it on the IG page of BJJ black belt Tom Deblass), but the pic works. The suspect is telling the cops to come at him. One of the cops says “he has cauliflower ears. I’m not getting close”. 

For those outside the grappling world, cauliflower ears are a condition where your ears have been so badly mangled that they have been compressed in on itself. It generally stems from a lot of heavy duty grappling against big and tough people. You earn cauliflower ears the hard way. For those who know, they are a mark that the person with them probably can fight, and fight really well. 

So the cops recognized the sign, and rather than blindly wade in and most likely get beaten up, they all kept their distance and were ready to use ranged weapons like a Taser or a gun rather than go hands on with this dude. 

What does that have to do with our subject concept today? Everything. The fight with the suspect and cops did not happen because the cops understood the signal and made a choice to go in a different route. Criminals do the same thing. 

There have been many, many studies on this, and all the data supports each other. When incarcerated criminals are given random pictures of people walking on the street, and ask which of those they would victimize, it is essentially 100% accurate in what any of the criminals choose. By seeing someone, they instantly know who would be a good victim (i.e. an easy mark) vs who would not be. If you look like prey, you will be treated as prey. 

The SINGLE BEST WAY TO SURVIVE A VIOLENT CRIMINAL ASSAULT is that you don’t get into one. Period. There is no argument to be made against that. You win every fight you don’t get in. So if we can avoid the situation entirely, it does not matter how good a fighter we are, how good a shooter, what kind of gear we have on. All of that is superfluous if we never get picked as a victim by any bad guy anywhere.

And the SINGLE BEST WAY TO GET DESELECTED AS A VICTIM BY ANY BAD GUY IS TO NOT LOOK LIKE A VICTIM. Again, simple and elementary to understand this. Don’t look like an easy victim and most bad guys will find someone else to victimize. We all understand this. We make quick slice snapshots of people we meet every day, and we make those calculations constantly – “man, that guy looks tough”, or “wow, that guy looks like if someone sneezed he would be knocked over”. Why would criminals, who do this all the time because it is their chosen vocation, not be making the same decisions? All of us know that that fat guy, moving down the sidewalk really slowly and wheezing does not scare anyone. Why would he scare off a violent criminal actor who most likely has already experienced massive violence in his life? The VCA will not only NOT be scared, he will be encouraged to go after that guy, because he knows it is an easy pick. 

And again, it is simple to understand who looks more like prey. Can anyone argue that someone morbidly obese, who is waddling down the street because they are so physically out of shape, and their feet have rotated outward (one of the most common effects of poor physical condition and something that bad guys will look for), is going to be deselected because a bad guy is worried?

NOT

ON

YOUR

LIFE

 And it may very well be your life. So choose wisely. If you are not willing to do a bit of work and make yourself look less like a victim, then you better be hoping that luck follows you around, because that is the only way you are going to come out okay. 

Choose wisely in how you conduct yourself, how you live your life, and most importantly, who you listen to. Because if someone is telling you it’s okay to look like a victim, they do not have your best interest at heart, and they are only caring about their own internal rationalization to support their personal sloth and laziness. 

More Fitness in Self-Defense

Check this video out. It literally just came across my Youtube feed, and it directly relates to the post I put up two days ago (and the follow up post that will go up tomorrow) about how useful physical fitness is in a self-defense context.

This is an entire video – close to 30 minutes – of private citizens stepping in to help cops who are in trouble. All of the situations last an extended period, often 10 minutes or more, and all require a decent level of fitness for the citizen to be successful. If they did not have that level, then they could not have helped the in trouble cops, and there may have been dead or seriously injured LE as a result.

I knwo there are lazy instrcutors in the training community who desperately want to concoct a way for them to stay lazy, but the reality is still reality, not their personal fantasy. Don’t have a resonable level of health and vitality? Cool, you will suffer consequences, but that is on you. Where I have a problem is when these people try to rationalize their laziness and attempt to convince others it is okay to be morbidly obese, or toothpick thin. It is not, on so many levels, but certainly in the context of self-preservation against a violent attacker. If you disagree, the explain away this entire video with MULTIPLE situations.

Fitness for Self-defense

My friend Mickey Shuch (CarryTrainer), and I were texting last week. He started the discussion by asking me what I thought about some people in the 2A and Self-Preservation communities dismissing physical fitness as having no importance for self-defense. I laughed because I assumed he was making a joke. Surely something so obvious, and that has already been documented to be a fact, could not truly be in dispute by anyone? Could it? He assured me that yes, there are some who are trying to push that bit of Flat Earth thinking. 

To say I was stunned is a gross oversimplification. In the current age of information, something so demonstrably true cannot be argued, because it is so easy to show that it is factual. But apparently the facts have to be brought up again and again until the willful lies and willful ignorance retreats. So I am going to do a quick two part exploration of this topic. Today for part one, we will look at the insipid fallacy that your self-defense situation will only last a few seconds. In part two, we will look at what happens to the body during a life threatening event, as well as how fitness deos more than any other single factor in contributing to winning such an encounter.

There has been a myth in the gun-centric self-preservation world for decades that all gunfights take place at three yards, involve three rounds, and last no more than three seconds. If those numbers are an average (and there is plenty wrong with even assuming that but this is not the time to get into that)), that still does not mean what these folks think it means. An average means there is as much ABOVE the average as there is BELOW the average. So a gunfight may take place at 5, 6, 7, 15, or more yards, involve far more rounds and last longer. Well, so it is for ALL self defense scenarios. Thinking that your fight will only be a few seconds and not planning for more is a very good way to help you to lose that encounter, and suffer horrific pain, injury or even death. Want some examples? Here you go:

Entangled Gunfight with a private citizen where the struggle lasted (by the reporter’s own words) “several minutes”. 

Lok at the time during the video. This gunfight lasted more than a couple of seconds. Think the good guy in this was not breathing hard and felt like he just came through a 10k race?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6911863/Armed-robber-gets-butt-kicked-asks-gun-back.html

Again, another entangled weapon fight with a private citizen that lasts for an extended period. What do you suppose the end result would have been if the good guy had gassed out after the first two or three seconds because he was in lousy shape? Do you think the robber would not have taken advantage of that and gotten his gun back out and tried to finish the fight his way? 

Crazed homeless man attacks a woman for an extended time. Not only did she have no physical skill set to fight back, she did not have the physical capability to continue the fight. Note how soon she was out of the fight and was totally at the bad guy’s mercy. This was NOT a couple of seconds of violence. 

https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/man-poses-as-good-samaritan-at-crash-site-then-robs-shoots-driver

And again, an entangled weapon fight with a private citizen lasts almost a minute and ends with the good guy trying to run away. Long time to fight, and then to need the extra burst of energy to try to escape? You think that does not require some level of fitness to be successful? 

I can go on and on. These events happen all the time, and I can just keep adding more and more to hammer home the point.. But this sampling is enough, especially since they are all recent, and ALL of them I quickly found with a short google search, and one vid led to another. If you advocate for not having a modicum of fitness, then you are morally bankrupt, because the evidence does not support the theory. 

Oklahoma City Seminar 2/23-25

IAC Seminar

OKC, OK IAC Seminar 2/23-25 , 2024

I am pumped to head back to the amazing facility at Meadhall in OK for my second semianr of 2024. for the first time, and it is a great way to kick off my 2024 seminar schedule. Meadhall has a great (and large) indoor training area with plenty of mats, so we are free from any incliment weather no matter what, so this is a perfect place and time to to take the plunge into the H2H in a Weapon Based Environment world, or if you have trained before. Come join us!

Contrary to popular belief, many empty-handed fights and those involving weapons end up entangled, either standing or on the ground. No amount of pontificating or self-proclaimed “expert” posturing will change this simple fact. If you ignore this reality, you may very well find yourself in a situation you cannot handle with disastrous consequences.

This course is designed to give the layman a realistic and functional set of concepts, techniques, methodologies, training drills and experiences that will prepare them for a worst-case grappling scenario. All techniques and concepts are high percentile applications which span a wide spectrum of confrontations.

Training consists of presentation, drilling and Force-On-Force evolutions providing attendees with immediate feedback regarding the efficacy of the skills learned, all delivered in a professional, ego free manner.

The goal of this course is not to create a “ground fighter” or grappler. The objective is to provide attendees who have limited training time and resources with solid ground survival and escape fundamentals geared toward the increasingly violent weapon-based environments they may live, work and/or travel within. And all techniques/concepts are from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling, and Boxing and are combat proven over the past 80 years by thousands and thousands of practitioners, including the U.S. Army.

These methods are for everyone regardless of physical condition – young, old, male, female, athlete or not – You DO NOT have to be a professional fighter to perform at a functional level. This will be a class about physical training, but it is NOT boot camp. Participants may go at the pace that is comfortable for them, while trying to push the envelope of their own individual performance.

Requirements: loose, comfortable but durable clothes, mouthpiece, cup, notebook, and an open mind. Boxing or MMA gloves are strongly encouraged but are not mandatory. Blue Guns and matched holsters, and training knives are a good idea, but there will be loaners available.

Surviving/defending/escaping the bottom

Getting back to your feet / staying upright

Defending against strikes on the ground or clinch

Denying the attacker weapon access – understanding technique, positional hierarchy, and timing

Proper role of “dirty tactics”

Multiple opponents

Essential training principles, methods, and drills

Underlying concepts and mindset for the clinch in a self-defense context

Dealing with the sucker punch/ambush

Fundamentals of the clinch

Controlling the entanglement

Disengaging and making distance for escape, weapons access or orientation reset

Performance coaching and troubleshooting

Structuring and balancing your training for a real world lifestyle

Use the code “DEPOSIT” to sign up for 50% (you can the balance the week of the class).

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/immediate-action-combatives-okc-ok-223-25-2024-tickets-754945200417?aff=oddtdtcreator&fbclid=IwAR24gWBArlGOBeF8yD9NVB091dwohgywDZIC5419JA52gSODrhalukLHpFk

Making a Revolver Easier to Shoot

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Over the past couple of decades revolver shooting has basically fallen out of favor with most in the mainstream self-preservation-oriented gun community. Since the mid-90s the polymer Striker Fired 9mm pistol has reigned supreme and most everyone who have started shooting after that has most likely had little to no experience with revolvers.

The problem arises when people newer to the community begin to comment on things they don’t have much firsthand experience with. Just as if someone who has only driven automatic transmission cars would be at a great loss if they suddenly were confronted with the manual transmission vehicle, so too is someone who only understands semi-auto pistols trying to wrap their head around the handling and operations of a wheel gun.

Too often people try to talk about the pros and cons of revolvers without really knowing what those pros and cons actually are, and the nuanced understanding that only comes from a depth and breadth of experience and knowledge.

One criticism thrown towards revolvers by people who don’t have a deep wellspring of experience with them tends to be that they are harder to shoot than a typical polymer Wondernine. That is actually not completely the case. There are ways to make revolvers easy to shoot with very little time, effort or money. Quite possibly the single biggest advantage to making a revolver easier to shoot, and one in which it is totally superior to all semi-auto pistols, is that in the grips.

Many modern pistols have minor tweaks that can be made to the grip. For example, a lot of them come with interchangeable back straps and a very few number of them come with interchangeable grip panels. However even with that there is a very, very finite level of adjustability that the end user can do. Any more that’s needed to really fit the hand requires major work at the level of an experienced gunsmith which then requires a lot of time away from the owner, a great deal of money, and hassle in sending it off.

Revolvers on the other hand can be easily adjusted to fit anyone’s hand, and that adjustment can be done by the end user essentially using a screwdriver and a few minutes worth of work. The revolver never has to be sent away, nor do they require a long period of time for the gunsmith to do the work.Most major revolvers have a huge aftermarket with an incredible number of options in which nearly any revolver can be made to fit anyone’s hand or for their particular context. Grip manufacturers like Hogue, Pachymar, Altamont, Badger, Etc. offer wood, G10, or rubber grips and almost any possible configuration that an end user could want. And all of them can be installed with a screwdriver and less than 5 minutes worth of work. Furthermore, unless you desire a particularly rare wood almost all grips are under $100 with most of them being under $50. There were up to very recent times some grip makers where you could send a tracing of your hands, and they would make a grip totally tailored to your precise fit. How many wondernines can say that?

None of that is true for any semi-auto pistol on the market today. I as the end user can configure my revolver to fit me exactly how I need in nearly the blink of an eye. So the next time you hear someone comment online or in an article how revolvers are tough to shoot, understand that they most likely have a limited knowledge base, probably don’t know the nuances of running or carrying a revolver, and are probably not the people to talk to about wheel guns. Instead take an extra minute or two to find the true subject matter experts like Wayne Dobbs, Chuck Haggard, Tom Givens and a small handful of others. Get their thoughts on running a revolver and follow their suggestions.

Take a look at the picture of my LCR. I have Rogers grips on it because for me that is the perfect compromise stock that fits my hand well, gives good shooting control, and still is very concealable. Next to it is a laser grip that’s good, as well as a Hogue G10 that fills the hand and makes shooting even 327 mags reasonably okay to do, BUT is not a good stick for ankle or pocket carry. Not pictured are Hogue Bantam grips which are super concealable but are too small for hands to control the gun. But it is an option. ANy of these can be popped on in a couple of minutes, and the total cost of ALL the stocks put together is under $200. Quite a bargain consisted to a typical grip job on a polymer pistol.

Entangled Fight with Weapons

I literally have multiple hundreds of these situations on either video or other documented media. Normally, I like to write up detailed analysis and then post them, but that takes a lot of time that I often don’t have. And unfortunately, there are still a lot of people out there who try to insist these things absolutely never happen. So rather than concede the field to them and let good guys get bad info, I am just going to start posting these things, even without the analysis. And here is the first.

A bus driver in Oakland is attacked out of nowhere by a woman with a hammer, and then a gun.

Jiu Jitsu | pugilism | edged weapons | contact pistol