Everything I need to know about self defense, I learned on the shooting range

If someone stands in front of you and threatens your life and limb, you need to take him out as quickly and effectively as possible.

Period.

A lot of people don't understand this simple, underlying concept of all hand-to-hand and, even more important than by H2H, hand-to-weapon combat.

I was presented with this problem for what seems to have been the 10-millionth time in my life while training a group of civilian security personnel in weaponless combat. I would teach them how to cause damage to an aggressor as quickly as possible, but, as soon as we started to train on this, they would forget what I taught them and start acting defensively—either by attempting to use "defensive moves" or "disarming techniques" that they learned somewhere else or, even worse, by just covering up and hoping that the attacker would soon stop.

I tried to repeat what I had already taught them about the importance of damaging your opponent and the dangers of defensive actions in a real combat situation, then realized that they all carried weapons while on duty, which enabled me to use a very effective analogy to finally get them to understand my point.

"If someone attacked you with a gun or knife and you had time to draw your firearm, what would you do with it?"

"I'd shoot him," was the answer.

"Good. Where would you shoot him?" I asked.

"In the most vital area that I could hit under the circumstances in order to get the most effect in the shortest time."

"Right, tactically correct once again," I said. "But why don't you shoot the gun or knife out of the attacker's hand to disarm him or shoot him in the elbow, wrist or shoulder to break it without seriously hurting him?"

They were speechless and could just look at me in amazement for a moment until someone snapped out of his daze long enough to ask: "Is that supposed to be a joke or something? This guy is trying to kill you and you're worrying about hurting him? How are you supposed to pull something that complicated off, anyway? You'll never be able to hit him in the elbow or shoulder joint in a real conflict."

"Yes, that is supposed to be a joke, but I learned it from you people today! If someone attacks you, you draw your weapon and shoot, you shoot to kill, which is the correct response, but if someone attacks you and you don't pull your gun, you suddenly become over-concerned with his personal safety, even to the extent of endangering your own! I don't want to hurt the nice man with the firearm / knife / clubbing weapon, so I'll try to block his attack and disarm him without hurting him, which probably won't work and will most certainly get me killed in the process, but its ok, as long as the nice attacker remains unharmed."

Think about every fight like a gunfight!

A serious attacker will not stop until either you or he is seriously injured or dead. That means you need to hit him in the most vital area that you can reach under the circumstances as soon as possible and continue doing that until he is no longer able to continue his attack. Any disarming, blocking or other unnecessary defensive techniques will only prolong the fight, which will increase the chances of the aggressor having the opportunity to seriously injure or kill you first.

Please, read and re-read this article until you fully understand the point that I'm trying to make.

Without the proper mindset, no weapon or defense will ever help you when your back is to the wall.

About the Author:

Christopher "Bob" Roberts is an ex-soldier who relocated to Europe and now earns his living as a tactics and close-combat instructor for military, police and private security companies.

For more information about armed and unarmed self defense, subscribe to his free newsletters at
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