Ok, so you're armed...

[Albert]

An interesting article on shooting people.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/07/us...rssnyt&emc=rss

[gregimotis]

I knew a guy who told this story (disclaimer, I wasn't there)

He was attacked outside his girlfriend's (possibly ex-girlfriend, which might explain why he got attacked) house.
As he tells it, he and his friend were getting beat pretty badly by three guys. He pulled his knife out of his pocket and stabbed one of the guys in the belly. This created enough commotion for him to escape.
Later, he called the police and explained what had happened. He did not clean up his face however, until after the cops had seen him - bloody and busted up.

No charges filed.

[The_Judo_Jibboo]

So just for the sake of argument, some guy (maybe a drunk kid, or a homeless guy with mental issues for example) roughly grabs your shirt. You're going to pull your knife right away?


Now, I don't like the whole *whiny voice* "what if you get in trouble?" thing that people say all the time, but the fact is that there may very well be a bunch of witnesses who now just saw you stop and pull a knife on some guy. Better yet, he falls on you, or moves the wrong way or you lose your footing and now you've cut the guy in front of God and man and 20 people are gonna swear that they saw him just trying to stop and ask you a question or some such thing and you "tried to kill him". That might complicate your evening a hell of a lot more than a less dramatic response would have. I know it won't do you a lot of good if you are interested in gradual escalation and he's not, but...

ok, so i get a little dramatic when i get riled thinking about these topics but remember that example was if i had someone else with me to worry about.
plus i used a bad example because someone grabbing your shirt, though a bit rude, might not be an act of aggression. i'm trying to communicate though that when you feel genuinely threatened there is no "over the top" reaction. again, of course there are a ton of variables that come into account like if the guy is drunk or not all there, and even the question of how you determine if you are genuinely threatened in the first place.

Just sayin,' just putting it out there for consideration.

it's very important stuff to consider, we should all want to know the answers to these questions before we have to act on them and you're making me realize i have some ponderin' to do

[Troll Virus]

Cocking an expectant ear for groans.
I'm always armed.
Got two of them in fact.

It's the same thing though.
With or without weapon, the dividing line is ego.
If you are in a situation where you can't impersonate Carl Lewis on rocket propelled roller skates, then you get your retaliation in first.
If you have the opportunity to escape or de-escalate, you have a responsibility to do so.

[DickHardman]

i train in muay thai and jiu jitsu, but i alwas carry a pocket knife. sometimes i carry a steel kabuton with a rounded tip as well. through practice of my own i have found at that stick and knife can be blended into muay thai/boxing quite easily.

i figure, you should have at least a decent pocket knife on you just in case. you never know when you may need it. carrying around a basic spyderco endura for 50 bux aint that big of a deal.

as for using it, everyone has to make that decision for themselves when put in that situation. and if you make the wrong one, the consequences will be extreme.

[jubaji]

Ok, so a number of folks walk around armed most of the time. How many have ever used the weapon they carry 'for real'? When, where, how, and why?

If you have never used it, have you never been in a violent confrontation, or has it just never reached that point?

If you have been in violent confrontations but never used that weapon, would the time you spent training on that weapon have been better spent on empty hand skills that you are more likely to use?

Just wonderin'

[treelizard]

I'm going to sound like a suburban white girl, but I just bought a cell phone a few months ago. I had this gift certificate to Best Buy and I've been spending a lot of time driving out of town and it sucks to try to find payphones late at night. Anyway, since I bought it I've pulled it out to call the cops three times and never had to call them. The first time was when some crazy guy was pounding on my car window and wouldn't leave. I even had a green light! Anyway, he left after I pulled out the phone, before I even called the cops. Much more effective than a weapon, I think. The second time was when I was wandering around Phoenix after a job fair. On my way out I asked someone if there was anything cool going on around town, and they told me about the Bodyworlds exhibit. I had five minutes to RUN there to get tickets in time. After I left and was walking back to the parking garage at around 9:30 PM some weirdo kept trying to sell me bottled water and followed me for about a block. I told him to go away several times while trying to find a public location on this street I didn't know, and he ignored me. I pulled out my phone and he left. Like a charm. Then that same day I ended up in some extremely extremely sketchy gas station. Because I was running on empty, I stayed in the store for the fifteen minutes it took the owners to try to get license plate numbers for people who were stealing alcohol. I decided since the cops were on their way anyway it'd be better than getting stranded half a block away and having to WALK through the 'hood. Anyway, I certainly didn't have a weapon on me (I'm so paranoid about accidentally bringing a weapon into a school where I'm interviewing at that I usually check my bag/car several times before heading out to make sure I am unarmed). I didn't think I was going to have to call the cops, but it was really nice to be able to pretend I was texting (well, I guess I was texting myself a description of the dude that kept trying to talk to me)--both because it was a way to break eye contact without feeling very passive and because I felt like I was still aware of my environment in a stealth kind of way. So I'm all about the cell phone, baby. One with a camera would be even better, I think.

[treelizard]

Just sayin,' just putting it out there for consideration.

Oh my GOD, jubaji made a spelling error! I guess nobody's perfect!

[Tant01]

8675309....

I'm going to sound like a suburban white girl, but I just bought a cell phone a few months ago. .....
.... So I'm all about the cell phone, baby. One with a camera would be even better, I think.

Good on you TL!

I'm glad to hear your new tool is helping to keep you safe!

[jubaji]

........................bump

[TTEscrima]

From personal experience, I find that I carry weapons depending largely on the circumstances of my life at a given time. For example, right now, I work in a job where I'm in at least a fight a week. Most of these people go home with a ticket. That means they know what I look like and where I work, and they have a reason to hurt me if they can. That being the case, I am most likely going to be armed if I'm outside my home. (inside, I'm better armed but that's beside the point).

I also have some strict rules governing my personal conduct under these circumstances. Being armed means I do not drink or partake in anything that could seriously impair my judgement. This includes prescriptions or cold medicines. For me, carrying a weapon places the possibility of using that weapon above all other personal priorities. In other words, by strapping a gun on my hip or tucking a knife in my pocket, I am making myself totally aware that I'm prepared to take a life in defense of my own, and I'm committing to a "code" of behavior that allows me to appreciate the full weight of that decision. I drive differently, I walk differently, and I conduct myself differently than when threats are less likely, and I take the responsibility of my choices seriously enough to put them ahead of fun and personal gratification.

In some other jobs I've had, those threats were far less likely. In those cases, I was more liberal in my personal behavior. I'd go to a bar and have a few drinks from time to time, and when I went, I'd go unarmed. In that respect, I tried to stay aware (I'd still play awareness games with friends and see what exits were available, etc), but I took the threat and my response to it less critically than in other situations.

I've said before that in my experience, only 1 out of ten fights is what one might honestly call "serious." Further, it's reasonable to say that unless one is employed in one of several "specialized fields," not many people will have to fight for their safety ten times over the course of an entire lifetime. That means that most people will not have to physically fight, and the ones that do are most likely going to find themselves in less-than-lethal struggles. In other words, if it makes sense to prepare for what's probable rather than what's simply possible, then it makes sense to figure on fighiting Uncle Earl or some drunk at the bar more often than fighting Ghengis Khan the Mass Murdering stick-up man in the back alleyway. I'll say it again: most fights are far less spectacular or serious than many people would like for you to believe.

Now, given my own circumstances, I have had to deal with people who got belligerent, but did not require that I put two pills in their ten ring as a response. I had an incident just today in fact where I was armed and had to deal with a resisting suspect, but the level of his resistance dictated that minimal force (restraints) was all I needed to apply. He was smaller than me, and unarmed, so while I had the equipment to really hurt him, I felt that a simple armlock was all the situation called for. As it turns out, I was right, and no one got hurt. So there will be times when you carry and face a situation that does not require the full brunt of whatever force you're capable of delivering. In those instances, it's best to rely on that most basic human quality that has allowed us to evolve as a species -

Reason.

If your training is grounded in thought, morals, and some sense of character, then you don't feel a need to go overboard or premeditate the slashing or shooting of anyone who crosses your path. You allow for the possibility, sure. But more importantly, you're prepared to act on a lesser level when it's appropriate to do so - even when more force may be justified! You allow for changing circumstances, and you do what is needed at any given time. You don't stab Joe Hobo for grabbing your shirt just because you expected the worst; you analyze, quickly and in the moment, and act accordingly. In short, you behave as though anyone were capable of anything, and you stay ready to do your worst while committing to doing only what your own character and conscience can justify; juries be damned.

Hopefully, that's not too rambling a response...

Nice post.

[Guest]

An interesting article on shooting people.

Thats actually a good name for an album

noted

[TylerJamesMead]

maybe im a little messed up(i dit time before for stupid stuff) but i alwayd draw my weapon if nothing else just to scare him or inflict light injury(hes in my guard i might punyo him with a tac folder or smash hif face with something else if i can escape i would hide the weapon if it was reaally expensive or destroy it then find an alaby and a witness to confirm it

[Tant01]

A man in a nearby town was arrested recently and charged with reckless discharge of a firearm (in city limits) for chasing a burglar out of his yard and shooting at him.


Could have been worse (for both guys)

[Garland]

A man in a nearby town was arrested recently and charged with reckless discharge of a firearm (in city limits) for chasing a burglar out of his yard and shooting at him.

That's what our world's come to.

You'd probably go to jail for shooting a man who is actively, like in the process of, raping your wife at knife point in your home.

THAT is why I hate the police, the justice system, and the whole fucking mess. I say this much now...if I am ever unfortunate enough to have to use lethal force to defend myself...I'm finding a way to get rid of the body. Haebeus Corpus.