Gun Attacks

The American Self Protection Association, Inc.

Home of America's first Mixed Martial Art Training Method for the Entire Family

Gun Attacks

6. AGAINST A HANDGUN

Disarming an opponent holding a gun is in any case both dangerous and difficult. Against a capable gunman it is almost impossible. Success depends on whether your attacker makes one or both of the following mistakes: he comes within your reach; or he allows you to distract him somehow, for instance, by moving about or looking behind him.

The techniques described here are to be used in desperation, when you believe that you are not going to be spared, or when your attacker attempts to tie you up. Indeed, you would then be completely at his mercy with no guarantee that he is going to spare you and no chance to defend yourself. Again, it is easy to see that the first condition for successful defense is good judgment and sound evaluation of the situation. Other prerequisites are

l. Use the most appropriate technique.

2. Get out of the line of fire in less than half a second.

3. Get hold of the gun, or the hand holding it, by the most direct and shortest motions, after you get out of the line of fire.

4. Execute the defensive technique as quickly as possible, but without sacrifice of accuracy. Strike the eyes at the first opportunity.

5. Use good psychology in leading your attacker to believe that you are eager to comply. Lull him into overconfidence.

6. Look through his upper chest, as if he were made out of glass. Your peripheral vision will thus encompass all his body. Do not look directly at the gun; it will have a demoralizing effect on you, besides limiting your field of vision. However, keep your eye on the gun after you have secured a grip on it or the hand holding it.

7. Keep shoulders, hips, and knees relaxed. Initiate all moves from the hips as much as possible. Remain well balanced throughout the techniques.

8. Some knowledge of handguns is quite useful: secure it. A stick gives the defender some protection against a knife wielding opponent. Against a gunman, however, he can use it only as a means of diversion. This means in fact that D must condition himself to handle such situations as if he did not have a stick at his disposal.

Frontal Holdup

D is in guard 2. A, with the gun in his right hand, holds up D at arms length. He commands him to raise his hands and to drop the stick. D complies immediately and raises his arms while still holding the stick (Fig. 1). He focuses his gaze behind A, as if there were someone there. If A takes the bait and is momentarily distracted, on the split second of A's distraction, D sidesteps to the left and, bending slightly at the waist, pivots to the right on the ball of his left foot, to a position at right angles to A. Letting go of his left grip on the stick, D slashes A's wrist with the right, propelling it thus toward A's left side (Fig. 2). If all this is done correctly with good timing, it will get D out of the line of fire. Immediately, D secures a grip with the left hand on A's right wrist, from above. (D will have fewer chances to miss his grip if he slides his left hand on A's lower forearm, stopping at the wrist.) D now cuts across A's eyes with a right slash, palm up, and gets him to drop the gun with a right simple circular slash-parry to A's right hand (Figs. 3). D now has several options.

(i) Slide the stick against A's throat and come behind him for a choke.

(ii) Kick the gun away and come behind A for a shinblock throw and Achilles pin.

(iii) Insert the stick under A's armpit for an entangled stick control and immobilization.
Whiplash D is in guard 2. A attacks him right-handedly with the gun butt in an overhead swing. The defense is similar to that against Overhead Attack, p. 153.
Holdup from the Rear D is in guard 2. A orders D to raise his hands and drop the stick. A may be fielding the gun with either hand. D complies, but drops the stick behind him, on A's hands, and performs one of the following techniques. The stick is used for diversion. As D is lifting his arms, he attempts to see which hand is holding the gun. D must make sure that it is the gun against his back and not A's finger. D may resort to another way of finding this out.

He lifts his arms, elbows shoulder high, relaxes and leans lightly against the object on his back. A's natural reaction would be to push back and, unless D wears heavy clothing, he will generally be able to tell between the hard impact of the gun and the relatively soft impact of a finger. If D has any doubts, he should refrain from using the following techniques. Before he tries them, he must somehow make sure that the gun is against his back. Once lie is sure of this, he does not necessarily have to know on which side A is holding the gun before acting. D may also in a show of fear raise his arms begging, "Don't shoot, please don't shoot," dropping the stick behind him, presumably because of uncontrollable fear (Figs. 4, 5). Then D makes use of the diversion he has created. Starting his motion from the hips, D pivots clockwise on the heel of the right foot and drops his extended right arm in a slashing sharp motion relatively close to his body, deflecting the gun holding hand as he pivots completely to face in the opposite direction to A (Fig. 6).

(i) A holds the gun with the right hand. Pivoting still further, D slides his left hand on A's right forearm and wraps it around A's right wrist, securing a firm grip on it. Then, with an extended left arm, D leads A in a wide clockwise circle. During this movement, D makes sure that his left side stays close to A's right side. What D has done so far is to deflect A's gun, while getting out of the line of fire, and to establish control on A's hand holding the gun (Fig. 7). When D meets with resistance because A is pulling back, he steps back with his left foot, reverses his pivoting action, and throws A as follows. Upon reversing the direction of his pivot, D strikes A in the eyes with the tips of his right fingers, tensing up his hand, palm down, right forearm parallel to the ground. D should not let his elbow drop as he strikes (Fig. 8). This is a severe retaliation which is proportional to the severity of A's attack. A will lift his hands to protect his eyes. D takes advantage of his reaction by grasping A's right hand from beneath with both hands, D's fingers following the lines of A's fingers. Now D twists A's wrist upward and backward toward the ground, as if he wanted to curl A's fingers into A's palm. At the same time, D slides his left foot to the left, sharply pulling A's hand in that direction. This wrist control and following actions will throw A on his back (Fig. 9).

When A is about to land on his back, D kicks him in the ribs with the right foot and takes the gun as follows. D grasps the gun from under the trigger and when A relaxes his grip as a result of D's kick, he twists the gun away so that the handle slips between A's thumb and fingers, making sure that the muzzle is always pointed away from him (Fig. 10). It is a good idea for D to emit a sustained yell as he is performing this technique. Besides the psychological effect the yell will have on A, it also protects D's eardrums in the event the gun is fired, by relieving the external pressure on the eardrums. If the gun has an accessible hammer, D may prevent its firing by inserting his right thumb so that the hammer cannot drop. While there is a slight chance of injury to his thumb, it is worth taking.

(ii) A holds the gun with the left hand. The same preliminaries also apply here, so at that point it is not really necessary for D to know which hand is holding the gun. D yells as he strikes A's eyes with the left fingers. D makes use of A's instinctive reaction of lifting his hands to protect his eyes by grasping the hand holding the gun and applying the wrist control just described.

Alternatively, D may press A's left arm against D's chest with D's right arm, and knee A in the groin with the left knee. Then D may strike A in the eyes with the fingers of the left hand (but never in training) and may reach for the gun with the same hand to disarm A (Figs. 11, 12). Grasping the gun from under A's grip, thumb pointing in the direction of the handle, D tears it away so that the handle slips between A's thumb and fingers, i.e., the weakest part of the grip. Disarming may be done in the standing position or after A has been thrown on his back. To throw A, D thrusts his left leg between A's legs from behind, while breaking his balance backward by pushing under his chin with the left forearm near the left elbow. D follows A in his fall, dropping on the left knee, landing near A's left side (or even on it) without loosening his grip on A's left arm. If absolutely necessary (but, again, never in training), D may strike A in the eyes with the fingers of his left hand and then tear the gun away, if it has not yet been released, in the manner described above. D may also strike A's face with the gun butt (Figs. 13-16).

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