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| | | | | A GUN MAY BE USELESS IF YOU CAN'T FIGHT HAND-TO-HAND!
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| By John Perkins, former
Yonkers NY detective, forensic crime scene expert and Guided Chaos
creator; and Ari Kandel, Guided Chaos 4th degree. See the full article and VIDEO on the Kahr Arms website.
A Revelation?
In
2012, the FBI radically modified its firearms training program. A
review of nearly 200 agent-involved shootings during a 17-year period
had found that 75% of incidents involved suspects who were within 3
yards of agents when shots were exchanged. The new training program
emphasizes fast close quarters shooting as opposed to traditional long
range marksmanship. It does not, however, go far enough away from
traditional firearms training towards preparation for dealing with the
reality of criminal violence.
For some, apparently, the result of
the study was a revelation. For others, however, it had been common
knowledge for a long time.
At least since the beginning of the
20th Century, there have been tensions between competition-based and
conflict-based training methodologies in military, police and civilian
firearms training. Repeatedly, periods of intense conflict (e.g.
Prohibition and the Great Depression for law enforcement, World War II
for the military) have given rise to training methodologies designed to
deal with the actual conflicts being fought. In the absence of such
all-consuming conflicts, however, methods based on competitive
marksmanship tend to quickly reassert themselves in the name of
“progress”.
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Competition or Conflict-Based Training?
The
conflict-based methodologies have always included some variations of
“point shooting” (i.e. shooting without conscious use of the firearm's
sights) to deal with fast, close quarters, reactive conflict situations.
The FBI's early training methods, created in part by veteran
gunfighters such as Delf “Jelly” Bryce, and the World War II-era methods
developed by William Fairbairn and Rex Applegate, are good examples of
this. After the World War II era, however, as soldiers, cops, civilians
and trainers gradually became further and further removed from the
crucible of widespread total war, “combat competition”-based methods
moved to the forefront as the most “scientifically tested” and “proven”
training methods for gunfighting.
Unfortunately, combat (or more
appropriately, “action”) competition-based methods, while in some cases
useful for certain aspects of combative firearms application, completely
ignore the true, universal dynamics of close quarters reactive combat.
The hallmarks of the action competition-based methods, such as a
strictly prescribed, two-handed shooting stance and major focus on sight
alignment and sight picture, are almost never possible nor even
advisable in actual close quarters reactive combat (as distinct from
longer range and/or proactive combat, where you have the initiative and
control the timing of the engagement). As the late Jim Cirillo, veteran
NYPD gunfighter, wrote: “Your problem isn't your front sight, it's your
background.” |
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Close-Range Combat: True Dynamics
It
should be obvious that for the defense-minded civilian, conflicts
involving firearms are mostly extensions of general interpersonal
conflict and criminal assault. Arguments, assaults and criminal
predation don't usually start from 25 yards, or even 7 yards. Criminals
need to be close to you in order to do what they want to do, and most
recidivist offenders have become pretty good at getting to where they
need to be before tipping their hand. Arms' length distance, or at most
across a room of your home or business (or any business you may frequent
that is targeted by criminals while you're there), is the norm rather
than the exception for a civilian (which includes law enforcement, as
only members of the military are non-civilians).
Because
available time and options reduce as distance decreases, and because the
odds that even an untrained criminal will “get lucky” are highest at
point-blank range (note that a recent major study revealed that cop
killers train far more often and more realistically than typical cops),
it behooves the armed citizen to devote most of his or her training time
and effort to dealing with the true dynamics of this most critical and
most likely scenario.
And it is those “true dynamics” of reactive
close quarters gunfighting that make action competition-based training
methods wholly unsuitable.
These gunfights erupt at the distances
where beatings, stabbings, strong arm robberies, abductions, rapes and
home invasions occur—because those are the situations the armed citizen
is trying to prevent by being armed!
Therefore, the psychological
and physical dynamics of this type of gunfight more strongly resemble
those of all-out unarmed or contact weapon combat than they do those of
any shooting match. |
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You Never Know What You're Dealing With
Murderers
and rapists don't tell you in advance whether you're going to be in a
gunfight, or a fistfight or knife fight for that matter. It's a FIGHT
for your LIFE on someone else's terms and schedule and you need to train
yourself to adapt, move and bring your best weapons to bear as quickly
as possible to end the threat and escape before being overwhelmed and
possibly having your weapons taken from you.
Your movement will
be more instinctual and fight-or-flight-response-driven than refined and
intellectually driven. You may know the best positions, movements and
techniques to assure optimum marksmanship and speed under the pressure
and dynamics of an action shooting match, but your lower brain will
quickly recognize the fact that you're in a very different situation and
will accordingly prompt action before you're consciously able to figure
much out. We're hardwired to focus on and move away from danger. This
is why we constantly see even highly trained competitive shooters
“revert” to crouching, spastic backpedalling and “dodging” and
single-handed cyclic rate unsighted shooting when faced with an enemy
muzzle at near contact distance. Your body won't allow you to attain a
static, upright stance and focus on your front sight once it sees the
enemy's lethally threatening movement mere feet and split seconds away.
Just as your body would instinctively try to avoid a thrown object or
strike, it focuses on and tries to avoid an enemy muzzle being brought
to bear. Two hands often can't be brought to your weapon as practiced
because at least one is outstretched or moving to help maintain balance
during your ballistic avoidance motion, or is being used to shield
against or disrupt the threat. |
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Hand-to-hand Training PLUS Intuitive Shooting
Your
training needs to account for these dynamics and work with them, rather
than against them. Therefore, your training needs to include point
shooting or “intuitive” shooting, seamlessly combined with unarmed
combat, as there is no guarantee you'll already have gun in hand when
violence commences, or indeed that you'll ever be able to get to it at
all. Fortunately, in terms of unarmed combat and reactive close quarters
gun fighting to deal with criminal violence, good training for one
reinforces the other, as the movement dynamics and required physical and
mental attributes are necessarily the same, e.g. awareness, balance,
muscular efficiency, whole body coordination, physical and mental
freedom of action, and moral will to prevail. Simple, brutal, easy-to-learn hand-to-hand techniques can be found on the Attackproof Companion Part 1 video (available as a DVD or On Demand digital download).
In order for a weapon to be suitable for this type of engagement, it must be:
- Constantly available,
meaning carryable and concealable at all times. Again, criminals do not
typically email you their intentions in advance, giving you time to go
home, unlock your safe and retrieve your favorite blaster!
- Reliable and durable
under extreme circumstances. In a close quarters fight, your weapon
likely won't be fired from a static, stable, upright stance. It may be
fired at strange angles, while spastically moving, in a suboptimal grip.
During the fight it may be struck or otherwise disrupted. Regardless,
it has to work.
- Simple and intuitive to
operate. Under extreme fight-or-flight effects, your body is best
prepared to use any hand-held object as a striking or throwing weapon.
It will already be an accomplishment of nurture over nature to actually
SHOOT THE GUN, so it's best to keep things as simple as possible to
accomplish that, regardless of time in training.
- Quick to grip and draw.
When split seconds count and your body is instinctively moving at
reflex speed (i.e. the speed at which your hand will pull away from a
sudden flame), any additional movement, effort and time required to get a
secure grip on an ill-fitting gun and clear snags during the draw is a
recipe for disaster.
- Well fit to your hand
and naturally pointable. While it is somewhat possible to adapt to an
ill-fitting gun through extensive training and practice, things are just
easier and faster and less likely to fall apart under lethal threat if
the tool and user are well matched from the beginning. This increases
the user's confidence as well.
- Shootable and
controllable enough for you to keep multiple rounds on target at cyclic
speed (i.e. as fast as you can pull the trigger) at close range, with
one hand
- Powerful enough to
consistently penetrate a big guy's vital organs through commonly worn
clothing from all angles with expanding bullets. Within the major combat
calibers (including 9x19mm through .45 ACP), this is largely a matter
of diligent ammunition selection. More attention should probably be paid
to consistently deep penetration, resistance to deflection,
consistently reliable expansion and destructive expanded bullet shape
than to initial and expanded bullet size or cavitation. Of course, the
selected ammunition should not disrupt requirement #6 above.
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A Kahr Pistol + Adaptive Shooting = Survival
[John Perkins uses the Kahr Pistol line for defensive concealed carry]
The Kahr series of pistols fits the above criteria for most people. From the larger T and TP pistols through the mid-size K and P pistols down to the smallest MK and PM pistols, the basic Kahr design is reliable, durable, simple, slick and adaptable to various people's concealment, hand fit and shootability needs through its various size and caliber (9x19mm, .40 S&W and .45 ACP, as well as .380 ACP for deep concealment/backup) permutations.
In a fight for your life against criminal assault, you need instantaneous, intuitive spine-shot/head-shot accuracy from contact to seven yards (or as far as you can manage) against wildly moving multiple targets while YOU are focusing on the threats, dodging, moving, drawing, hitting, pushing, evading and protecting your weapon at reflex speed, on your feet and on the ground—without shooting yourself!
Many have succeeded, and failed, with less. It behooves us to consider worst-case scenarios and prepare accordingly to the best of our ability.
Anything less constitutes a “strategy of hope”: hope that YOUR attackers will be so accommodating that they'll allow you to put basic marksmanship or competition-based training to use, and you'll be “cool” enough to do it when your life is in imminent danger…
Stay tuned for more articles on:
- Concealed Carry
- Gunfighting Grip and Trigger Pull
- Home Defense
- Other Weapons in the Gunfight
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| HOW DO YOU TRAIN BARE-HANDS TO HANDGUNS?
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| | | | FIRST GUIDED CHAOS COMBATIVES SCHOOL IN THE SOUTHEAST
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It's official: Atlanta Combatives is open for business--with Omari George, the only GCC
certified instructor in the South. The school also has an informal GC
Training Group for contact flow practice. |
| | FIRST GUIDED CHAOS TRAINING GROUP IN THE NETHERLANDS
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| Want to Join?
Contact person for the group:
Jan Bernard Oostwoud
jboostwoudATgmailDOTcom
The town where we train:
Town: Voorburg
Provence: Zuid Holland
Country: Nederland
You can also register to create your own Training Group here: http://attackproof.com/INTERACT.html |
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"Brilliant Self Defence System.
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---Sifu Doug Clark, Instructor Level Technician of Ving Tsun and Practitioner of Tai Ji Quan www.functionalcombatsystems.com |
| | ENDORSEMENTS:
Blitz magazine article on Guided Chaos Australia Seminar:
"Let me start by saying I thought I'd seen all that the world of 'reality-based self defence' had to offer, so for the easily bored out there, I'll cut to the chase. What I witnessed on the weekend of 26 and 27 March is the closest thing I've come across that resembles a modern-day, reality-based martial art and not just another 'combatives system'. Does it work? Hell, yeah! I got my arse well and truly kicked and at times felt like I was in the middle of a Jason Bourne fight scene."
--Clive Girdham, former Senshido and Geoff Thompson instructor
[Excerpted from the exclusive review of the Guided Chaos Australia Seminar in the Aug. print edition of BLITZ MAGAZINE: Australia's #1 Martial Arts magazine volume 25, issue 6
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| "Guided Chaos is the only training in my 15 plus years of Corrections that translates into real world application, period."
"Guided
Chaos is the only thing that has worked for me in real life situations.
Unless you are 6'3" and 285 lbs of muscle, most of the Defensive
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And even if you are that big and strong, there is always someone
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with one guy and it turns into a free for all with all his buddies.
This is where you literally need to 'adapt or die' and Guided Chaos is
the only training in my 15 plus years of Corrections that translates
into real world application, period."
---Bob Miller, Corrections Officer at the largest facility in Oregon |
| "If I had to pick only one martial arts system in the world it would be Guided Chaos..."--Dr. Robert L. O'Block founder and publisher of the American College of Forensic Examiners International, American Board for Certification in Homeland Security
"...through watching videos put out by attackproof.com, and by reading Attackproof, the book, I have learned real survival skills. These skills have been learned...at an exponentially higher practical yield-per-hour training rate than any other martial art classes or seminar I've ever attended, or ever even heard rumor of."
--Matthew Shoener, Police Officer, Scranton, PA
"The Companion Video Part One is stupendous! A godsend of detail for out-of-state practitioners."
--Mark from Chicago
SEE ALL ENDORSEMENTS |
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