We teach weapon disarms, from edged weapons and blunt objects to firearms, including handguns and rifles. We even teach how to disarm a person armed with a hand grenade…although, if you get to that point you probably signed up for it and your hazardous pay increase is making sense just about now. But the reality is that whenever possible we prefer you didn't use them. There is always an inherit risk when attempting a disarm, and although we have absolute faith and confidence in our skills, we prefer you don't have to prove us right. As a side note, we have a few documented incidents of members executing our skills and live to talk about it. To date we have zero failures…we don't want you to be the first though.
There are several steps you can take to avoid facing an armed assailant to begin with, because as you know, prevention is always better than having to deal with the situation…says the father of two.
The first thing you should keep in mind is that the more you know about a location, route, or person the better decisions you can make. For example, you have no business walking around certain neighborhoods on Baltimore City late at night, unless of course you are making a buck in the process, in which case, it's all on you buddy. If you don't put yourself in those situations to begin with, you are decreasing your chances of having to deal with an unfortunate event.
Decreasing the chances doesn't mean eliminating them though. As we know, misfortune can strike anywhere and at anytime, targeting anybody. Just because we tried to avoid trouble, doesn't mean trouble will avoid us. Mr. Murphy is a pain in the behind, isn't he? Yet, once again, prevention is key. Situational awareness is a skill you should master. There are various steps you can take to improve your situational awareness, but the best is always to practice it. when you go out, make an effort to notice people, places, points of interest and points of egress. Do you recall what the person standing by the entrance wore? or what car was parked next to yours? How many guys had their pants below their butt level? And when did the last stripper leave the club? By practicing these skills you'll become better at it.
So you tried to avoid entering a bad situation. You even maintained a high level of situational awareness. Yet, someone gets in your face and seems pretty agitated. It turns out you were looking at his girlfriend for a second too long, or at least so he thinks. No need to A-frame kick him just yet…remember, he may have a weapon, and kicking him may just agitate him even more. Verbal de-escalation skills are a good tool as well. They don't always work, but they sure do worth a try. Get creative, make them laugh, don't argue, and avoid combative phrases. Hopefully he will leave you alone and go back to his girlfriend, that is by this point truly impressed with you…but we won't tell the guy about that right now.
It's just not your day! You did everything right and yet you find yourself staring down a muzzle, which from your angle seems the size of a cannon. This is when remembering the difference between a primary crime scene and a secondary crime scene may come in handy. As your memory flashes to what BK was talking about in class the other day, you remember that if demands are made at the initial point of contact, yet there is no effort to relocate you, your chances of survival are pretty high if you comply. Turns out assailants are, at the end of day, just bullies hiding behind a gun. They really don't have the guts nor do they want to shoot you anymore than you want to get shot. give them your wallet, your car keys, your 1980 calculator watch. None of that is worth the potential aftermath. However, if your mugger decides he wants to move you, be it into an alley, into a car, into your house, or into the Playboy mansion, wherever, something bad is brewing (well, maybe not so bad at the mansion). DON'T GO! Your chances of survival as it turns out are greater if you fight them right there and then. once moved to a secondary crime scene those survival rates drop significantly.
This is not the time nor place to learn how to execute the many types of weapon disarm. However, if you remember the following two rules you are likely to survive the encounter: when facing a firearm, make sure to get out of the line of fire (redirect the muzzle off of you), and stay out of the line of fire (control the weapon). By following these rules and being as violent and aggressive as you possibly can, you will live to see your family and loved ones!
As always, stay safe!
Tzviel 'BK' Blankchtein
Masada Tactical
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