Can You Learn Defense Against Gun Threat?

Truth be told, learning to defend yourself against a weapon attack is harder than learning how to throw a punch or scratch the eyes off an attacker’s face. Critics of learning disarming techniques against weapons like gun, base much of their argument on a person’s diminished fine motor skills under stress. This might be true in general, but humans are the most trainable animals. Anyone can improve his or her fine motor skills under stress. The same continuum that separates highly coordinated people, from less coordinated people still applies. We all can learn, train and acquire skills, it just takes everyone a slightly differently length of time and amount of training.

Krav Maga, a reality based self-defense system addresses the need to ‘re-wire’ the brain’s and body’s response to stress of all types (emotional, mental, physical and physiological) from the very first class. This is one key differentiating characteristic between Krav Maga and other systems that focus only on self-defense. Additionally, it is one of the biggest differences between even instructors within the Krav Maga community. Not everyone has the teaching experience and understands how to build both gross and fine motor skills in the young and old, the athletically inclined and less coordinated.

The military’s strategy for building soldiers is one of the best references that supports our ability to learn physical feats reliant on fine motor skills with or without stress. I use aspects of their methodology, which is part of Krav Maga’s foundation. First, you teach a soldier how to shoot. He begins on a target range, with no stress. Once the simple, draw, aim and fire concept is down, moving targets are added. Those targets change, from enemy to hostage or civilian cutout boards. This builds a soldier’s and a police officer’s ability to make quick decisions. Their reaction and accuracy becomes the tool of evaluation under these training circumstances and validates when more stress should be introduced. This training has the option to progress. For some new layers are added developing new skill sets, which are taught, trained and learned. Obstacle maneuvers are added in, with new variables, integrated into the training to add survival-based stresses. These stresses include: time, extreme temperatures, loads carried, handicaps and even simple environmental distractions (like explosions & noise). Men and women learn to improve their fine motor skills under survival-based stress all the time. To say survival techniques that rely on fine motor skills cannot be taught is simply saying that humans cannot learn to become resilient or cope with extreme stress. This is simply not true!

Great Krav Maga training centers and instructors understand this relationship between teaching the physical movements of combat or combatives (i.e. punch, kick, knee, elbow) and the necessary re-wiring of the brain to layer in the various stresses. This effort if organized, ultimately builds a person’s survival skills, confidence to defend themselves and resilience when faced with fear or a traumatic event.

Teaching gun defenses does require a foundation first with basic combatives, footwork and an instructor that integrates the following training elements. On a fundamental level, this is my methodology:

teach good technique always (i.e. the frame of combat, fighting stance, guard, center of balance, what close-quarter actually feels like)

introduce various types of physiological stress (i.e. striking and sprint intervals to threshold)

integrate drills that build the skill of surveying the environment (i.e. striking while reading signs flashing in front of you)

include explosive movements to develop quick muscle responses ( i.e. advancing footwork drills or plyometric applications)

verbalize constantly the principle of reacting your way towards the better position (i.e. playing into the attacker to serve your need to surprise the them with a swarm of aggressive striking and control that often happens from the clinch)

teach the science of pre-emption (knowing when to make the first move)

People can successfully learn how to disarm a gun-man. This skill like so many others can be learned at any age. It is like learning a language. Without learning grammar and verb conjugation, you will never develop fluent speaking skills. Learning Krav Maga or even martial arts is a commitment like learning a new language. You must respect the foundation and the structure to progress. You must dedicate time to always using the fundamentals because they are the most reliable skills under any form of pressure.

Learning to defend yourself from a wide array of attacks is not a fantasy, it is a reality. As the imminent threat increases, the right Krav Maga training will give you the skills required to make decisions about your survival. Learning to defend yourself against a gun attack first from the front is the best place to start. It begins with understanding the principles first of a gun defense (re-direct, control, attack, take-away, assess, get-away). This methodology is not my creation, I have added my twist: R-C-A-T-A-G, only because I still follow the general principles of Krav Maga, no matter what, constantly assess the environment and finish in a safer place. If you want to learn to defend yourself against a gun attack, you must start training with fundamentals (which requires a lot of mitt work, combative drills, how to move your feet, and how to hit hard). This is the same as learning the basic rules of grammar. Train longer, apply these fundamentals under stress is like verb conjugation. As you build more skills, simultaneously improving your fundamentals the principles will become second nature. In exchange, you will be more capable under stress and have more confidence in taking a decisive action against a threat. All this training will lay the foundation for you to be able to improve fine motor skills. The next progression is adding various stress. There is no doubt, that gun defense is scary. But anyone can enlist themselves in beginning the process of learning to defend themselves against a gun threat.

If you are a person who desires to acquire these defensive skills, be thorough in choosing the right Krav Maga instructor. It can not be learned without first building a combative foundation. Experiencing a progression of stress and even simple drill repetition. Watch out when people tell you that they guarantee to make you fluent in Spanish in 10 classes. Just because you want it to be so, does not make it so. Be honest with yourself and be willing to put the time in from the beginning, because in the end it will be worth it.

This article is written for informational purposes. It is not advocating attempting disarms against anyone with a gun or weapon. The decision to defend yourself is a personal one. Krav Maga students/practitioners who acquire these skills dedicate a substantial amount of time to training.