Session 6: Armed Considerations When Breaking Range

Alright, I have some more bonus material for you here. Just going a little bit deeper. We're not going way down the rabbit hole. We're just going a little bit in the rabbit hole when it comes to arm considerations. This is it's own class, the arm considerations part is its own class. I love the opportunity to go through that with you guys 'cause it does change the strategy. But we just wanna touch on some more basic concepts for your consideration. Always make sure that you're consulting the laws in your specific jurisdiction for what's gonna be appropriate, what's not gonna be appropriate. Also, make sure that you're training that decision making with someone who's qualified to give you good sound feedback. All right. It's going to be very, very important for you guys. But we wanna talk about transitioning to higher force now. Transitioning to a force multiplier, for now, we'll call it a hand gun. We've got a large audience here that revolves around the handgun, and firearms, and other force multipliers. So, we want to address transitioning. Again, as we mentioned in the other bonus material, if you haven't checked that out, you should, this is kind of all done a little bit comprehensively and holistically. Okay? Go ahead and check that out. We wanna make sure that we're practicing through a specific hierarchy and transition. Transitioning to higher force, as we talked about before. If you have a lot of training in firearms, chances are good you'll default to that. If you have a training of hand-to-hand combat skills, chances are good that you'll default to that. If you have training in both, chances are good that you'll default to one or the other. If you haven't been integrating things together, there's a very good chance that you're not even gonna think about this. And this needs to be a very important part of this training. When I'm faced, the way I teach it, and the way I train it, if I'm faced with an impact weapon, threat, or attack, I've trained it for myself and for my students that the first thing I'm thinking about, is how can I control this, so that I can get to this. That's an important part of the equation. How can I control this so I can get to this. Why? Because he's a lethal threat. I'm reasonably in immediate fear of death or great bodily harm. So, I also have a weapon, right? I have a lethal weapon. So, I need to be able to incorporate my hands-free skills so that I can get to this. So I can control this, so that I can get to this, rather. That's what I meant to say. Transitions are important. I can't touch on every transition, but I can touch on a couple of concepts, and talk about what some of the the legal circumstances are that will revolve around my decision making process. We want to fill our kinetic training with decision-making, as well. So it's a little micro scenario in a way. Okay, so the first one that we're gonna look at is, as we talked about that 45 degree angle, we talked about the high probability that arm's going to come high and I can take a duck under there, counter attack, and break range. We talked about that earlier in this class, okay? So I'm going to crash inside, I hit my under hook. I hit my neck pike. I start to counter attack and I feel this arm is coming high. Very common response for this person. The arm comes high, lower my level. Now I'm behind him. I can counter attack him with an open hand here to make sure I'm softening him up while I have this half Nelson. Right? Softening him up here. Open hand. Now that I had him softened up, I can break range, transition to higher force. Now, depending on the circumstances, am I still reasonably in immediate fear of death or great bodily harm? If so, I may need to go to full presentation and discharge my weapon until that threat has been incapacitated. There may be circumstances where I'm far enough away from him where I might be able to give commands. Drop your gun, or drop your weapon. Do it, do it now. Back away, back away. Back away, back away. Now I have to decide, is he still a threat? I want to assume right now, that he still has a secondary or tertiary weapon. Why? Statistically, they do. Statistically, they have two to three weapons. So, I'm not gonna let my guard down now. But now it becomes a little bit more ambiguous in terms of what level of force am I allowed to use. Can I shoot him right now? Can I just charge my weapon? I don't know what the circumstances call for. Okay. You have to decide, is this person still reasonably an immediate danger to me? Am I still reasonably in immediate fear of death or great bodily harm? That's an important part of this equation. You're gonna have to decide if they've dropped that weapon. Maybe you see a bulge in his shirt that could be another weapon that he starts to go for. Maybe he's a lot bigger, stronger than you. Maybe there's more than one attacker. And the disparity in force is great enough where you have no choice but to go to higher force. Okay? So, something for you guys to think about. That's one transition. That simple transition, as I break range, need to practice that transition so that it's trained in. Okay, he has a lethal weapon. I want to fight my way to my lethal weapon. Oh, I've taken his back. I have the dominant position here. I can break range and transition to that weapon. It all needs to be trained in as a part of your training sequencing. Okay? Another very similar, if you want to grab that, Larry, another very similar set of circumstances is if I'm able to get a dump, if I'm able to get this person on the ground. Obviously, I've got a huge tactical advantage now that I'm armed. I've counter attacked. I've softened this person up. I've got them on the ground. That's what I want. At this point, I need to determine, as I'm transitioning to higher force, is that person still a lethal threat? I don't know. They may very well be. They might not be. You don't know. Only you can decide in that moment. At IDS, we're very careful about giving absolute answers to contextually dependent questions. We stay away from that. We like instead to give you criteria that will help you make the decision that's best for you in your jurisdiction, and your circumstances, and your unique set of attributes. No two circumstances are going to be the same. Remember, in violence, the variables are not repeatable. All right? So, only you can know what the answer to that question is. So, we're gonna keep this really simple right now, where I'll do like a beef wellington dump, right, and get him on the ground, and then I'll transition to higher force. Okay? So, as the attacker comes back, I'm crashing inside. Swimming, pummeling for that under hook. Getting a counter attack in on him. We'll turn. I get my beef wellington on here. Boom. I feel him push against me. I spiral him down. I break range. Now, look at this position that I'm at. I'm moving to a position where I'm behind him. I'm not moving here, because if he dropped that weapon and he went for a secondary weapon, like a firearm, for example, he could easily get hits on me. But, if I come to this position he's gonna have a much harder time. I have a dominant posture and I have a dominant position here. Same with just simply getting up and re-attacking me. Easier for him to get up and re-attack me from this position, or this position, than from back here. So, I'm constantly training that in. If I were to give him commands, it would be my preference to give commands from this position, or something similar to it. If I could find some type of a barrier, cover, something like that, that would be even more ideal. Okay. If we're not practicing in, you can get up, Larry. If I'm not practicing in this type of decision-making, if I'm not practicing in the transition to a force multiplier, again, there's a greater chance of you not employing it, or not employing it properly. Or, making a miss a critical mistake when it comes to the decision-making of the whole, not just the part. Maybe you are a really great shooter. Maybe you're a really great fighter. But have you learned to put all of these pieces together? That's the point. That's why we feel very strongly of being integrated with our defense strategies. Right? Integrative Defense Strategies. That's the whole point. All right, guys. So, a few arm considerations for you guys to think about. Obviously, there's a whole lot more to it. But that's what we've got for you to now. Go out, practice it, and train it. Thanks a lot, guys.