MA defense vs. gun defense

[CQC]

Lately I've been getting into a lot of discussion with others who say they feel much safer carrying a handgun with them. This is understandable I guess, however in a real situation I personally think you wouldn't even have time to pull a gun on your attacker.

Situation: a guy approaches you, pulls a gun and demands money. He's roughly a foot away from you, you give him what money you have and yet he continues to be aggressive. You're not going to pull your gun, you'd more than likely get shot. However, you are facing the opponent and if you have the knowledge (not all do, but lets say you did, and were extremely confident), you could quickly disarm the man efficiently and skillfully if it came down to it. And no, it wouldn't be my first choice, however if I thought I was definately going to get shot I'd do my best to avoid that.

In fact, I think the only time you'd even get to use a gun would be if the guy had a knife, or during a gun fight. Even if he'd had a knife, you pulled your gun, shot and killed him, you'd more than likely be charged with manslaughter.

As for the gun fight senario, yes, you might hit him..but you also might be hit yourself. He may or may not have friends as backup, you may or may not hit innocent people around the battle area, even if you are skilled with your gun. Then you'd get charged with second degree murder or manslaughter.

In summary, I think you have a greater chance of ending the conflict if you're an extremely skilled martial artist rather than an extremely skilled marksman. And as a bonus, you don't kill/seriously hurt someone.

I'd just like some thoughts or ideas, conflicting with what I posted or not.

[fallen_milkman]

I refuse to carry a gun. If you have a gun, they are more likely to use theirs. I will use my wits and my martial art to get by.

[vertigo]

I also don't have a gun, nor do I really ever forsee carrying one.

If I was ever faced in this situation, I'd simply give them the money they wanted. If it became apparant that they (for whatever reason) were intent on killing me, then and only then do I try to disarm them or fight against them.

No amount of money is worth your life.

Just my thoughts

[CQC]

I completely agree guys.

I live in Canada, and we don't carry guns around with us anyway, but I too think it's a bit unrealisitc and extreme.

I'm glad to see some fellow martial artists agree with this.

[Armbar]

I don't own a gun and I don't think I ever will, except maybe for hunting purposes.

Tullers rule says that at 21 feet a person with a knife (this can be any weapon, or even someone unarmed) can reach a Law Enforcement Officer (who has the pistol in a holster on their side) and stab them before the officer can draw the weapon and fire. (this distance was lengthened to 30 feet by the FBI )

Based on this information, what chance does a civilian have at drawing a weapon, possibly concealed (longer draw time), at a much smaller distance during a mugging or robbery? IMHO, hardly any at all.

I think I’ll stick with my empty-handed defenses in this one…

[JusticeZero]

If the guy is a foot away with the gun, you're in a pretty good situation. Against someone with a gun in that near of a range, i'm pretty confident in my ability to defend against the weapon. I also know that I CANNOT defend against the weapon if I have to start by drawing a weapon of my own.

[CQC]

I don't own a gun and I don't think I ever will, except maybe for hunting purposes.

Tullers rule says that at 21 feet a person with a knife (this can be any weapon, or even someone unarmed) can reach a Law Enforcement Officer (who has the pistol in a holster on their side) and stab them before the officer can draw the weapon and fire.(this distance was lengthened by the FBI to 30 feet)

Based on this information, what chance does a civilian have at drawing a weapon, possible concealed (longer draw time) at a much smaller distance during a mugging or robbery? IMHO, hardly any at all.

I think I’ll stick with my empty-handed defenses in this one…

I've heard that knife quote before somewhere, and thank you vary much for posting it, it totally proves my (and many other's) point.

I too will stick with using my own body as a weapon. I'm very confident in my training, and that it would come into play by pure instinct and muscle memory.

[CQC]

If the guy is a foot away with the gun, you're in a pretty good situation. Against someone with a gun in that near of a range, i'm pretty confident in my ability to defend against the weapon. I also know that I CANNOT defend against the weapon if I have to start by drawing a weapon of my own.

Justice, I too have trained against rifles and handguns, but as you'll agree it would be the last thing we'd do.

I think it's important that people train against various types of weapons so they can execute their tactics in drastic situations like these. Still, the odds of you being held up with a weapon may be slim, but I think everyone will agree that it would be nice to know how to control their weapon, and if need be, use that against them. This would be increasingly useful for gang-like situations, especially if they all had weapons. If you controled the knife of their friend, disarming him then immediately going on the defensive, they might think twice to take you down. If you can expertly use a knife (or any weapon), I think people will agree that it will give you a huge advantage if you were forced to fight.

[SoonerJohn]

Why not do both?

[Kenpo man]

I would just give him what he wanted, unless it was my girl friend or my *. Lol!

If the guy was obviously going to try to shoot me, and he was close enough to me so I could grab the gun, I would be confident enough to grab the gun while he is still holding it, force the gun to point up, then I would pull the trigger until all the bullets were spent. Then the gun becomes nothing more than a real bad stick or throwing object.

At this point I would kick the ever lovin poop out of this moron... Or run away screeming as loud as I can.

On another note, if someone tried to force me to drive them somewhere by gunpoint, I would hand them the keys and tell them they could have my car, but I would NOT be going with them. If they persist, I would tell them that they would have to shoot me right then and there then.

This is because I would rather be shot in a place where I could possibly get help right away, or at least have my body be found soon, rather than in some desert months later. Not to mention that the odds of someone hearing me get shot there would be much better than in a desert, or somewhere of his choosing.

I have thought about this many times, and this is the best thing to do in this situation in my humble opinion.