The art of the invisible gun

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Jiu Long Baguazhang teaches handgun combat at close and long range. Gunmanship has been a Japanese war art since the 1100s.

 

Merely aiming and pulling a trigger is not an art. Being able to fire off volleys and get consistent bullseyes, Zen-archer style, is an art. When you're talking about mobile gunfighting, such as with pistols, knowing how your enemy moves, knowing how and when to fire, where to move, and how to keep focus, is in itself an art.

 

I believe that, applied properly, gunfighting and sharpshooting can be very deep and powerful martial arts, not simply martial, but artistic as well.

 

 

[Northren Ogre]

I read that a Canadian sniper providing cover for American Troops in Afganastan has a confirmed kill at 2430 meters! That breaks the previous record from Vietnam of 2200+ meters. Now tell me that dosen't take a little skill and dedication.

 

Here's a link to the story

 

http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmontonjournal/specials/troops.html

 

[ This Message was edited by: Northren Ogre on 2002-07-13 02:33 ]

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If Kyudo is a martial art, why not sharpshooting?

 

 

[Don Gwinn]

I've seen the article. Simply an amazing shot, and if you haven't tried at a "mere" 1,000 meters you probably don't realize just how impossible that shot was. Even so, it was apparently not a lucky shot; that team had been making extremely long shots very consistently.

 

Those sniper teams will be awarded, I think, the Bronze Star once the Canadian government gets their paperwork out of the way. They have some policy about giving their awards first, which is understandable.

 

As Smiley says, pulling a trigger may not be a martial art. However, shooting and HITTING, esp. in real life where movement, cover, malfunction clearances and reloads come into the equation, it's definitely a physical art in the same vein as most others.

 

Similarly, a soccer mom doing Tae Bo at the mall is not practicing a martial art--just throwing punches. Punching and hitting someone, with power, while moving, and while defending and evading. . . . that's definitely a martial art.

 

If you think shooting is just pulling a trigger, GO TO THE RANGE! Really! You will have fun. You will enjoy yourself. And even if you're not going to carry a gun yourself, you will be a better martial artist if you understand that a gun-wielding attacker cannot just jerk a trigger and win. It's a lot more than that, and just like if he punched you, if you can disrupt what he has to do then he'll miss.