My approach to self defense

I thought about mentioning that you should always talk to a lawyer before talking to the police, but it seemed like more like legal advice than survival advice. I think that in addition to a lawyer, anyone who has to use lethal force to defend themselves should probably see a psychiatrist also.

I know I would.

very good info.

I had to take a course in handgun use in order to get a concealed weapon permit for a job. The course cost me $200.00 for a "long day" .
The instructor was awesome and brought alot to the table, being a consultant for the state and inventing techniques of shooting accurately from awkward positions..ie on your back over your head..opposite of prone.

Find a good instructor if you can and spend the money. After the 1 day...15 hour course I was able to shoot very accurately with both hands individually and simultaneously in the dark and any position you can imagine. Well not doggie style.

The Idea that he fully reinforced was to be "relaxed aware".

Know what is happening around you. The back front and sides. Keep your eyes moving. In his experience this aware "mode" will dissuade perps from picking you as a target.. They want an easy target and somebody that monitors their area isn't an easy target.


Most shotings occur within 8 feet. Learn how to shoot from the hip. The reason is if your assailant is within 2 feet you dont want to stick the gun out where he can grab it.. Pull at the hip and fire from your side...A little practice and you can place rounds in the heart.

Lastly, if you must shoot, Shoot to KILL and empty your gun( if only one assailant ) Do not talk to police about the shooting except that you were afraid for your life or anothers. Tell police you will cooperate fully once you have your attourney present and have come down from the adrenaline.

Well im with you on most points about avioding the situation before it starts but i do not agree with carrying a gun and most people should read the self defence laws in their state. For the most part non-lethal force is okay when met with a threat. Guns are okay so long as you are in an area that allows you to have a gun hidden or holdstered.
So someone says give me all your money and punches you you are okay to defend yourself by non-lethal means.
If someone threatens you will a gun or other weapon then you are okay to use your gun but keep in mind what happens if you miss. If you manage to hit an innocent bystander then you get an assault charge or manslaughter if they die.
As far as the hand to hand combat thing goes i can see that we have a lot of Rambo types here and good for them. Any training is better than none but your training is not better then everyone else's. If you want to learn how to fight find a place that offers training and sparring, real sparring not that "im going to do this and you try to do that" stuff. If your sparring does not require a mouth piece and some protective gear then you are probably just doing some type of rough dance which is about as usefull as using a BB gun to learn how to snipe. I can not tell you how many "trained" martial arts people i have fought with that do not know how to take a hit or how to dodge or block a punch they did not know was comming. I would recomend self-defence classes, they teach quick practical moves that can get you out of a jam. If you are too good for that i would say any place that offers Kickboxing, boxing or the MMA stuff. Much of the other martial arts are good for ego, movies and scripted scenarios but not much else. Whatever they teach the military guys works wonders too, the ones i have fought with were not the best fighters but they did not back down, seemed less effected by hard hits.
But one thing you want to keep in mind is how much cash you have on you, is the 20 bucks you have in your wallet really worth your potential death? You can cancel credit cards pretty fast.

reply to post by zaiger


I agree u have to practice whatever style your doing you have to free style spar so you get used to having punches thrown at you and react the right way. When you train you have to hit things so you get used to the feeling, when trainng with someone and practising blocking and so forth your partner should be trying to make contact so you have to block . Sparring need not always mean taking someones head off we aim for non head contact ( which you get the odd controlled tap or so) to reasonable body punches. Not that im a guru or anything lol

reply to post by ITSALLGOOD


As long as you know what it feels like to hit a guy and to get hit. People have this idea that they will be able to deliver some devastating blows whenever they want, that is not always the case. When we fight we fight, unless we are in the ring with someone less exerienced. Otherwise we go all out, the only thing we hold back on is when the other guy is about to go down or get stunned we will back off and let him get his legs back but that is about it.