When Mall Ninjas Attack: A look at what happens when overzealous retail security enforcement professionals go bad.
A further lesson: Folks, if you're gonna walk around with your pistol in the breeze in front of God and everybody, you need to know how to hang on to it. Get some retention training if at all possible. And by "training", I don't mean "read a magazine article": Take a class; get a blue gun and work out with a friend with your actual carry rig and in street clothes.
I still do not have 'television', and I'm quite happy about that. Over the holiday, while waiting on slugabeds to wedge their butts out of hotel beds, TV was my main form of entertainment. I was once again reminded why I don't bother. Said hotel being New Joisey, I was also reminded why I like Pennsylvania so much.
ReplyDeleteRetention classes. Where? Preferably somewhere in the northeast. Any ideas?
ReplyDeleteAs far as marksmanship goes,I'm a fair to middlin' hand with a shotgun, actually pretty good with a pistol, and freaking awesome with a rifle. I shoot 4 position High Power regularly and do rather well.
The time with Uncle and playing with pugil sticks has given me a life long muscle memory in handling long arms hand to hand.
A few years ago, I was invited into a friendly sparring session with fencing muskets, against a hulking young National Guardsman less than half my age. Completely unprepared, I went 3 for 0, and my longest disarm time against the kid was 5 or 6 seconds.
Putting on the look of a slightly amused old professional, I bailed, which was a good thing. He was bigger than me, he was stronger than me, he was almost as fast, and he was very, very smart.
I suspect he would have figured out the set-ups and sucker pulls I used in another few exchanges, then used his advantage in reach to make me look foolish.
But the bottom line was, I kicked ass against a semi-pro, more than 30 years after my last sparring.
I make my living in the firearms industry. I'm supposed to be some kind of professional, but, Mano a Mano, Up Close And Personal, pick a euphemism, I can't do with a pistol what I can do with a rifle, and that's humiliating.
Right now, if I was belt buckle to belt buckle with somebody nasty, the most practical thing for me to do would be to safe the weapon, drop it as a distraction, then use the moment's gift to strike at whatever was vulnerable. There must be something better than that.
I need the course. Then I could get together with some of the guys in the club, buy a few bright orange BLADE inserts and weighted magazines, and drill, drill, drill, until the hands know what to do without conscious input from the head.
Our club has a really good relationship with the police here in town. A big part of the local Cop Shop are members.
I'm wondering if, assuming we provided our own course of training, we couldn't do supervised kata at their dojo. The mats would keep the weapons from getting dinged. Probably some of the students too.
All of which is completely hypothetical without a course to take first. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
Serious question: Would the security guard have reacted the same way if the subject was female?
ReplyDeleteIdiots pretty much act the same way regardless of the gender of their target. 'Cause that's what idiots do.
ReplyDeleteThe blue gun idea is good - until you discover you will have to carve your own. That's not hard - but it is tedious, and can be dangerous. I prefer a dense tropical hardwood, but make sure you do not breathe the dust!!!
Better and safer, get a pair of whatever your fancy strikes, and temporarily decommission one. Mark it so there can be no mistakes, and practice your draw with the inactive one. Practice your weak hand draw, also.
Adding the Remington 51 is an excellent idea. I will have some pix and words up as soon as I can get over not having the equivalent of 200 megapixel
resolution. At the moment I'm singing the "fuzzy picture" blues.
And a Nappy Hew Year to all
Stranger
Speaking of interesting news items... check this out from page two of the link below:
ReplyDelete"If little Anthony had been killed by a gun, we could have joined the mayor in once against decrying these murderous machines. We might have told ourselves that at least this tragedy could help save other youngsters."
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/01/03/2010-01-03_the_harshest_reality_hits_amid_the_softfalling_snow.html?page=1#ixzz0baCnz7P3
Just got back from reading (most of) the thread.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that stands out... the guy carrying openly may not face criminal charges, but I'm reasonably certain he's going down the civil road.
My late brother (an attorney and firearms instructor) drilled one thing into my brain: After any sort of altercation, especially one that involves injury, death or a weapon of any form... shut up.
Politely but firmly decline to answer questions. Do not speak to anyone about what just happened or your current state of mind. Don't be an ass or try to appear uncooperative, but shut up.
Yes, you are almost certainly going to be arrested. However, if you're justified in your actions, a good attorney will be able to get you clear far more readily if you've been silent than not. More important is how things are going to look in a civil action, where the rules are far different from a criminal prosecution. Remember that whatever you say or do is likely to be recalled in a civil court, twisted around and used against you to assign liability based on a preponderance of the evidence rather than "guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." If the other side has reasonably competent council, they'll go through everything you've ever said, written or done in an effort to show that your actions were manifestations of your inherent racism, sexism, Islamophobia, explosive anger, illiteracy and intractable pruritus ani and purely malicious in intent and motivation.
It takes very little to file a civil suit and (sometimes) very little to win one. Do yourself a favor. Shut up and let your lawyer speak for you.
On the "blue gun" topic: A friend of mine is going to do a pour of aluminum in a couple of weeks and I'm going to have him cast up a solid 1911 and a Glock 17. I'm planning on machining out the trigger guards (to avoid broken fingers on disarming and retention drills), weighting them to match the exemplars and finishing with a blue anodization. (I may make breakaway plastic trigger guards if I get inspired.)
Should be a fun little project.