Once again, I’m not 100 percent down with a First Person Defender entertrainment video. In the first scenario, Gunblast guy should have surrendered his money. In the second, Ol’ Twin Beard needed to inflict some serious hurt on his attacker. You know: speed, surprise and violence of action. Only there’s not a lot of surprise in a Simunition simulation and you can’t practice real violence without full protective gear. But it’s the first lesson that I’d like to highlight. There are times when compliance is your best option. Gun or no gun. Training or no training . . .
It’s entirely possible to find yourself so far behind the self-defense curve that all you can do is whatever the bad guy tells you to do. Especially if it’s just stuff he/she/they want. Here’s a real world example where fighting back was not the ideal response:
A hot dog vendor at a Ferguson Home Depot was robbed of his cellphone and struck in the head with a hammer by four shoplifters. The incident occurred around 3 p.m on Wednesday. The Home Depot is located in St. Louis County at the 10900 block of New Halls Ferry Road.
Reading further at thegatewaypundit.com, we discover that the sequence of events was not quite as straightforward as the lead suggests.
Authorities said the hot dog vendor was standing at the front entrance of the Home Depot in the 10900 block of New Halls Ferry Rd. around 3 p.m. when four shoplifters walked by and swiped his cell phone.
Police said the vendor chased them out of the store, but was struck in the head with a hammer one of the suspects had stolen. The suspects then got in a car and drove away.
The bloodied victim was transported to the hospital with serious injuries.
Obviously, it’s best to avoid violent confrontations altogether. Stay away from stupid people in stupid places doing stupid things. Maintain situational awareness. Like that. But sometimes a potential beat down—or worse—finds you. And when it does, if you can trade your stuff for the cessation of hostilities, do it.
I know: giving up your stuff is no guarantee that you won’t be attacked. There are plenty of examples of victims who complied fully with criminals’ demands and got a beat down or shot or raped anyway. For “no good reason.”
Notice I said if you can avoid a violent confrontation by giving up your stuff. How can you know whether the bad guy or bad guys will be satisfied with stuff? You can’t.
It’s going to be an adrenalin-infused risk assessment informed by subconscious cues. In other words, you’ll probably react to the circumstances rather than act based on logical analysis of the situation. But you can go in with the mindset that stuff is negotiable. Whereas your life and the life of your loved ones is not. Obviously.
If nothing else, surrendering stuff can buy you time. If an assault caught you on the hop (the perennial problem for someone being attacked) giving it up may afford you the opportunity to launch a speed, surprise and violence of action counterattack. You’re not abandoning the option of an armed/physical defense. You’re postponing it.
One thing is for sure: practicing shooting from a retention position at close quarters is an excellent idea. Just like letting go of your valuables to increase your self-defense options, hip-shooting skills increase the possibility of a successful self defense.