FIGHTgun - Why You Should Be Training Unarmed Combat if You Carry a Weapon.

I’m going to try to write a short piece that should actually turn out not to be controversial but it seems like everything in the ‘defense’ or ‘gun community’ is controversial these days; talk about training like you want to fight, controversial; explain a method of interval training that both stresses the proper energy system AND doesn’t garner large amounts of fatigue/soreness/central nervous system fatigue, controversial; talk about how you see Glocks malfunction just like every other weapon and that you see it regularly, huge CONTROVERSY…

Ok, so why should everyone train in unarmed combat? The simple answer is: so that we can be more well-rounded and capable of handling ourselves physically if the need arises and for the inherent beneficial qualities of physical and mental development. My own personal experience is training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and some MMA and I will tell you that you will never meet better and more humble training partners than BJJ dudes. Any good BJJ gym will include wrestling and Judo clinches and takedowns, sweeps/reversals, tons of submissions, guarding against strikes and most importantly, CONTROLLING TECHNIQUES.

Now I understand that not everyone can devote their lives to strictly training everything under the sun but starting off with a few times a month is not a large imposition and who knows, you might become obsessed with how awesome it is. Now to the serious armed citizen, LEO or Military Door Kicker it should be a part of our training for a multitude of reasons such as: knowing how to use unarmed techniques to facilitate getting to a weapon in extreme close-quarters, weapon retention, de-escalation and controlling some situations without having to resort to shooting folks and the self-confidence to be able to remain calm and collected in a potentially violent situation. Nowhere is this idea more obvious than in the ultra-famous or infamous case of George Zimmerman shooting Trayvon Martin. Now, do I think in the facts laid out that the shooting was justified? Yes. Do I think this all could have been avoided if George Zimmerman knew basic grappling and a basic hip escape, shrimp and guard recovery that is Day 1 stuff in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu? FUCK YES.

Below I’ve posted a video that I found the other day while randomly watching YouTube videos that emphasizes exactly what I mean in writing this, however, there are dozens more videos and examples I’ve seen and that you can find online that really drive this point home. Being skilled in wrestling and BJJ saves lives; I’ve seen too many videos of what turn out to be pretty justified shootings that easily could’ve been avoided if the cop or citizen knew a basic sprawl or to move his friggin face so its not so easy to hit.

Now, I’m not going to support either side in this scenario for the sake of addressing the point of contention. As you can see, the security guard attempts to take the camera of some old hippie looking dude in a city council meeting who then commences to whooping his ass. Really examine this scene, the old guy looks like he hits about as hard as a 4yr old vegetarian but he manages to drive the old security guard into a seat. So now, rather than clinch/tie up with the guy, protect his face or attempt to push him off to gain space so he can circle and stand up or really just do anything but cower, the security guard just sits there using both hands to attempt to draw his weapon, he even turns away from his adversary. Once he manages to draw his weapon his partner is in the process of grappling with the man yet he still fires multiple rounds from retention at his own partner in a very crowded room, gets a malfunction, attempts to clear it and then re-holsters as his partner attempts to control the man. What's worse, he missed every single round fired, sending them into the wall and who knows where else.

Therein lies the problem of people who carry on a daily basis but who don’t train much and who likely have no experience in force-on-force training and unarmed fighting; they only think about their weapon as opposed to fighting their way to their weapon which may include punching, wrestling, circling out etc...

Remember the operative word in GUNFIGHT is FIGHT.