Are you mentally ready

Preface: I was doing some file cleaning and I came across a guest article that appears to have been submitted around Aug 01, 2003. I can’t find the Carl’s contact information or the original message and I find no reference to this article in any Search results. So here it is for your consumption. I apologize to Carl for losing this and hope he finds it and posts a comment.

I would like to contribute this article on self-defense against a gun.

I hope I can contribute to the mental part of being prepared. I like to write this article because my life was threatened with a gun, and gun self defense is a part of martial arts training.

A martial artist spends his lifetime training in the basics, in refining his techniques, toughing his hands and feet to become weapons, working to increase his flexibility and developing the skills to take his opponents down hopefully with a single technique.

On any given day, for him the ordinary opponent who wants to show how tough he is no matter what discipline they study. If attacked with a knife, a stick, a chain, a tire iron, no problem. Faced with two opponents, lets get it on.

The martial arts have been practiced for centuries. Techniques passed down from parent to child, teacher to student, and teacher to teacher. A lot of times the martial arts was practiced in secret. The martial arts have been used for protection on long trips, to defend one country against another, and to protect religions temples.

The Japanese lived by the code of Bushido, kill or be killed.

One Korean warrior, Gae-Beck, that was so dedicated to his country he killed his family before he went off to battle, knowing he may not return. When surrounded by his enemies, he took his own life, to show he was not defeated.

I wonder about the mindset of this warrior. He had some strong values, some values we don’t live by in a modern world. Do the modern day martial artist have these same values? As a modern day martial artist, are we ready to kill or be killed? How prepared are we to defend our lives against an opponent armed with a gun? When facing a gun do we react, as if nothing else matters or to have common sense?

Can the martial artist withstand the aggressive attack that one would encounter in the street?

Gun permits are issued to those who can pass a background check. The good ole hand to hand might come to a sudden halt in a situation where you are confronted with an armed opponent. Are you ready to defend your loved ones, friends and family, in a situation looking down the barrel of a gun? Are you ready mentally to handle this type of situation?

Most styles train to defuse a gun.

Things happen very fast and the mind is working very fast also. What if I can’t take the gun? What if someone gets killed? What if I cooperate? There might be more attackers standing by that you have not seen. These are some of the things to consider. Are you prepared to kill or be killed?

My approach to this situation is to give that person what they want, until I feel that controlling factor is not all they want. To those who may face this situation, and have been training in the marital arts, and from being in a situation with an armed opponent I can only say use your better judgment and rely on the techniques that you practice.

Some armed opponents don’t want to kill and this could give you the advantage. Some don’t mind killing no matter how you heed to their commands.

Carl Chappell

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