Hand-to-Hand Self-Defense and Concealed Carry

So you did your research, bought your gun, got your Concealed Carry Permit and maybe even took a course in Firearm Safety or CCW Permits or have done “a lot of shooting at the Club”. Are you ready to carry a gun? Of course you carry whenever you can, but are you ready?

Many Defensive Firearm Instructors are reminding their students that there is more to self-defense than carrying a gun. Not every fight is a gun fight! How do you get separation from an attacker; how do you keep the attacker from taking your gun? How do you maintain control?

I work with a Tactical Trainer, Tom Coyle of Highlands Keep in West Chester, Pa. We train students on a simulator. They have an attacker with a knife on the simulator run at you from 21 feet away… you need to pull your pistol and fire to stop the attacker.

You would think it was easy… you know what’s going to happen; you may have watched the people before you, but Tom says, “…you shoot the floor (with a laser simulator, not real bullets), yourself, the walls… miss the attacker completely… very few people get it on the first try!” So how many tries do you think you will get in a real situation… are you ready to carry?

Hopefully, I have made my point clear that there is more to self-defense than just carrying a gun. So what should you do next? Find a Defensive Firearm Instructor who will teach you how to retain control of your gun, get separation and defend yourself in a true attack.

Many students ask me, “…but I am small or old or out of shape…”; how many out of shape police have you seen on TV or in person? In my personal experience (and sometimes on TV) I have seen an out of shape police officer end a bad situation in seconds… not because they were stronger than the perp, but because they knew the techniques necessary to take control!

And what do I tell my “elderly female” students… you have the element of surprise! You are being attacked because the attacker thinks you are a victim. When you start defending yourself and attacking back… things change… did you know most people avoid being attacked in the first few seconds simply with a counter attack and by running away! Be ready and be safe!