The Fight for Your Gun

There are several situations you can find yourself in when someone can attempt to grab your drawn gun. That someone can be a bad guy or a good intentioned good guy, but the outcome is still bad.

The semi-automatic two-step

Close quarter scuffles are fast paced and do not follow a script. You can try to create patterns for your strikes or impacts, but it will boil down to “closest weapon/closest target” type thinking. Anytime a gun is in play you have to be concerned that it can be deflected, grabbed and worse case taken away so how do you go about ensuring these situations don’t happen. The first thing to consider is why did you draw your pistol in the first place. If you drew it because you were in fear for your life then chances are you are going to discharge it and discharge it several times. It’s kind of funny how fast people will move out of the way of a gun barrel or just plain not cooperate by standing still for you to shoot them…how inconsiderate of them right. You will generally have a limited window once that pistol is drawn to get what we call a close-contact shot. That is a shot you fire that is not in a normal shooting position, but also not in contact with the threat.

Muzzle lines

Angles are key here, you have to be able to use good body awareness and Kinesiology. You should by now understand how the body works, your’s and the bad guys and one of the advantages of a close quarter scuffle is if you are in contact with the threat then you have an understanding of spacial presence. You can almost feel where their body is, if you studied some martial arts then you might have an understanding. If you can find a willing training partner and if you have access to the excellent training tool, SIRT pistol try this dance. With your training partners arms on your shoulders and one of your arms on his draw your pistol to the tuck or retention position and ask him to move off the muzzle line. Once he does, adjust your body so the visible laser is back on target. Do this for a few minutes and then do it with your eyes closed. You will be pretty surprised how tracking is not as difficult as you think. The next progressions would have you suspending the pistol away from your body while trying to accomplish the same outcome as the previous drill. you will find this one to be a bit more complicated, but still do able.

Plan B…avoid the knockout

This of course implies there is just a wresting match going on and not necessarily a beat down, where you are the punching bag, but the drill serves to illustrate the understanding of spacial awareness and muzzle lines. One of the fun parts to our Concealed Carry Combatives class is how we incorporate various strikes with your hands, forearms and elbows. These are critical in a close quarters engagement, you may not have the space or time to deliver accurate shots even at near contact ranges, but incorporating strikes will produce openings. The hope is you can see these openings and take advantage of them. Things become a bit more complicated when one or both hands of the threat converge on your pistol, but don’t despair as all is not lost. If both hands are occupying your gun, he has created openings you could exploit. This is assuming your free hand is available, but his head will be vulnerable as his the rest of his body. You should consider the deployment of secondary weapons and this is where blades really come into their own and why carrying a blade on your weak side is so important. Even if you have no blade, consider a flashlight or spare magazine. They make great improvised blunt type impact weapons.

The ultimate goal with your actions is to seek a superior position and superior weapon. Think of how of the whole body as a target and how you can line up the muzzle. Remember, nothing works twice.

"The entire secret of arms consists of only two things: to give, and not to receive."
~ Moliere 1671 ~