I am waiting on the video of the 60 Minutes hit piece on the BMG .50 Caliber and Ronnie Barrett, as I captured no audio on my system recording. As soon as I get it in, I will follow-up with it.
I did respond in the comments section to a request from Perpetual Shorty on his blog posting here, and am posting my response here as well for todays posting.
The response is from an instructor of mine, Master Bob, and myself:
In the first place, you are correct, self-defense is an attitude. Without the attitude, you will hesitate, and become another victim.
Women must understand that they are important to somebody. This may seem obvious, but in a self-defense situation, many women do no grasp how important she is to her husband, children, parents, and her friends, and that nobody has the right to harm her. A woman's hesitation in a self-defense situation results in her becoming a victim, which in turn results in her husband not having a wife, her kids not having a mother, her parents not having a daughter and so on, but most women do not see the entire picture and thus become victims.
How one cannot believe, with their entire being, in the right to self-defense, is something I have always had a hard time comprehending- but many women do not. Irrespective of all of the conflicting pabulum that women are bombarded with daily, they must understand that this includes up to, and the use of "deadly force". She must have the mind set that she will fight to defend herself to her last breath.
Otherwise, another piece of data is added to the ledgers of criminal statistics.
Some kind of training is necessary, even if it is the reading of a book on self-defense, though this is a very poor substitute for hands-on training. People tend only to perform as they have been trained to perform. A minority of people can, at times, surpass this, but most tend to do no more. I firmly think that just getting in the right mindset is the first step in that direction but some of the right training is highly recommended. I recall one training course I took several years ago, in which the instructor related a story, I think from one of Paxton Quigley's books, where a woman with a high brown-belt degree in some martial art, was attacked, beaten and I think raped. When asked why she did not use her skills to defend herself, she responded that she was "afraid" of hurting him. Men, instinctively, do not expect women to respond in such situations, therefore they have the advantage- but when a woman resists with some kind of response, let alone a trained one, it is usually enough to get the edge on escaping. And, I mean getting away- not taking on a man one on one. Anyone intent on harming you will harm you if given the chance. Therefore, it is important that a woman respond as fast as possible so that she can escape, and that the chance is not afforded to the criminal.
Some researchers have said that a woman should not respond, especially to sexual assault because it will only make the attacker angrier and thus she will be hurt worse. Others say that you have a better chance if you do resist. An instructor I know likes what the studies at UCLA came up with years ago: Whatever you do, if you live to talk about it, you did the right thing.
Women are more aggressive now in many facets of their lives, and I think, and in some ways, it can get them in trouble with certain men who have an unstable character anyway. However, in other ways, if they handle things right they can talk their way out of certain undesirable situations.
An instructor of mine, whose instructors had taught him, and what I had learned much earlier in life, is that when confronted with a man who seems crazy, then just act crazier than he. I knew that this worked, as I had used it upon several occasions earlier in my life. Nevertheless, talking and antics are not always going to work, and should never be depended upon. Tactics are something women should know- which returns us to training with the right person.
A good instructor, when training, will teach that she should look for an escape route and tell her to not allow herself to be caught against a wall, and do not ever end up on the ground (any instructor who says go to the ground is full of it). Never end up on the ground. They will teach her to recognize and look for environmental weapons (anything around you that can be used to cut, gouge, blind, scrape, pierce, choke, or hit with). Women carry lots of these in their purse, pens, pencils, combs, brushes, perfume spray- even mirrors.
Also, the instructor will teach her not get caught in grocery store parking lot with both arms full of groceries and her keys in her purse. This may seem simplistic, but that is why carts were invented. She should have her keys in hand on the way to the car and be ready to slash or gouge with them if necessary. She should carry something heavy, such as a Maglite flashlight in her car to carry with her at night on such activities. She should always carry a small, but easily accessible pocket or clip knife in her bag or keep one in the coin try in the car. Pepper spray is legal and cheap. However, she needs to insure it is not five (5) years old- and to replace it now and again, and test it to make sure it still has propellant (not into the wind!). She should also be taught to watch her temper- and to not get into verbal arguments with strangers. If being followed, go to a public place with lots of people and to keep her cell-phone handy. Alternatively, she can go to the police station. She should not go home, she must turn around and go in the opposite direction and to always have a plan of action (tactics) if things go bad.
That brings us to carrying the best self-defense tool there is, and that is a handgun. Many women are very reluctant, as we know, to pick-up, let alone carry one. There are volumes of books, better written and more instructive than I can provide here. However, women should not be afraid of hurting someone when forced into a self-defense situation. The alternative is that they will be hurt at best, killed at worst!
Which means, after the initial attitude training above, she needs to know that pulling the trigger, if she has to, is not the wrong thing to do- morally or ethically...
--WP
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