The trainer Steve Collins, pictured, of PS5 has written many articles for Professional Security Magazine on personal safety and self-protection. However, one of the sectors not covered so far is being attacked by someone with a weapon.
Some of you will have already read my book Avoiding and Surviving a Knife Attack, where I took a realistic look at the options a normal untrained person has when faced with the horrific reality of an attack with an edged weapon or indeed any weapon. In this article I shall look at the basic fundamentals of surviving any form of armed attack: gun, knife, stick, hammer, it matters not. A large percentage of violent encounters, where a weapon is deployed, tends to begin with a victim who is totally unaware of the fact that the aggressor is even armed, until of course it’s too late and they are injured or worse. Therefore, when dealing with weapons, awareness is always the most effective form of defence, followed immediately by evasion and, obviously, running away as soon as you can and as fast as you can.
Defensive tactics
It makes no difference how fast you are or how strong you are or how tough you think you might be or how many prizes you have won in the ring or how many black belts you hold, if you do not detect the presence of a weapon before it is used against you there is a 99.9 per cent probability that you will come seriously unstuck and that could be fatal. Defensive tactics against weapons, and especially knives, are probably one of the most controversial self-defence subjects, and there is a huge amount of ‘bull’ out there. To defend yourself against any weapon and successfully disarm an assailant requires an extremely high level of skill. No matter how well trained you think you are, it’s not going to be slick and choreographed like it is in the training hall or the movies. Remember, when you train, you train with consent, and your training partner doesn’t really want to stab you. That said, I maintain that everyone has the ability to defend themselves, regardless of gender, age, strength or level of physical fitness. To be effective, you need to do more than the person that’s attacking you, especially if a weapon has been deployed. When dealing with weapons, awareness is the first and best defence, followed immediately by avoidance. Panic is your biggest enemy, so try and stay calm, and don’t focus on the weapon; doing so will reduce your ability to detect the offender’s body movements, and also fixation on the weapon will increase your stress level and thus decrease your ability to defend yourself.
Sticks, clubs, bats
All striking weapons have what is commonly referred to as the ‘head’ or the part of the weapon that causes the most injury. It is imperative that you quickly ascertain which part of the weapon your assailant intends to use as the head. Fast footwork, should enable you to move inside the swing of a long weapon and avoid the head striking you. Moving in and attacking the assailant at the source, especially if they have missed with their first strike, is often a much more effective strategy than moving away. Even though shorter weapons give an assailant a faster rate of attack, they still leave openings to move in on. Defending against jabs and pokes from a club or stick are sometimes more difficult to evade, but, you should be able to knock the weapon out of the way and then move in past its head. You must maintain a continuous forward motion, grabbing the weapon if you can or trying to control the weapon arm.
Edged weapons
Sadly most knife wielding attackers will succeed in cutting their victims. Furthermore, to assume a static posture and adopt some sort of fighting stance and wait for the attack will result in you being cut! And the sudden realisation of even a small cut can have a massive psychological and debilitating effect on some people. Shock, trauma, paralysis, hysterics, nausea and vomiting; and you don’t know how you will react until it actually happens. So what can you do? Keep moving, and try not to lose sight of the knife. Never under-estimate small blades, they can be more deadly than the large ones; reason being, you can see a large knife, thus making it easier to avoid. You could be stabbed a dozen times with a small knife before you even realised a person was armed. In a real situation it is imperative that you are not static; you must keep moving! In my training, I maintain that the two safest places to be, if you are faced with a knife attack, are: a hundred miles away; or right on top of the attacker.
So, if you can’t escape, the best direction to move is forward, because it’s faster than moving backwards and gives you an opportunity of controlling the knife arm. I’m not suggesting that you shouldn’t run away as fast as you can, but, if you’re only able to move back a couple of feet then all you succeed in doing is give the attacker another opportunity to try and cut or stab you. Think of the knife man as the centre of a wheel that you are moving around. Attack his head with your free hand – slaps, eye rakes and gouges, and remember, where his head goes his body will follow. If you can grip the face, throat, eyes or forehead then jerk the attacker’s head backwards and down. If you succeed in getting behind him, pull him to the ground by his head. Keep moving, keep jamming and controlling that knife arm. Stick like glue, control the knife, inflict pain, get behind the attacker and take them down. Attack the attacker and don’t stop until you are able to escape. You must have 200 per cent commitment – you must explode into action and be totally focused. Do not hesitate to use anything to hand as a weapon of opportunity (but not a knife) and remember, if you fear for your life, there are no rules, survival is all that matters.
Handguns
The rule is: do as you are told and call him sir. Make an effort to calm your assailant down by keeping your hands on display and using the power of persuasion to try and make yourself look less threatening. However, if you believe there is nothing you can do or say that will stop this person shooting you … do something! If you feel certain that you are going to be shot, you should react immediately by knocking the gun arm away and grabbing the gun. Get out of the line of fire and attempt to gain control of the weapon with a grip from hell. The handgun will very likely discharge, so force it away from you. Once the gun is no longer pointed at you, attack the enemy aggressively, while maintaining control of the handgun with one hand, do anything you can to get him to drop the gun. And, just the same as a knife attack, there are no rules, survival is all that matters!
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