Unarmed Adjuncts to Hand Gun Defense

[PeteG]

The notion that one can effectively respond to a sudden assault from a few feet away with a hand gun is simply false, assuming "effective" is defined as avoiding serious personal injury. This can be easily proven or demonstrated, and often is. Yet many insist they will be able to disable an attacker with their hand gun before being injured. Others understand the problem, but are not certain what one can do about this "hole" in their defensive plan.

Fortunately, there are many different methods and techniques for warding off such an assault until one can either flee or bring a firearm to bear on the problem.

On February 9 the PFDC will sponsor a free, three hour seminar addressing the problem of trying to address a contact distance assault with a hand gun. The futility of the “just shoot him” strategy will be demonstrated for those who doubt. Then we will demonstrate principles applied in many different martial arts to avoid serious injury while moving to a place where a firearm might be useful. Questions and audience participation are encouraged, but certainly not mandatory.

Some people think “free” means “worthless.” Sometimes it does. Fortunately, it will cost nothing to find out.

A description of the seminar, directions and so forth are set forth below.
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FREE SEMINAR
“Judo As Adjunct To Pistolcraft”
Saturday, February 9, 2013 – 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

If one is attacked, the first objective is to avoid serious injury to oneself. Distance is always critical in determining a response. If an attack occurs at contact distance (within “a step and a grab”), hand gun techniques will not likely protect one from serious injury, particularly where the aggressor is armed with an edged or blunt force weapon. The problem is time: to react and the time until an attacker is disabled.

Hand gun techniques are not designed to deal with this kind of attack. Consequently, current hand gun defense tactics are plainly unsatisfactory. On the other hand, the techniques employed in Judo, Tae Kwon Do and related disciplines are designed to deal with contact distance attacks, and are effective in protecting one from serious injury from sudden lunging, grabbing or stabbing attacks during in the critical first seconds of the assault, until a more deliberate response can be implemented.

Unfortunately, people are put off by the impression that one must put in years of training to acquire useful unarmed martial skills, and believe they must be young and strong to obtain the benefits of such training. Neither is true. The study of unarmed self defense, even at a fundamental level, will greatly enhance the defensive capability of an individual who intends to rely upon a firearm for self-defense. This enhancement will be realized early in the training process, and will dovetail nicely with firearms training doctrine. (I started at age 48, and I am in no better physical shape than any old guy who works at a desk.)

To illustrate the advantages the formal study of one of these unarmed techniques holds for the student of pistolcraft, the Pennsylvania Firearms Development Corporation (“PFDC”) has organized a short seminar and demonstration. At this seminar, the methods traditionally taught for using a gun in the defense and control of contact distance encounters will be reviewed, and their limitations illustrated. Principles of unarmed self-defense, and some techniques, will then be explained, and applied to the same problems, with a comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of the two forms of response. Our hope is that serious students of pistolcraft will recognize the necessity of initially responding to a contact distance assault with an unarmed technique if they hope to avoid serious injury. Important legal implications of both forms of response will also be reviewed by an attorney licensed to practice in Pennsylvania. Questions and audience participation are welcomed.

Although this seminar is designed primarily to educate those interested in firearms training, those who study traditional martial arts may also be interested in the contrast between the approach, mind set and legal consequences of the two schools of defense. Therefore, all are invited to attend. There is not charge.

Presenters:

Peter Georgiades. Attorney; firearms instructor for 16 years; Sandan (3rd degree black belt) in Kodokan Judo. Firearms instructor training includes L.E. Carbine Instructor Course at the Gunsite Training Academy (Pat Rogers); carbine and pistol instructor courses from Giles Stock; carbine instructor courses with Jim Crews. Approved to teach the Operational Skills Group “Contact Distance Defense” course (Steve Tarani). Certified to teach firearm courses by the State of Arizona and the NRA (pistol, rifle, shotgun, home firearm safety and personal protection). Member of the International Ass'n. of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors (IALEFI).

Master Christopher D. Moore. 6th Dan in Tae Kwon Do; Yodan (4th Dan) in Kodokan Judo. Master Moore has 30 years of experience in the martial arts, and decades of teaching experience. He has been teaching self-defense for 20 years. His instruction is highly valued by many trained martial artists.

The seminar will be held at Kim's Martial Arts & Fitness Studio, in Brentwood. Driving directions are on the back side of this page. If you would like more information, contact Peter Georgiades - (412) 370-9500.

DIRECTIONS TO KIM’S MARTIAL ARTS & FITNESS - 3606 Brownsville Road, Brentwood (a suburb of Pittsburgh)

FROM THE PITTSBURGH SIDE OF MT. WASHINGTON:

Take E. Carson Street (Rt. 837 South) from the South Side up river, to Becks Run Road. Becks Run Road is 1.5 miles past the Birmingham Bridge. You will see Becks Run Rd. coming down from your right, under a high railroad trestle. Turn Right on to Becks Run Road, and follow it 2.3 miles to the crest of the hill, where it intersects with Brownsville Road. Turn LEFT on to Brownsville Road. Follow Brownsville Road 1.2 miles. This will take you through two traffic lights and a couple of stop signs. You will know you are approaching the right block when you see a fire station and the Brentwood Public Library on your left. Park anywhere you can find at that point; you are within a block. The dojo is on the right side of the street.

FROM THE SOUTH HILLS:

The easiest route (not the shortest) is to take Rt. 51 S. to the intersection of Brownsville Road and Rt. 51, which is a major intersection. Go left on to Brownsville Road (toward Pittsburgh). 3606 Brownsville Road will be on your left, about .9 miles from the intersection with Rt. 51. You will pass a fire station on your left, and Kim's is on the next block, also on your left. There will be a middle school on your right. If you pass the Brentwood Public Library, you have gone too far.

WHAT DO TO WHEN YOU ENTER THE DOJO:

There are a couple of house rules at the dojo. When you enter the front door, you will see a set of shelves or cubbies for shoes. One must remove their shoes before entering the interior area of the dojo, and put them in one of the shoe cubbies.

Good manners dictates the removal of hats in the dojo, and food, beverages and smoking are prohibited beyond the entry way. Nobody will accost you over it, especially if you are a guest. However, as guests we must keep to the rules. Please leave your sandwich in the car and smoke outside.

If you have any questions, there will be lots of people of all ages milling about, as the Saturday Tae Kwon Do class will have just let out. Ask any of them where the bleachers are, and they will certainly help. FIRE Institute staff will be recognizable by patches on their caps or sleeves. We will start promptly at 1:30 p.m. All are welcome to arrive early and observe the Tae Kwon Do class.

Legal Notice: This course is sponsored as a public service by PFDC, which is not affiliated with Kim's Martial Arts & Fitness Studio. One may have the opportunity, if they wish, to try out some of the techniques during the seminar, but to do so one must be 18 years or older. No live weapons are permitted in the mat area during the seminar.

[Shawn.L]

Awesome that your putting this on.

I attended once and it was well worth the cost

[PeteG]

Several people have asked about "signing up" for this seminar. There is no need to advance register. We make it deliberately informal. Just appear 15 or 20 minutes before we start and you will be good to go.

Since this takes some arranging, I do appreciate hearing from people who intend to be there, just so I can guage how many we are likely to have.

Thanks.

Peter

[PeteG]

In answer to questions about concealed carry at the dojo:

It is a fundamental safety protocol whenver any force-on-force training is to occur that there be no live ammunition or real firearms anywhere in the traning area. This is so whether one is participating or merely observing: if one is in the training area, they cannot be armed. Period. No exceptions.

We handle this in one of two ways.

There are observation bleachers at the dojo, which are separated from the training area by a big window. If one does not wish to participate, but merely to observe, they may retain their concealed firearm sitting in the bleachers.

However, I prefer to have everyone come and sit in the mat area. One can see and hear better from there, and most people who attend thinking they do not want to particpate in any exercises change thier minds mid-stream, and can just stand up and join in. This is why we have option No. 2.

There are lockers at the dojo. For those who are not comfortable leaving their weapon locked in thier car, bring a padlock with you. At the beginning of these events we take any guests who are armed into the locker room, and, in an organized way and all at one time, we secure the firearms in a locker and lock it. We retrieve the firearms the same way at the end of the session.

Note, however, that we only lock the guns up once. We can't stop to secure any individual's weapon in the middle of the presentation.

[PeteG]

We did not want this to be forgotten. The date is this coming Saturday.

[PeteG]

Tomorrow is the day. It appears we will be well-attended, but there is no enrollment cut-off. We start at 1:30 p.m.