[quote} I am amazed at how many students I have had who never realized that they might be involved in a physical fight that prevents them from accessing their firearm. They are amazed to find that they might have to deal with the fight first, before they can get to their gun. When talking about fitness and combatives, I often hear the answer “I’ll just shoot them” from students who have no skill with their personal striking weapons (hands, feet, etc) or are unfit. The problem is that getting to the gun in most of those situations is harder than they ever thought possible with an aggressive attacker striking their head. Have you ever tried to draw and shoot someone while they were punching you in the face?
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This thought occurred to me a while back. Everyone knows that the Tueller Drill indicates that an armed opponent can close 21 feet and strike a lethal blow in roughly the same time it takes to deploy a handgun from a typical police officer's duty holster. So we'll just keep everyone outside 21 feet, right? Doubtful, unless you're ready to shoot the next sumbitch what left his watch at home and wants to know what time it is. I think fitness and open-hand techniques are probably as important or more important than gunhandling skills. When your mugger starts an attack from 15 feet, you can't draw in time, which means you're going to have to deal with him for at least a few seconds. If you don't know the right empty-hand techniques to drive him away from you and create space to draw, all without letting him stab your eyeball, you're screwed.
Another worthwhile example: We probably wouldn't even know who George Zimmerman was if he'd invested time in training in a martial art. If he had been taking lessons at a local Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gym, the Travon Martin shooting would have been a simple fistfight.