Self-defense as shown in many
martial arts magazines, police or law enforcement
journals are unfortunately often flawed. Many
of the instructors or writers of self-defense
articles are either over ranked, lack practical
experience or have been ill trained.
Recently I read an article in a leading law
enforcement magazine on how to defend against
a downward weapons strike (knife or ice pick).
I was surprised at what I saw and said to myself,
“these are dangerous techniques.”
Too much emphasis was put on blocking, when
in reality blocks can miss or be overpowered.
Instead, one viable and much safer alternative
which I demonstrate below is based on the following
premise: Avoid the attack first and only then
control the attacking weapon. Of course, there
are other good defenses to this type of attack
too; it is just that some are safer than others.
In the article, the officer demonstrated two
possible defensive tactics to the ice-pick type
attack. In the first suggested defense, the
defender remains standing in front of the attacker
(who was using his right arm to attack) while
he uses his left raised vertical forearm to
block to the inside of the downward striking
arm near the elbow while simultaneously punching
the assailant in the face with his right fist.
To me this is risky. It is difficult to block
an attacking arm perfectly, and if you miss,
or don’t get it right, you get stabbed.
If you are smaller than the attacker, the problem
of blocking is magnified because the attack
might already be descending. To block after
a lot of power has been generated into the attack
is problematic at best. It might work, but you
better be strong and accurate in your defense.
The second demonstrated defense in the article
was equally risky. The defender used both arms
to block and thus could easily be punched by
the attacker’s other hand ( the none knife
hand). There were other problems as well.
A much safer defense would be to start with
avoidance. First move to the outside of the
attack (away from the attack side). Then block/grab
the attacker’s wrist, possibly strike
to the groin, get control of the weapon arm
and the attacker’s body, dislocate the
attacker’s shoulder while throwing him
to the ground, and then take away the knife.
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