Getting Stabby at Defensive Handgun II

19 Feb Getting Stabby at Defensive Handgun II

No one wants to get stabbed. And you certainly want to bring at least a handgun to a knife fight.

We are SO not cool with that.

But there is a little bit more to it…

Denis had the exquisitely brilliant idea of adding a Simunition based component to all Defensive Handgun II courses from now on as we noticed that while the range exercises did teach the requisite skills to survive, the X ring on the “why” was being missed. Also we felt that while we are a gun-centric training outfit, and spend the majority of our time teaching folks to defend against an armed attacker who is fielding a firearm, defending against an edged weapon attack is a critical component of any training regimen.

Fast forward to a quick order on Amazon and two days later we have a few plastic dirk knives and a training tomahawk on hand for this exact purpose. (My wife scratched her head at these purchases when UPS dropped them off… but she’s used to it by now)

The vehicle for this training exercise is Simunitions. For those of you who don’t know what Simunition is click here.

So let’s set this up…

The Tueller “Rule”

One of the biggest myths in the gun world is that if an armed attacker (assuming blunt trauma melee weapon or edged weapon of some sort) within 21 feet is green lit to be shot. Much of this depends on the demeanor and perceived intent of the attacker so essentially a dude with a knife just standing there, even with the knife raised up in an assaultive manner, may not be able to be shot if need be.

It is fully dependent on the situation at the time of the situation, not in hindsight.

Here we used Simunition gear and converted firearms to only fire Simunition marking cartridges. Since we had been on the range in a live fire mode, all students were safety checked prior to starting this exercise.

We set up three “bad guys” with edged weapons 7 yards (21 feet) from our “good guys” who were armed with concealed firearms. On the command of threat, the Bad Guys charged at the Good Guys who had to draw and fire on the Bad Guys as many times as  possible before getting “stabbed/hacked”.

Here’s the Video….

After Action

You can clearly see that the Good Guys have a hard time getting off of the train tracks and getting an accurate hit on target. There are a lot of moving parts to what needs to be done but the bottom line is the following:

You are going to get stabbed. Period.

We all wish that a single round would be sufficient to stop a threat but you can get a good effective hit in the center mass of the subject’s preferred target area and the subject can still fight on for minutes. Even after a critical organ system has been hit.

Getting yourself off of the X and outside of the fatal “train tracks” is critical! It is much easier for you to move off line to either side laterally than trying to run away from the subject.

This exercise certainly proved that concept. Especially since the terrain (snow) is in consideration as well. Imagine if the ground was clear and free of any impediments to movement…

If you would like try your hand at this drill… come join us at a Defensive Handgun course soon by clicking the image and checking out the available dates!

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