Weapons awareness
I was watching football when I suddenly heard sirens. I live in a quiet residential neighborhood but there is a major arterial a couple of blocks away so we tend to hear an emergency response or two from time to time. They’ve historically passed on by rather than stopping nearby, but this time it turns out that a man was knifed a few of blocks away. The 22-year-old victim was stabbed in the stomach, rushed to Harborview Medical Center, and listed in critical condition according to press reports. Police reported that another man drove a getaway car, but didn’t give a description of the vehicle that I could find.
Unarmed individuals who tangle with weapon-wielding attackers often get hurt. Frequently quite badly. Armed assaults are far more dangerous to the victim than unarmed attacks, more than three times as likely to result in serious injury. In fact, 96 percent of the homicides in the US involve some type of weapon. These attacks are three-and-a-half times more likely than unarmed assaults to result in serious damage to the victim such as broken bones, internal injuries, loss of consciousness, or similar trauma that result in extended hospitalization. Because hand-to-hand combat against an armed assailant is often a losing proposition, it is important to learn how to spot a weapon and avoid it before it can be used against you.
With few exceptions, civilians who carry a weapon need to do so in such a way that it cannot be seen by those around them yet can be drawn in a very big hurry should the need arise. After all, you wouldn’t want to be stopped every five minutes by a police officer summoned by panicked bystanders who report that you are armed. Bad guys also conceal their weapons, though more often than not to maintain the element of surprise. Either way, accessibility is key. A weapon does you no good if you cannot get to it rapidly when you need it.
Most carry techniques center on or around the waist. Law-abiding civilians who own a gun usually use a holster. Holsters make the most reliable carry systems because they rigidly affix the weapon to a specific spot on the body. That way it can always be found when it is needed, even under extreme stress. Many folding knives come with belt clips designed to hold them firmly against the side of your pocket where they are easily located by touch.
Criminals, on the other hand, rarely use a holster. The two most common ad-hoc carry positions for firearms are inside the pants, either in the front alongside the hipbone or in the small of the back. Because the weapon has a tendency to move around when carried in this fashion, you can often spot a bad guy touching himself to assure that it is in the proper place or adjusting the weapon to get it back into the proper carry position.
Pants or jacket pockets are always a handy choice as well. Like the inside-the-pants carry, they are not as reliable or easy to get to as a holster when you need rapid access. Weapons can also be palmed, hidden behind an arm or leg, or held out of sight beneath a covering object such as a folded jacket or newspaper. These methods facilitate rapid access but can be easier to spot than other methods. That’s the good news. The bad news is that if the weapon is already drawn and held in a concealed position, you will be in extremely serious trouble if you do not spot your adversary’s intent. He has already decided to attack and is maneuvering into position to do so.
Weapons can also be “hidden” in plain sight too. A hot cup of coffee tossed into a bad guy’s face can make an effective deterrent. A solidly built pen can operate much like a martial arts kubotan or even like a knife. A cane, walking stick, heavy purse, or laptop computer can be used as a bludgeon. A bunch of keys on a lanyard can work much like a medieval flail, albeit far less effectively. A beer bottle, pool cue, baseball bat, or mug can be just as effective in a pinch as a weapon designed for combat.
Pay particular attention to a person’s hands and midsection, looking for unusual bumps, bulges, out-of-place items of clothing, or odd movements. Also look for concealing clothing that may be covering a weapon. Examples include a jacket worn in hot weather, a vest that covers the waistline (especially the hips/lower back), or a loose shirt that is only buttoned high.
Just because a weapon is not in use at the beginning of a fight does not necessarily mean that it won’t be by the end, particularly if the other guy thinks he’s in danger of losing. Before, during, and even after a fight, watch for the upward or sideways motion of withdrawing a weapon from its sheath, holster, or hiding place; a weapon cannot be used until it is deployed. If someone takes one of their hands out of the fight voluntarily, it is rarely a good sign.
While you will frequently rely on your eyes to spot a concealed weapon, you can use your ears too. Listen for the sound of a weapon being drawn or readied for action as well.
Weapon awareness is relatively easy to practice. Take an outdoor seat at a restaurant in a high foot-traffic area, hang out in a mall, or take a walk through a public place, and carefully watch passersby. Count how many knives, guns, and other weapons you can spot. Who is carrying them? How are they concealed? What subtle clues did you notice that helped you spot the weapon? Once you become good at consciously finding these devices, you can begin to pick them up subconsciously as well. Honing your intuition in this manner builds solid survival skills.
Situational awareness during a fight
While the goal of situational awareness is to avoid violence in the first place, if things go south it remains an important aspect of surviving the fight. It is critical to remain aware not only of openings where you might land a blow or find an opportunity to escape but also for any changes in the dynamics of the conflict such as deployment of a weapon, intervention by third parties, hazardous terrain or obstacles, etc. This can be a challenge, particularly when adrenalized as tunnel vision is a common symptom, but it is important to pay attention to what’s going on around you to the extent possible.
Sometimes an opening is nothing more than a flash of color; say a blue shirt suddenly visible behind a rapidly moving, tan forearm. Similarly a weapon might be silver or a black blur that stands out against that same shirt or the flesh of the hand that holds it. The presence of a secondary threat, such as another combatant or a moving vehicle, might be a subtle hint of movement in your peripheral vision, one that is easily ignored if you are focused solely on your adversary.
You won’t always be able to see what is going on during a fight, so you need to listen too. Sounds can be vitally important. Does the crunch of a footstep mean that another person is about to join in the fray? Is the rip of Velcro pulled apart or the click of a snap being undone mean that a weapon is about to be deployed? What about calls for help, threats of intervention, or other actions by witnesses or bystanders? It’s all significant.
Finally, your sense of touch is also important during a fight. For example, you may not be able to see exactly where an adversary is during a scuffle, particularly if you’ve got blood, sweat, or pepper spray in your eyes, but if you can grab a hold of his arm, it is a simple exercise to find his head (or other body parts) based upon that orientation. Weapons are often felt rather than seen. In a frightening example, it’s extremely common for stabbing victims to think they were merely punched, yet the feel of a blade entering your flesh is different than that of a fist connecting with your body. Be aware of sensations like that too.
Blindfold sparring and slow work are great ways to gain experience finding targets by touch, but one of the best methods for increasing your situational awareness during a fight is through a one-step drill called “frisk fighting.” Virtually everyone carries some type of weapon most of the time, be it a designed implement such as a knife or gun, or simply something they can use to hurt someone like a briefcase or a set of car keys.
The frisk fighting drill can be a lot of fun, but it also must be taken very seriously or someone will be hurt, maybe killed. An experienced practitioner needs to be in charge of safety. The drill can be performed
