Word on what jks said about pepper spray.
The biggest weapon is determination, especially the determination to rip the SOB's head off and beat him to death with it. Beyond that, tools can help. The old "It can be taken away and used against you" canard is mostly a way for the self-described elite be they soldiers, cops or men (as opposed to women) to say "Proles like you should stay away from that. Leave it to the pros." Guns and knives get taken away and used against the defender, oh, about the square root of diddly squat. If you can deploy it and are determined it can make life a whole lot easier. Of course, get training, make The Decision, etc. etc.
Disarming an armed attacker? My preference is to run like hell. But if that's not possible the principles are the same in every serious fighting system I've heard of:
The biggest weapon is determination, especially the determination to rip the SOB's head off and beat him to death with it. Beyond that, tools can help. The old "It can be taken away and used against you" canard is mostly a way for the self-described elite be they soldiers, cops or men (as opposed to women) to say "Proles like you should stay away from that. Leave it to the pros." Guns and knives get taken away and used against the defender, oh, about the square root of diddly squat. If you can deploy it and are determined it can make life a whole lot easier. Of course, get training, make The Decision, etc. etc.
Disarming an armed attacker? My preference is to run like hell. But if that's not possible the principles are the same in every serious fighting system I've heard of:
- Get in close or stay far away and use a longer better weapon
- Get into a position of advantage
- Isolate the weapon hand from the mechanical support of the rest of the body
- Hold on for dear life
- Do as much damage as possible while taking the weapon away
