How would you potentially handle the following situations?

[Rich Parsons]

Someone insulting you on the basis of studying martial arts

To be honest, I usually laugh at their insults / jokes at my expense.

Confronted by an unarmed thief who is physically abusive

Not since 1st grade have I had someone try to take my lunch money. i.e. This was the last time I was in a physical situation with an unarmed person.

Confronted by an angry drunk at the bar

I usually laugh. I then smile. If they are far enough away not to touch, I state in a real loud clear voice, "Becareful, or I will stand up and you will knowck my *** out, and I will fall to the ground and break your ankle." This lets others in the area know I do not want to fight and I am not threatening them. Most of the time the loud one and his friends just laugh. The sober ones or smart ones realize that the statement of breaking their ankle by accident, is something to think about, as it is possible. This gets them thinking about the pain and the hospital time.

I have also asked if they have good insurance. I tell them I have good insurance. I ask if they have their card on them, for when they go to the hospital. But this is usually done when there is already that beginning physical contact.

Confronted by an armed thief, punk...whatever

Armed. Knife at a distance, I pull my belt off and use it as a range weapon. Knife up close, I try to create room. Or if it was just an attack, I try to react. I am not 100% in reacting in time. Note: none of these were for a thief, it was just assault.

Firearm. I reach for my wallet and drop it and step back slowly.

I opened the cash register and walked away wiping the counter down trying to create room. i.e. get back into the back and behind the cast iron pizza oven. The guys was not trying to rob the place. He pulled it out of a pocket looking for change. He came back later and apologized. It helped that he came with an officer.

That's it. What would you do? Add more situations if you want.

I did modify the theft to assault. For some reason people do not seem to want to rob me.

 

[Andy Moynihan]

Ever been challenged at a Holdiay gathering in a house full of people you know and the aggressor is the host??? I was and it aints pretty..

GAAAH.....you wanna talk about a lose-lose.....how'd that end up?......

 

[Rich Parsons]

Ever been challenged at a Holdiay gathering in a house full of people you know and the aggressor is the host??? I was and it aints pretty..

Not by the host, but my someone who knew the hostess as I did.

I walked out.

Everyone was confused and asked why I walked away with all the name calling. (* I had that later as a bouncer as well *)

It was not that I was the bigger man, as I explained to the hostess, I did not want to break your living room and everything in it. So, I left. The issues between the other guy and me will be resolved at a later date, when collateral damage will be minimized.

Yes, I postponed a fight.

 

[MA-Caver]

"Click".
CLICK.
Grab wrist with right hand as soon as it is raised.( assumes right hand grabbing his right, weapon arm--body is therefore outside muzzle's line of fire or blade's edge/point arc radius.) Weapon is obvious by now even if concealed prior.

pull that arm straight with right hand,use natural rightward twist to break that elbow with my left elbow.(Whether or not I actually *break* the elbow at this point is irrelevant--The pain will be enough to make him think about other things besides his weapon)

Use his forward broken balance to my advantage as his head comes within reach, slap left hand on top of skull, slap/continue into strike on jaw with left hand, use natiural LEFTward twist to snap neck.

Retrieve weapon and use as necessary on partner, either to end him if within range/reach, or to command him to stop and get out of here with my voice/expression/posture with weapon leaving no doubt as to what will happen if I am not obeyed RIGHT NOW.

Get clear.

Call lawyer.

Call cops.

Puke guts up.

To avoid hijacking the thread I did not really give all the specifics... sorry about that... if I gave a full detailed account on what actually happened well it'd be a long post... and I'm just talking about as soon as thing went down... (oh and I didn't mentioned that I was armed myself with a knife... which saved my life in this situation)... apologies.

But reading your reply I can see all of that happening... what I cannot see is the timely execution of your techniques against the first assailant because the second guy (the one running towards you) is coming full tilt boogie and already at full speed by the time he was half way across the street... seriously.
So even at the fastest, by the time you grab the (gunman's) wrist and turn the gun away from you the 2nd guy is already there. And believe me if I didn't take care of him it'd been all over. It was literally taking care of two at once...

interestingly enough... there was no physical contact between the three of us at all.

 

[myusername]

Someone insulting you on the basis of studying martial arts

I would just laugh this off and agree with whatever they say!

Confronted by an unarmed thief who is physically abusive

The key here for me is the word physically. To me this means that my attempts at verbal de-esculation had long since failed. I wiould also assume that the attacker feels he has the advantage. Being over 6ft and 15 stone this means the person could be concealing a weapon or be quite tasty at fighting so I would hit them hard with explosive combinations and run away as soon as safe to do so. I would prefer to use open hand techniques as they look better to witnesses and I will be screaming out for someone to call the police whilst I hit the attacker. I would use a control and restraint if one presented itself and the attacker was on his own but I wont be looking for it.

Confronted by an angry drunk at the bar

Apologise profusely for what ever misdemenor they percieve I have done whilst maintaining safe distance with my "fence." Offer to buy a drink and leave as soon as possible. There are always other bars.

Confronted by an armed thief, punk...whatever

Throw my wallet and phone on the floor and try and give them exactly what they want. If they are more interested in hurting me then getting my posessions I would react the same way as for the unarmed thief. Except if a control and restraint did present itself I would rather go for a full joint or limb break.