Ironically, I had "Scariest Police Shootouts Vol II" on the TV today.
I wasn't glued to the show because I was multi-tasking, but I did catch two unarmed attempts against the gun.
One was somewhere in South America where a man had a hostage and was sitting with a gun to her head, both backs against the wall. The police man posed as a news camera man who would film him making his demands. The cop kept saying that he needed a closer picture and got within arms reach. Then he grabbed the gun with 1 hand pinning it against the wall (another version of the Krav method that we advocate; the use of environment if possible). He was able to successfully move the hostage away with the other hand while keeping the gun controlled, and subdue the attacker.
Another attempt was a policeman was doing a routine stop, and ended up facing an armed assailent. The cops gun remained holstered while the assailant had his gun pointed making his demands. It is interesting to note that while in front of the officer, although the criminal was within arms reach, he held the gun high and back so the cop wouldn't have been able to reach it if he tried. When the criminal got towards the rear of the policeman, however, he brought the gun down and within arms reach, and the cop made his move. With gun in holster, the cop went reaching for the gun with both hands. The assailent moved back and quickly regained control of the gun from the grab. Luckily the cop wasn't shot in the process. The cop was taken hostage, but later talked the assailent down and lived through the experience.
Anyways, these are just anecdotal incidents, and by no means give a statistical representation of which method is better under real conditions. It does beg the question, however: if the cop had reached with one hand instead of two, and at least had his other hand in transent for his sidearm, would he have been able to draw his own gun in time if his unarmed attempt failed as it did? It is a speculative question with more variables then meets the eye, however it is reasonable to consider the possability all the same.
From watching these incidents, one is reminded of a couple of things:
1. An attempted disarm, even when successful, usually won't work out in a clean, textbook fashion.
2. One has to be prepared for the environmental differences of the circumstance, and one must be trained to use these as an advantage rather then a disadvantage.
3. What might work in one context, might not in another.
4. One has to be prepared for initial attempts to not work as planned, and be ready to make adjustments for that so you don't find yourself back to square one (guy is pointing gun at you and your standing there with a dumb look) or worse (your shot).
5. One has to train what one feels is most reliable, while at the same time keeping an open mind, realizing that there is no magic answer to questions like these.
Anyway, I thought viewing these incidents were interesting. At the vary least, regardless of your method and how researched it is, or your personal biases, the above principles should probably be taken into consideration.
Paul Janulis