How many of us are there that will never be able to win a hand-to-hand fight, and therefore rely on keeping our head on a swivel and the prime tactical approach of getting the heck out of Dodge?
Here's what I posted on the other thread.
Here's my take on the situation. It's pretty much the same as my take on all self-defense.
1. Learn enough about real-world self-defense encounters so that you can form a realistic picture of the things that can happen.
2. Learn about the things a person can do to deal with the various things that happen in real-world encounters.
3. Think through plans for the various things you might have to deal with. Don't just think about one plan or the absolute best plan for each situation--you may not be able to implement the ideal approach. By the way, I don't mean just daydream through this. I mean use what you've learned in steps 1 & 2 to see how specific real world threats can be countered.
4. Decide which plans are within your capability. Think about your physical limitations. Think about the time you have to train. Think about the cost in materials and training expenses.
5. Think about which plans you are willing to put into place and actually would put into place. To use a common example, there's no point in buying exercise equipment if you know you won't use it.
6. Implement the plans you choose that you believe are reasonable for you.
7. Don't pretend that you are more prepared than you really are. Understand the limits that your planning and preparation set and remember what Dirty Harry says: "A man's GOT to know his limitations."
You may not be able to/willing to become an expert in hand-to-hand fighting, but
you still need a plan for what to do if someone grabs for your gun. Maybe it's a really simple plan that's not great. Something like grabbing the gun with both hands, screaming, biting and kicking is better than not doing anything at all. But learning some basic retention skills might be easier than you think. Maybe you choose to bolster a miminal active retention scheme with risk reduction and passive retention. So conceal instead of carrying openly. Carry with a retention holster. Carry a gun with an unusual operating technique like a squeeze cocker. Carry a gun with a magazine safety and train to drop the mag if the gun is being taken and you can't stop it.
The point is that doing nothing at all and just assuming that you've got the bases covered is not a plan--it's not preparation. It's a prayer for luck, and sadly, luck favors the prepared.
I see people making two common mistakes when it comes to self-defense:
1. Thinking that because they're more prepared than the average person, or the guy down the street, or the guy from work, that they're prepared enough.
2. Thinking that because the ultimate level of preparation in one area is difficult or impossible to attain, they can just forget about that aspect of preparation entirely and it won't hurt them.
