strambo,
Life is not that simple.
Guns have a habit of not working once hands get all over them. They'll tie up, get pushed out of battery and maybe even induce a double feed. Revolvers flat won't work if the cylinder can't turn. Mag releases get pushed and mags ejected. Etcetera, and so on, and so forth.
I definitely get that which is why I am not "tool" focused, but focused on eliminating the threat...a malfunctioning firearm and/or ambiguity about its status lend more credence to not relying on it. I'm confused as to why you bring this up in light of my responses?
Most of my training focused on behaviors, postures, and stances that kept hands besides mine off the gun. If through behaviors, postures and stances I can keep those hands away, I don't have to break bad with martial arts.
Good, solid retention training begins thinking about handgun retention long before anyone else is even in the vicinity. "The clock" begins long before the grab attempt. It's a mindset I'm not sure you appreciate. Perhaps a class that focused less on combatives and more on prevention might open your eyes to the path.
As a professionally trained executive protection specialist with experience as a personal security detail team leader in Baghdad...I can assure you that I understand risk and threat assessment, awareness, avoidance, body (and vehicle, and team) positioning and that the fight may start long before the action and can usually be avoided all together.
That still doesn't say anything towards what to do if plan "a" (avoidance via whatever means) doesn't work. If someone is grabbing for your gun, by definition your avoidance and positioning failed.
The problem is simple: I'll add this in expanding the envelope of the conversation...avoid trouble through planning, awareness and use positioning to make yourself less vulnerable. If that fails, focus on injuring the threat until they are non-functional via the most effective means available.
If that is a functioning firearm, great. If that is a rock to the back of their head, super. If they take your gun and shoot you, keep fighting until one of you isn't working anymore. If you can retain your gun w/o them eating your lunch in the process, excellent.
Back to retention: these "techniques" are developed by, and for, LE officers who have level III holsters which give them more time. I think we can assume: 1) if a gun is concealed there will be no grab for it...how can they know you have it and where?
2) If they have a line of sight to your gun, they have a direct line of reach to it.
3) The vast majority of CCW holsters have only friction retention, a minority a thumb break.
Given the assumptions above, and the reactionary gap, I think it's safe to assume that it will be difficult to employ a retention technique as a civilian before the gun is already snatched away. (Assuming they don't fumble-something we can't control)
This can be tested a bit. Next time you are doing any sort of training, wear a training or toy gun in a concealed carry holster. Let your training partner know to grab it as they see an opportunity while you are training other things. This will give you a chance to see if you actually can retain your gun when it is grabbed by surprise and how often.
The "southnarc" course is an excellent suggestion. I was registered for one, but Katrina got in the way. I'd like to figure out how to attend one soon as Lee said, the entire course is devoted to the subject of discussion.
My entire position boils down to (when already in a violent situation): focusing on eliminating the human threat. Don't focus on using, retaining or obtaining any particular tool, unless it directly results in the elimination of the threat.
