Brian@ITC
Member
I began my journey out of the house a few mornings ago to run some errands and my porch and steps were covered in ice as was the walk way to my vehicles. As I normally try to do, I seized the opportunity to train in this challenging environment.
It is important to train in ALL weather conditions on all sorts of surfaces. Winter is the most challenging season to train in because not only is it slippery on ice or on snow, but your dress is normally such that accessing your firearm is not nearly as quickly as it would normally be in other seasons such as spring or summer. Drawing your gun with your gloves on and shooting it difficult as well. Therefore, you need to practice drawing from concealment with your winter clothing on including gloves. Finding gloves that are thin but warm can be challenging. Thicker gloves are not ideal because you can cause a negligent discharge when placing your finger in the trigger guard. Also, you cannot feel the trigger as much with thicker gloves.
When facing an assailant who is holding you at gun or knifepoint and you are on ice or snow, creating distance quickly is going to be a bit more difficult than what you might think. Regardless of how good you are on your feet, moving and defending yourself on slippery surfaces is not at all easy. If you do not train on these surfaces then your chances of surviving a situation is slim at best. How you have to move in order to stay on your feet takes some time to learn how to do. Your speed of movement is probably going to be about 1/3 of what it would normally be on dry surfaces and I am being optimistic with that figure.
When facing someone who has you at knifepoint in these conditions, well, honestly, you are in serious trouble. As a general rule, you want to try and create distance when facing someone who has a knife. One good thing is that the attacker(s) are under the same working conditions as you are, and in order to use their weapon, they have to advance in order to use it. So, if you have trained under these conditions, then you can probably move “better” than your opponent. If you don’t train on slippery surfaces, well then, your chances of survival are not great.
So, if creating distance when facing a gun wielding assailant isn’t a good option, what are your options? Well, most confrontations take place within 6 feet and when facing someone who has a gun drawn on you and they are extending it out towards you, odds are they have just placed the gun approximately 2 feet closer to you so now you have less than 4 feet to cover to get past the muzzle of the gun which is the lethal part of the firearm. Depending upon your distance to the attacker and your leg length, you can probably close most of that distance with one step. Your foot movement is probably going to be similar to someone who is ice skating. There are methods of running on the ice, but it is very difficult to put into writing.
Alright, one key point in movement whether or not you are on ice is to keep your knees bent! Anytime your knees are locked you place yourself in danger of being off balance and that is never a good thing. We have found through out training that maintaining a lower center of gravity while moving on unstable surfaces is generally best. One thing that I see people do wrong all the time when they are falling on ice, snow, or on wet pavement is that they try to stand up and lock their knees. This is NOT the thing to do. It is a natural reaction but not all natural reactions are good ones.
Now, since you cannot move very fast in any direction, what is your move once you have stepped forward towards the attacker? Well, it is important to try and step outside of the gun arm away from their free side where they can use other tools to attack you. The question is that if you are carrying your firearm should you attempt to draw it? That depends… If you know some unarmed combatives moves that are simple such as a strike to the face getting their head going back while trapping the gun arm and taking them to the ground, then by all means do something like that. One issue with drawing your gun is that you may cause yourself to become off balance while drawing your gun. If you fall with your gun in hand and lose your gun, well, that’s just not a good thing. If you handle the situation unarmed and you start to fall you can simply grab on to the attacker and take them down as well. If you fall while holding onto the attacker and they drop their gun, that is probably a good thing.
Knowing how to properly fall to the ground and remain in the fight is especially critical during the winter months where your chances of winding up on the ground are fairly high. Finding yourself on the ground even if you are not in a life or death situation during this time of year is very possible. Therefore, you should practice getting to the ground safely and getting back up. The best way to fall is by bending your knees lowering your body as close to the ground as you can before you “fall” and hit the ground.
Getting back up while remaining in the fight is critical as well. We have a method of getting back up on such surfaces. This is actually part of what we teach at our Advanced Pistol Fighting course as well as on the Advanced Pistol Fighting DVD. If you were to fall and hit your head on the ground or break your wrist while falling, you may very well take yourself out of the fight. This is why it is so important to possess the ability to fall and remain in the fight and get back up to your feet as quickly as possible.
Alright, so, what other options do you think are available to you on unstable surfaces such as ice, snow, or wet pavement?
It is important to train in ALL weather conditions on all sorts of surfaces. Winter is the most challenging season to train in because not only is it slippery on ice or on snow, but your dress is normally such that accessing your firearm is not nearly as quickly as it would normally be in other seasons such as spring or summer. Drawing your gun with your gloves on and shooting it difficult as well. Therefore, you need to practice drawing from concealment with your winter clothing on including gloves. Finding gloves that are thin but warm can be challenging. Thicker gloves are not ideal because you can cause a negligent discharge when placing your finger in the trigger guard. Also, you cannot feel the trigger as much with thicker gloves.
When facing an assailant who is holding you at gun or knifepoint and you are on ice or snow, creating distance quickly is going to be a bit more difficult than what you might think. Regardless of how good you are on your feet, moving and defending yourself on slippery surfaces is not at all easy. If you do not train on these surfaces then your chances of surviving a situation is slim at best. How you have to move in order to stay on your feet takes some time to learn how to do. Your speed of movement is probably going to be about 1/3 of what it would normally be on dry surfaces and I am being optimistic with that figure.
When facing someone who has you at knifepoint in these conditions, well, honestly, you are in serious trouble. As a general rule, you want to try and create distance when facing someone who has a knife. One good thing is that the attacker(s) are under the same working conditions as you are, and in order to use their weapon, they have to advance in order to use it. So, if you have trained under these conditions, then you can probably move “better” than your opponent. If you don’t train on slippery surfaces, well then, your chances of survival are not great.
So, if creating distance when facing a gun wielding assailant isn’t a good option, what are your options? Well, most confrontations take place within 6 feet and when facing someone who has a gun drawn on you and they are extending it out towards you, odds are they have just placed the gun approximately 2 feet closer to you so now you have less than 4 feet to cover to get past the muzzle of the gun which is the lethal part of the firearm. Depending upon your distance to the attacker and your leg length, you can probably close most of that distance with one step. Your foot movement is probably going to be similar to someone who is ice skating. There are methods of running on the ice, but it is very difficult to put into writing.
Alright, one key point in movement whether or not you are on ice is to keep your knees bent! Anytime your knees are locked you place yourself in danger of being off balance and that is never a good thing. We have found through out training that maintaining a lower center of gravity while moving on unstable surfaces is generally best. One thing that I see people do wrong all the time when they are falling on ice, snow, or on wet pavement is that they try to stand up and lock their knees. This is NOT the thing to do. It is a natural reaction but not all natural reactions are good ones.
Now, since you cannot move very fast in any direction, what is your move once you have stepped forward towards the attacker? Well, it is important to try and step outside of the gun arm away from their free side where they can use other tools to attack you. The question is that if you are carrying your firearm should you attempt to draw it? That depends… If you know some unarmed combatives moves that are simple such as a strike to the face getting their head going back while trapping the gun arm and taking them to the ground, then by all means do something like that. One issue with drawing your gun is that you may cause yourself to become off balance while drawing your gun. If you fall with your gun in hand and lose your gun, well, that’s just not a good thing. If you handle the situation unarmed and you start to fall you can simply grab on to the attacker and take them down as well. If you fall while holding onto the attacker and they drop their gun, that is probably a good thing.
Knowing how to properly fall to the ground and remain in the fight is especially critical during the winter months where your chances of winding up on the ground are fairly high. Finding yourself on the ground even if you are not in a life or death situation during this time of year is very possible. Therefore, you should practice getting to the ground safely and getting back up. The best way to fall is by bending your knees lowering your body as close to the ground as you can before you “fall” and hit the ground.
Getting back up while remaining in the fight is critical as well. We have a method of getting back up on such surfaces. This is actually part of what we teach at our Advanced Pistol Fighting course as well as on the Advanced Pistol Fighting DVD. If you were to fall and hit your head on the ground or break your wrist while falling, you may very well take yourself out of the fight. This is why it is so important to possess the ability to fall and remain in the fight and get back up to your feet as quickly as possible.
Alright, so, what other options do you think are available to you on unstable surfaces such as ice, snow, or wet pavement?
