Fighting Back

On 22 July 2011, a gunman in Utøya, Norway disguised himself as a police officer, called together members of a youth summer camp, and began shooting at them. The latest figure is 86 dead, 20 injured. The gunman's shooting spree lasted for over an hour, in which time he was able to reload multiple times and hunt down his victims. Most of the survivors escaped by hiding or pretending to be dead.

This murderer's spree lasted over 90 minutes.

Compare this to another horrifying attack that happened recently. On 8 January 2011, at a political assembly in Tucson, Arizona (United States), a gunman opened fire specifically at Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her entourage, then indiscriminately into the crowd. 6 killed, 14 injured.

His rampage only lasted 1 minute due to aggressive civilians fighting back.

The Tucson gunman had 33-round clips on his person, and the deathcount could have been much higher. instead, he was stopped by a 61 year old houswife, a 74 year old retired vet, and a 2 other civilians, all unarmed. They hit him with chairs, they wrestled him to the ground, they interfered with his hands as he tried to reload. They saved lives - their own, and countless others around them.

Arizona is a very gun-friendly state. Anyone over the age of 21 without a felony can carry a concealed handgun without a permit. But the only person who was carrying a weapon who had anything to do with resisting and subduing the gunman didn't even draw his weapon - he (wisely) kept it holstered since by the time he arrived on the scene, the gunman was already on his face and largely under control. It's laudable that this citizen was prepared, but in this case it wasn't necessary. The aggressive instinct of the 3 heroes was what saved the day.

Airline industry shows the same trend: the increase in x-ray machines, ID checks, TSA employees, and other measures are not what is saving lives. The only things that have saved lives on airplanes since 9-11 has been arming cockpit doors and teaching passengers to fight back.

At the end of the day, it's far more important to fight back with what you have, immediately. When I was in the kidnapping captial of the world (Bogota Colombia) in 1999 working against drug traffickers, the advice was the same: "Fight back. No matter what - even if they have a gun, even if there's a dozen of them. Don't let them put you in a vehicle. The situation never improves at the second crime scene."

Here at Virginia Systema, we train to overcome our natural hesitancy and tendency to freeze. We train with and against weapons, from a conflict's start to its finish. So from the instant when someone draws a weapon from a hidden pocket to the moment you've escaped to a safe zone and are searching yourself for wounds (many people don't realize they've been seriously injured because of the adrenaline dump), it will feel familiar because you've already seen it and practiced it a hundred times.

Continuous motion. Breathing. Forward aggression. Using everything in your aresnal. Pocket change flung at their eyes. Your Starbucks coffee. Your pocket knife. Your hands. Your feet. Your whole body.

It's up to you. When seconds count, the police are minutes away.

Good luck, and safe training!



















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