Weapons Dependency: All Fighting is Fighting

by Ernest Emerson

Anyone pulls a knife on me I'll just shoot him!"
-Dead Man Stabbed 17 times....Gun still in Holster

You have no idea how many times I've heard that statement.

In today's modern technologically dependent society someone has invented something for just about every need. And because of this we feel hindered or even helpless when we don't have one of those gadgets or inventions to accomplish a given task. We are raising and our society is creating a population of young men and women who are governed by a technological dependence. A dependence that says, "we can't do our job if we don't have the technological helper to do it."

It is not the body armor, the GPS, the laser range finder, the M-4 or the flashlight that are important. These are only tools to supplement the means toward an objective, they are not the means. If any of these tools fail in their use, the individual must adapt, rethink, and overcome their failure and not be governed by it.

I have seen more than once, this scenario. In [simulation classes] I have seen individuals draw to fire on an armed threat. Their weapon malfunctions and they go completely focused on trying to clear their weapon, completely ignoring the threat they were about to engage, with deadly force.

At that moment I usually step in and ask, "What the hell are you doing?". "I'm trying to clear my weapon, sir."

"Son, you can go on trying to clear your weapon while this guy stoves your head in with a pipe or you can use your weapon to pistol whip him into submission."

"Remember, you've got a 2 pound piece of steel in your hands that can do substantial damage as a bludgeon. Then you can clear the malfunction and still shoot him if you so desire."

The point is usually well made.

And that point is this; A fight is a fight, with weapons or not, but it is a fight you must win and you cannot depend on your weapons to win. You can only depend on you.

To think of yourself as unarmed just because you have no gadget in your hand is basically, giving up and shifts a huge amount of momentum, both physical and mental, in favor of the bad guy.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=43064