- Lawrence N. Nadeau
- Sep 3
- 5 min read
Learn How to Deal With Them Now in the Dojo — or Use Your Techniques at Your Own Risk on the Street!
I’d arrived early to meet a friend for dinner, but his class was still in session, so I watched from the viewing area. The students were practicing handgun defense under the tutelage of a senior student — which probably explained why it appeared so casual.
I’m sure you’ve seen classes like that one, with mundane repetitions, comfortable surroundings and friendly pairings. You may even have participated in one. But observing that session wound up altering my outlook on gun defense. Why? Because that’s when I realized that the subject is misunderstood by many who lack an in-depth understanding of firearms and ammunition.
To the students of ill-informed instructors, a “handgun” is nothing but a plastic or plywood replica of a firearm. As such, it elicits no urgency in training, no appreciation of consequence and no reality. If they knew a bit more about guns and bullets, they wouldn’t be so casual in their training.
After arriving at this epiphany, I changed the way I teach to better prepare students for this most serious of self-defense situations. Here, I present the five truths of gun defense so Black Belt readers who aren’t familiar with firearms can fine-tune — and possibly rethink — their skills before they attempt them on the street.
Size Matters
Firearms come in many shapes and sizes. The type that’s most often used in the commission of crimes is the handgun, and within that category, smaller-framed models are favored because they’re more easily concealed.
Grabbing a small handgun during an assault is harder to do. Even worse, it’s harder to leverage such a weapon out of an attacker’s hands, which means you need a higher degree of technical proficiency. The good news is, once you learn how to deal with a small weapon, you can more easily deal with a large one.
It’s fine to train with a handgun replica that has a large frame and a 4-inch barrel, but if you wish to be adequately prepared, you should work toward being able to defend against a smaller-framed weapon with a 2-inch barrel — and that’s where you should remain in your practice. If you need to make things more challenging, incorporate environmental stresses into your sessions.
Note that this train-for-the-small concept also applies to long guns. You’ll derive more benefit from practicing with a replica of a sawed-off shotgun than you will with a long-barreled hunting shotgun.
It Will Go Off
A handgun may be a revolver or a semi-automatic pistol. If it’s a semi-auto, it might be single action, a double action or a hybrid. None of that is overly important here. What is important is that you develop the mindset that the firearm, whatever it is, will go off when you try to grab it. Notice that I said it will go off, not it might go off.
When it discharges, it will be in or near your hand, and there will be consequences. They likely will be immediate and painful, but if you prepare your mind in training, it can reduce the shock and surprise that occur in a fight for your life. Knowing that the gun will go off makes your training immediately more serious.
Yes, a case can be made for the handgun not discharging. Maybe the criminal elected to use a toy gun. Maybe it’s a real weapon that no longer functions as designed. Maybe it’s empty. These circumstances all have occurred and surely will occur again, but do you want to bet your life on it? Do you want to have to even think about this during an encounter?
For everyone’s safety, it’s best to behave as if the gun will go off.
It Will Be Loud
A cartridge has four basic components: the case, the powder, the primer and the projectile (or bullet). When the trigger is pulled, the firing pin hits the primer, causing it to ignite. That, in turn, ignites the powder in the case. As the powder burns, it generates extreme pressure because it’s in an enclosed space. That launches the projectile down the barrel and out the muzzle.
As it leaves the muzzle, the projectile travels at high speed, usually emitting an extremely loud crack as it breaks the sound barrier. Even if it’s subsonic, it will be very loud.
Without ear protection — which you’re very unlikely to be wearing in a self-defense situation — the sound can be deafening. Making it worse is the concussive force of the powder ignition, which is disorienting and painful if it occurs close to your head or chest. Obviously, you should make sure your defensive response keeps the gun as far from your face as possible.
Guns Bite & Buck
When you grab a handgun in a manner conducive to self-defense, your hand will cover at least some of the action of the weapon. I’m not talking about the “business end,” which is the muzzle; I’m talking about the parts that house the cartridge and contain the force generated by the burning powder.
If the weapon is a revolver, your hand will cover the cylinder. It’s the component that rotates when the trigger is pulled, thus positioning a cartridge between the hammer and the barrel. When the hammer drops, the firing pin strikes the primer, igniting the powder.
Hot gases, flames and even tiny metal shavings will escape through the gap that exists between the forward end of the cylinder and barrel entrance, called the “forcing cone.” Your hand is likely to be subjected to this during the grab.
If the weapon is a semi-auto, it won’t have burning gasses jetting out the sides because it doesn’t have a cylinder to house the ammunition. Instead, it has a magazine that fits inside the grip and feeds ammo into a firing chamber at the near end of the barrel.
All that is enclosed by the slide, which recoils sharply to the rear each time the weapon is fired. When it moves, it vents hot gas, ejects a hot empty case and recocks the weapon while feeding a new cartridge from the magazine. This takes place exactly where your hand is positioned.
If you complete the grab and do so firmly enough before the gun discharges, it may jam. If, however, the weapon fires, your hand can be cut by the sharp edges of the rear sight and the ejection port.
Either way — whether your defense is directed at a revolver or a semi-auto — there will be consequences that may include serious burns. Furthermore, both will feel like they’re attempting to jump out of your hand at the moment of discharge because of the recoil.
Surfaces Are Slippery When Wet
If your hand is sliced, gouged or abraded as the result of the weapon firing, it likely will bleed. Before blood coagulates, it’s slippery — as are sweaty, nervous palms, not to mention the oil that’s frequently used on guns.
What this means for you: Dealing with slippery surfaces makes disarming a gunman even more difficult, especially when you factor in the perfect grip he probably has on his weapon.
In Closing
Are these five arguments intended to convince you that gun disarms are a lost cause? Absolutely not. They’re meant to make your training more realistic. As a martial artist, you prepare for the worst-case scenario, and I hope this information contributes to your understanding of how difficult such situations can be.
The arguments are also intended to convince you that gun disarms are a last resort. Your chances of emerging unscathed are much greater if you choose running as your first line of defense. If you must make contact, redirection and/or disrupting the balance of the assailant before running is preferred.
But when grabbing the gun that’s being pointed at your face is the only option — and sometimes it is — having trained with these five truths in mind can help you understand the dangers and survive.
