Krav Maga Weapon Defenses - David Kahn

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in size and strength when adjudicating liability and criminal charges. When completing a weapon disarm against an assailant, if you control the weapon and the assailant is no longer a threat, you must cease your defensive actions. The moment you are deemed safe, any additional defensive actions may, in fact, become offensive actions.

      If you continue to injure an assailant who is no longer a threat, you could face civil and criminal charges—especially if you deliberately turn the weapon on the assailant. For example, if you disarm a gunman and then shoot him repeatedly with his own weapon, you may be justified provided he kept coming at you. But, if you shoot him center mass and he goes down no longer presenting a threat, and you then walk up to him and shoot him point blank in the head—you have just executed someone and you will answer for it.

      In short, to defend yourself, only use the amount of force commensurate with the threat. As tempting as it might be, to severely hurt or kill your assailant, you must make a deliberate conscious decision when to cease your counterattack. Granted, in the heat of the confrontation there is precious little or no time to weigh your options especially when reacting instinctively. Just remember, if the initial violent confrontation ends and you have time to contemplate your next move, the situation is no longer life threatening; do not continue your counterattacks. Disengage and wait for law enforcement officials to arrive or flee if necessary and then contact the authorities.

      For armed law-enforcement personnel who have a sworn duty to protect the public, krav maga training teaches an officer to directly handle a threat coupled, importantly, with the ability to quickly de-escalate or escalate the appropriate level of force. Krav maga recognizes that when faced with a deadly threat, most officers will instinctively reach for a sidearm or, in a tactical situation, resort to a rifle/submachine gun (SMG). Therefore, krav maga teaches variations of the tactics incorporating streamlined weapon deployment and higher use-of-force options.

      This book is designed for the novice and expert alike who would like to improve his or her chances of not just surviving an armed attack, but increasing the odds of prevailing against an armed attack without serious injury. Many students marvel that they can come to one krav maga class and regardless of their prior self-defense training, they walk away proficient—with a lasting knowledge—in the specific weapon disarms they just learned. For example, you could walk away from a single class taught by a qualified Israeli krav maga instructor and decisively disarm someone pointing a handgun at you or attacking you with an iron pipe.

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      The weapon defenses covered in this book assume you have no choice but to physically engage and defend. To be sure, in any situation involving an adversary with a weapon, the optimum solution would be to recognize the threat and steer clear of it. The best use of this book is to practice each technique as presented. You will find that each technique either builds upon a previous technique or complements a technique yet to be presented. You will find that the Israeli krav maga system relies on a few core movements that are highly adaptable to the myriad variables when confronting weapon removal and disarms.

      Krav maga is designed to work for anyone regardless of athleticism, skill, size, or gender. Krav maga’s popularity is in large part attributable to its practicality, simplicity, easy retention, and brutal effectiveness. We train groups of responsible civilians, law enforcement, and military personnel, all of whom have limited training time. We are able to teach them the proven techniques in this book in a condensed training period.

      For example, one officer who had never taken any defensive tactics training beyond the basics he learned at his academy was skeptical toward krav maga’s efficacy, took a six-hour handgun disarm seminar, and came away marveling at his newfound capabilities. In another large krav maga course I taught, a U.S. special forces operator, who later admitted to taking the course to disprove krav maga’s methodology, also came away thoroughly convinced of the efficacy of krav maga’s weapon disarms. He wondered why with his many years of top-tier training he had not been exposed to these simple yet formidable combat-oriented building blocks. Similarly, civilians with extensive martial arts background have also come away as krav maga converts, having learned that the same krav maga defense can be used to counter four different outside attacks to the head: a hook punch, an edged-weapon overhead stab, edged-weapon hook stab, or an edged-weapon slash.

      Our krav maga trainees come away with a lasting knowledge to defend against weapon attacks that can be performed under stress. Of course, no book is a substitute for hands-on learning with a qualified Israeli krav maga expert instructor, but I hope to impart some of the more important principles and core tactics to hone your weapon defense skills. Most important, when locked in an armed confrontation, you must believe you will survive regardless of the injuries you might sustain in defending your life. There is a fine distinction between confident and over-confident. Do not mistake the latter for the former. If faced with a threat—not an imminent attack—if the circumstances do not favor disarming the assailant and you can comply or run away, do so.

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      Krav maga’s evolution focuses only on street-proven tactics. If a technique should fail, Grandmaster Gidon either removes it or modifies it. Unlike other traditional self-defense systems, krav maga does not insist on implementing a particular strength, whether it is kicking, punching, or throwing, etc., to solve the problem. In other words, krav maga adapts to the nature and necessity of defending a particular weapon and family of related threats or attacks by relying on a few core weapon-oriented principles and tactics. Current Grandmaster Haim Gidon has modified several weapon defenses, which founder Imi Lichtenfeld formally approved in the mid-1990s. When applicable, these modified defenses are distinguished in the text from the first generation krav maga techniques.

      SWAT Training. Photo courtesy of Edward Greenblatt.

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       Control Holds Reviewed

      Prior to covering krav maga (means contact combat in Hebrew) weapon defenses, we need to revisit a few of krav maga’s control holds, two of which are known as cavaliers. Cavaliers are designed to use your powerful hip muscle groups and bodyweight to torque an opponent’s wrist to take him down while establishing strong control over the weapon for removal. There are three types of cavaliers frequently used in krav maga. Cavaliers are preceded by retzev combatives against the assailant, including full-force strikes to the groin, neck, eyes, and other vulnerable opportunistic targets. Control holds are used in krav maga to remove blunt and edged weapons and, sometimes, firearms from the assailant’s grip.

      This powerful takedown places enormous pressure on an opponent’s wrist, forcing him down to the ground while placing strong control of the weapon. If necessary, you can follow up with a strong kick to the head, midsection, or groin along with an armbar or wristlock to remove the weapon.

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       Figure 1.01a

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