Self defense shootings almost universally happen within arms reach. Nobody is using a sniper for self defense, because you can’t claim you were threatened when they’re too far away. A mugger isn’t going to start mugging you when they’re 50 feet away; They’re going to be in conversation range. A rapist isn’t going to make their intentions known until they already have hands on you.
Lots of 2A advocates make the mistake of training for a threat that is 50’ away, as if good accuracy at that range is going to help them when an attacker has them by the throat. Instead, they should be training four basic things:
Fast and repeatable draw. By the time they mentally process that you have a weapon, you should already be firing it. Your draw needs to be drilled the same way you drill reloads or clearing jams.
Aiming by feel instead of taking time to use sights. Sights are very important at distance, but not so important when the attacker is 5’ away from you. It’s still possible to miss at that distance, but less likely if you’re able to feel where your weapon is pointed. Center mass from 5’ away is a pretty fucking large target. Proprioception is a powerful tool, but learning to use it with a weapon takes a lot of practice.
Keeping your weapon close, so you’re not sticking your arm all the way out towards the attacker where they can grab your weapon. This goes hand in hand with the second point. Because again, they’re likely already within arms reach of the attacker, and you don’t want to just hand them your weapon before you even start firing. If you need to stick your arms straight out in front of you and get an eye focused on your sights before you start firing, they’ll have grabbed your gun before your first shot.
Keeping your stance solid so the first shot doesn’t immediately knock you off balance. A lot of people do not instinctively know how to maintain balance.
But gun owners bitch and moan if you ever bring these points up, because they aren’t actually interested in training for self-defense. That’s just the excuse they give, because “I want to protect myself” is hard to argue against.
If the fight starts when you’re already at a close range melee weapons have a very decent chance of coming out on top over firearms. Maybe not the sock but bats and knives definitely.
Knives have an advantage at close range at causing potentially fatal damage vs a gun, but a gun can still kill you if you don’t gain control of the muzzle. With a common pocket knife, your best bet is a fatal throat stab or slash to ending the threat because anywhere else you can’t reach or won’t act fast enough. Maybe you can disable an arm if you can separate a muscle or sever a tendon in the forearm, but we are getting into experienced knife combat there. Not that knives are relevant, we were talking bats and a sock with coins.
A gun would easy win against someone with a bat or coins in a sock, the gunman only has to get in contact range to reduce swing force or get out of contact range. The bat or sock with coins is a 3-4ft radius of danger, the gun basically has range dependant on skill.
A gun would easy win against someone with a bat or coins in a sock
After being hit with a bat, I’d wager about 2 in 5 people would still even be holding their gun. If the bat hits the gun, hand, arm or head, 0 in 5 are still holding that gun.
Now that’s assuming the bat gets a swing in, but in close quarters it’s entirely possible.
Both require a lot more effort to stop a threat and can be captured and disarm you at their effective range.
Self defense shootings almost universally happen within arms reach. Nobody is using a sniper for self defense, because you can’t claim you were threatened when they’re too far away. A mugger isn’t going to start mugging you when they’re 50 feet away; They’re going to be in conversation range. A rapist isn’t going to make their intentions known until they already have hands on you.
Lots of 2A advocates make the mistake of training for a threat that is 50’ away, as if good accuracy at that range is going to help them when an attacker has them by the throat. Instead, they should be training four basic things:
But gun owners bitch and moan if you ever bring these points up, because they aren’t actually interested in training for self-defense. That’s just the excuse they give, because “I want to protect myself” is hard to argue against.
If the fight starts when you’re already at a close range melee weapons have a very decent chance of coming out on top over firearms. Maybe not the sock but bats and knives definitely.
The loser of the knife fight dies at the scene the winner dies on the way to the hospital
Knives have an advantage at close range at causing potentially fatal damage vs a gun, but a gun can still kill you if you don’t gain control of the muzzle. With a common pocket knife, your best bet is a fatal throat stab or slash to ending the threat because anywhere else you can’t reach or won’t act fast enough. Maybe you can disable an arm if you can separate a muscle or sever a tendon in the forearm, but we are getting into experienced knife combat there. Not that knives are relevant, we were talking bats and a sock with coins.
A gun would easy win against someone with a bat or coins in a sock, the gunman only has to get in contact range to reduce swing force or get out of contact range. The bat or sock with coins is a 3-4ft radius of danger, the gun basically has range dependant on skill.
After being hit with a bat, I’d wager about 2 in 5 people would still even be holding their gun. If the bat hits the gun, hand, arm or head, 0 in 5 are still holding that gun.
Now that’s assuming the bat gets a swing in, but in close quarters it’s entirely possible.