Pick Your Weapon

© COPYRIGHT 2010 BY BRADLEY J. STEINER - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Sword and Pen – June 2010 Issue

[Reprinted With Permission]

American Combato
Seattle Combatives


WEAPONRY has always been integral to martial arts. So-called "martial arts" in which weaponry is not taught, are more properly regarded as martial sports, or as derivative systems of martial-related training that come from arts which also, in their origins, taught weaponry.

Classical/traditional arts have their weapons, and those weapons are perfectly legitimate and of great value in their particular and specific training context. However, nine foot poles, swords, throwing darts, weighted chains, and/or antiquated farm implements that were employed by disarmed Okinawan peasants are not appropriate studies for the modern student of self-defense and close combat. Not only are such weapons not at all likely to be encountered, but if they were, they could be rather easily trumped by modern weapons — i.e. a .45 automatic in skilled hands beats a sword or a wooden pole, etc. Additionally, the modern student of self-defense and close combat would be quite unrealistic to equip himself with nunchucks, sai, a tonfa, or a samurai sword for self, family, and home defense, when a Remington 870 and boxes of 12 gauge 00, 000, or #4 Buck can be purchased, and while top quality revolvers and semiautomatic pistols are obtainable.

Even when classical/traditional weaponry is made commercially available as seemingly "modern weapons" (the popular "tanto" knife is a great example) those who know close combat opt for modern, more suitable arms. The tanto was designed to penetrate wooden armor. If you anticipate encountering a wooden-armored samurai whose purpose is to kill you in hand-to-hand combat, then maybe a tanto could help you. We, personally, would still want the .45 automatic or the 12 gauge shotgun, but it is conceivable that your tanto could be employed successfully against a grappling samurai warrior.

Be real. If you train for self-defense and close combat, train with modern weapons — for the same reason that you train with relatively modern skills, and utilize the latest modes of mental and physical readiness training to prepare yourself. The age of the shaolin warrior, the warrior monk, the samurai, and all of the other great but antiquated warriors whose classical/traditional arts are so enthusiastically studied today, HAS PAST. Check your calendar: it is 2010.

For your reference we shall list those weapons that we teach and that we advocate for modern use — by private citizens who train in combat arts, and for professionals in the military and intelligence fields, as well as the police, who require realistic, armed readiness in the course of doing their work.

1. HANDGUNS
©ern combative system that does not teach students the use of the handgun as a combat weapon is incomplete and remiss. We favor the Browning-designed 1911 .45 pistol and the Smith and Wesson line of .357’s — but there are a lot of other fine handguns from which to make a selection. We’d recommend nothing less than a .38 Special, and nothing "hotter" than a .45 — simply because those are readily managed in close combat, and are reliable in trained hands.

2. SHOTGUNS
The "ultimate home defense weapon" in our opinion, and a damn sight better for many military uses than a submachinegun or a battle rifle. Our hands down preference is for the Remington 870, 12 gauge.

3. FIGHTING KNIVES
The finest — i.e. the Randalls, Eks, Loveless, Applegate-Fairbairns, and so on — are highly desirable, but not necessary. Commercially available NATO-issued Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knives are excellent and as serviceable as they were in the 1940’s. The old, proven USMC KaBar is also a good choice. And there are others. Gerber’s Mark II (original design) is fabulous, and quite affordable.

4. THE AMERICAN (LA GANA) TOMAHAWK
Sadly, Peter LaGana, the designer of the fighting tomahawk that bears his name, has passed away. He was a USMC hand-to-hand combat instructor during the Vietnam War. He designed what is a fine fighting tomahawk, and this is one of the weapons that we teach at Black Belt level. More of a soldier’s weapon than anything else, we still can see an application for the tomahawk in home defense.

5. THE STICK
The walking stick is one of the most effective and under appreciated self-defense weapons. Also, the baton (or baton-length short stick), and the yawara hand stick rate as excellent weapons for the modern student of close combat.

6. UNCONVENTIONAL (IMPROVISED) WEAPONS
Virtually anything at hand can be used in an emergency as some kind of weapon, and the modern student of close combat and self-defense should be trained to appreciate and to exploit this fact. Even something as seemingly harmless as a cup of water or a handkerchief can serve — when thrown in an enemy’s face — as a means of distraction. Box cutters, utility knives, screwdrivers, hammers, kitchen utensils, pens, pencils, rulers, notebooks, even folded newspapers (an old SOE/OSS technique, from WWII) can be utilized to KILL in an emergency, when the individual knows how to do it. The modern student of close combat and self-defense should know how to do it.

We hope that the foregoing will cause some serious thinking to percolate in the minds of those concerned about total preparation for self-defense.