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Firearm Disarm Philosophy

The brain slows down when processing several stimuli or engaged in two thought processes. If you must disarm an assailant brandishing a weapon – in this case a firearm – the most opportune time to act is when the assailant is distracted. He or she may be giving you an order or responding to your entreaty not to harm you. You might also spit in the assailant’s face or use another distraction such as throwing loose change, keys or anything else that is handy to initiate the disarm.

Keep in mind, if you do attempt to disarm the assailant, he or she now considers you a deadly threat and will fight as if his or her life is at stake. Firearms are ergonomically designed for the operator – not someone trying to take the weapon away, especially, if the operator has a two handed vice grip on it.   Therefore, whenever possible, you must move deep to the assailant’s deadside.   In nearly every instance, the firearm will discharge as you deflect-redirect it because of the assailant’s reflexive flinch-trigger-pull-response. Do not worry about this. Your deflection-redirection hand will not get hurt. Prioritize securing the weapon while simultaneously debilitating your assailant with combatives to the throat, groin, eyes and other secondary targets.   As always, your krav maga must be decisive and brutally efficient. In addition, you need to secure the firearm in the best possible way reducing the chances of bystanders being shot. Keep in mind that the assailant’s immediate instinctive or “flinch” response will be to retract his gun and pull the trigger. Therefore, your strategy must also incorporate “time in motion.”

Time in motion is the movement pattern where the firearm (or any other type of weapon) is likely to end up as a result of your deflection-redirection and the assailant’s reflexive response. Once again, the need to move deep to the deadside is evident to keep yourself clear of the weapon’s line of fire.Once you have secured the handgun, standard Israeli operating procedure is to tap the magazine from bottom (the insertion point into the grip) and then turn the handgun parallel to the ground to check the ejection port and rack a new round. After redirecting-deflecting and securing a semi-automatic handgun, rotate it ninety degrees allowing gravity to help dispense a spent cartridge’s case which has likely jammed the weapon. Even if you do not tap and rack the handgun, while the handgun is likely to be out of battery, you should still consider the handgun “live” or functional for safety purposes, particularly, if you use it for cold weapon combatives.

After you create separation from the assailant, you can use the handgun as a tool – but not your only tool – to fend off additional attacks. For example, if the assailant continues aggressive actions towards you, you can straight kick him in the groin, sidekick him in the knee or use the handgun to strike him the head always keep the muzzle pointed towards him.

Keep in mind that you might not know if the firearm is real or functional. It could be a starter pistol or “airsoft” type of facsimile weapon. One of the dangers of using an unfamiliar firearm is that it could explode in your hand. Criminals are not always the brightest and a live round could be loaded in a starter pistol. If you rack and tap the weapon loading a live round into a starter pistol and pull the trigger, the results could be disastrous for you. One indicator that the weapon is, indeed, functional, is if you immediately order the assailant down to the ground and he or she complies. An opposite indicator suggesting the weapon is not operational is if the assailant ignores your commands and rushes at you in which you need to use your krav maga combatives. If you decide to shoot the assailant, shoot center mass. If the assailant is wearing body armor, shoot him in the head or multiple times into the same location of the bulletproof vest. Your first shot will damage the body armor and the successive shots may penetrate the vest.

The Four Essential Components of Gun Defenses

Disarming an assailant armed with a firearm is extremely difficult. Be sure that you have exhausted all compliance options and that you have no choice but to attempt the disarm technique. If you decide there is no choice but to disarm an assailant you must follow the four pillars of krav maga’s firearm defenses:

1)    Redirect-deflect the line of fire combined with a body defense.

2)    Control the firearm whenever possible moving deep to the deadside while stunning and neutralizing the assailant.

3)    Understand “time in motion” – or what the gunman’s reaction will be the instant you react.

4)    Disarm the assailant and create distance maintaining the firearm.

NOTE: FOR ALL FIREARM DEFENSES, THE GUNMAN IS LIKELY TO PULL THE WEAPON BACK TO THWART YOUR ATTMEPTED CONTROL WHILE PULLING THE TRIGGER TO DISCHARGE THE WEAPON.