Or carry a knife, for that matter?

There are a lot of good arguments to be made for doing both instead of spending the money, time and effort to train to use your body as a weapon. It takes far less effort to purchase and carry an extraneous tool — and far less effort to use it to good effect. In fact, that’s the whole reason behind weapons — they are labor-saving implements that magnify our efforts and make short work of any assailants. It doesn’t take any training at all to kill someone with a gun or knife, though both can benefit from specific instruction.

So, again, why bother?

Because guns can run out of ammo and/or jam, knives can be dropped, and both have to be on you, near you, gotten at and deployed to be of any use.

In other words, if you can only kill a man with a knife or gun, you’re harmless without one.

If you can’t do the same work as a knife or gun with your bare hands, then you’re hopelessly overmatched when the other guy has one and you don’t.

When you learn how to use your body as a tool for violence — driven by the weapon that is your brain — you are armed in a way that is invisible, ever-present, and permanent.

Since no one can tell you know how to kill by just looking at you, people will tend to assume you’re harmless — just the assumption you need to fly under the radar, take advantage of their hesitation and hubris to end the situation in your favor. This aspect has been noted time and again by our female clients who have had to use the information — the assumption that because they are female and unarmed they are helpless and therefore not a threat means the assailant will let his guard down and give the woman opportunities for injury. Opportunities that only the trained would be able to recognize and take full advantage of.

The trained person never has to take time to access the weapon, won’t ever run out of ammo, or be disarmed. Your training is with you, and ready to go, at all times, as is the primary tool to get the job done — your body. Instead of wishing you had a gun, or wishing for the time and opportunity to deploy it, you can hurt the man right now, where ever you are, anytime. In fact, using your training to hurt the man now can buy you the time and opportunity to deploy that tool to finish the job. This has been the biggest positive for law enforcement personnel who’ve gone through our training — the peace of mind that they now have another tool for lethal force, and one that can get them smoothly to the firearm, or work in conjunction with it, in 360˚ instead of just in front of the muzzle.

Once you’re trained you never forget how to hurt people. It becomes a part of you, like swimming. When you know how to swim for your life it’s something that comes back as soon as you hit the water — maybe not as smooth or powerful as you did it back in the day, but more than sufficient to keep your head above water. Likewise, once trained, if someone tries to kill you you’re in your element, you know how to hurt them and take them to nonfunctional. It won’t be pretty, but then, violence never is. I’ve had many clients get in touch with me years after training — so many years I don’t even remember them — with harrowing stories of survival… often without so much as a scratch. They, themselves, were amazed at how obvious and natural the solution to their predicament was — they found they didn’t even have to think about it — they injured the man and it was over.

Lastly, if you like the idea of using a tool — knife, stick or gun — Target Focus Training will greatly enhance your understanding and use of that tool. In the end it’s a total win: you’re never truly ‘unarmed,’ you’re dangerous even when naked, and you’re just that much more effective when you do have that tool in your hand…

Because it’s not your entire world.

Because it’s not your only hope.

Because the trained person is never harmless.