While we're at it lets hit home defense long guns real quick.
You wake to the unmistakable sound of glass breaking, you wake your spouse to dial 911 or dial yourself. Knowing the police are still a distance away, you pick up your long gun (shotgun/rifle), call out "Who's there?!" and work the action loudly (or maybe you're silent, it doesn't matter). You don't hear anyone running away so you carefully open your door and quickly enter the hallway. You see a goblin standing in the middle of your hallway 8 feet from you next to a door to another room holding a knife. You smugly think to yourself that he was a fool to bring a knife to a gunfight. You order him to the ground and he and ducks into the room (possibly before you could shoot him) and slams the door behind him. There's a window in the room, and you think he's taking a flying leap through it right about now (or maybe it goes elsewhere in the house, and you don't want him there). You pursue him and kick open or open the door to find the room seemingly empty. You move toward the room, and as soon as the barrel of your long gun breaks the plane of the doorjam (or maybe it already did when you pointed it into the room) a gloved hand reaches for the barrel. You discharge into the ceiling and grip your gun fiercely thinking it would be taken from you, but before your eyes have adjusted after the flash, you're against the wall, barrel in the air acquiring some unnecessary ventilation.
You have died. Do you want your possessions identified? [ynq].
Don't Monday morning quarterback this one; just ask yourself whether or not this could happen to you.
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7 comments:
After turning off the TV after watching PBS's presentation of "How Guns Are Destroying the World", a recently paroled convict break into your house after only serving 3 days for aggrivated assault (the judge blamed society for his low income which drove him to crime, and since it was only his second felony offense, he was given a break). As a pacifist what do you hit him with:
The pressed flowers in your copy of Yoko Ono's memoires. Turn to page 33
Your left slipper. Turn to page 35
Hit?! Violence is never the answer! To curl up into a ball, Turn to page 39
Hahaha...still ends with "you die" and trying to trackback to that page where you decided to be a pacifist.
I'm more of a pistol/fixed blade fan (largely for logistic purposes; I don't have the spare space for a rifle here). The ~4 inch chisel grind backed up with a decent pistol chambering gives you a good many more choice than a long gun, and while it's not as certain to down an opponent, it leaves few options for an opponent armed with a knife to down you.
That leaves other problems. Getting into a self-defense situation that's knife on knife - say, he kicks or otherwise disarms me - and chances are not in my favor for getting out without needing intensive care. Likewise, if the thief is armed with a long gun or pistol, I'm now in a shootout with concealment and a few small spots of cover, which isn't pleasant either.
As my mentor taught me : if you rely on a long gun, practice pistol and blade and block. If you rely on pistol, practice long gun, blade, and block. If you rely on blade or block, practice everything. Don't rely on any on capability, because as soon as it's used it loses any advantage of surprise. If an opponent is able to counter one of your choices, be willing to sacrifice it in order to apply a different one.
The idea of a "knife fight" seems to me to be something of a fantasy... The idea that you and your opponent will "square off" and go at it, parrying blows, and dodging swipes is really something best left in the sword realm.
You don't fight someone with a knife; you kill them.
The moment your grip on your pistol becomes unsure, your knife better be half way to the killzone.
Knives don't fuck around.
I'll post some info on knife use philosophy when I get the chance.
Let me re-write that for you:
I wake up to the sound of glass breaking, dial 911 and leave the phone on the nightstand. With my M-4 at the low ready and with my wife immediately behind me with her M-4 at the ready, I use my off hand to open my bedroom door. We enter the adjoining room, our living room and immediately move to positions of advantage. We "see a goblin standing in the middle of your hallway 8 feet from you next to a door to another room holding a knife" and blinking dazedly into the pure, white light. I do not think to myself (smugly or otherwise) I simply react to the threat according to my training, as does my wife. The threat immediately acquires four new holes in the thoracic cavity from Black Hills 68grain BTHP. Before we can perform remote brain surgery, the threat collapses with a soft thump and quietly expires a few seconds later. We methodically clear the rest of the house, the wife secures the corpse and I inform the 911 dispatcher of the relevant details.
The above is over dramatized, of course, but it is slightly more realistic. There is no shouting, there is no hollywood crap, we simply destroy the scum that invaded our peaceful night.
Just as I said in response to your other post, people who don't know what they're doing have no business using a rifle or shotgun for defense. Of course, the same could be said for any other tool or tactic. If some idiot that doesn't know how to use a rifle or shotgun attempts to clear a house with one, there is a great potential for disaster, but again, properly trained people do not lead with their weapons and should have very little difficulty maintaining control.
I should note that clearing rooms is a team sport. It is extraordinarily dangerous and should not be attempted by the untrained. It can be argued that those who know what they're doing shouldn't attempt it either as it is safer to hole up in a bedroom. My wife and I have decided that any jackass who invades our home is badly deserving of some speed holes and should attain room temperature as quickly as possible. This is a personal decision. Once we have children, there will no longer be an option, We MUST protect our children.
"I simply react to the threat according to my training, as does my wife."
I was unclear when I said "possibly before you could shoot him" in the next sentance, but it applied in the previous situation. As soon as you can see into the hallway, he ducks into the room. Or, maybe you miss. It doesn't matter. The situation is; you have a long gun, the guy has a knife, and is inside a room with the door closed, in a hallway with limited space. Both of you know the other is there. If you're going to argue that you are positive of your success in this situation, I'm going to call you dishonest.
"people who don't know what they're doing have no business using a rifle or shotgun for defense"
I agree, but the fact of the matter is that they are. Many gun owners, probably majority of them, just think that by simply having the gun, they are prepared. The intention was to take these people out of their comfort zone.
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