Re-Forming the Church in China

I professed faith in Christ in 1961. By the mid 1980's, I would tell people that I was a right-wing radical Fundamentalist extremist & thinking about becoming militant about it. I said that to irritate the quasi-intellectual humanists who looked with disdain on those who believed the Bible.

In the late 1980's, I began to take Reformed theology more seriously, and I embraced it. As a Presbyterian in the tradition of John Knox, it should go without saying that I'm a militant Christian. Except that so many 21st Century Presbyterians would shrink in dismay under Knox's powerful preaching.

Christiian Martialism is, in fact, nothing more than one facet of the expression of traditional, Reformed thinking.

That is why I find the following report so exciting. Many in the unregistered (not-officially sanctioned) Chinese churches are embracing a virile Reformation theology.

And, although the article does not point this out, the leaders of this movement, like those of the European Reformation, have arisen from within the university community. Here is a link to the article:

Chinese Calvinism Flourishes

The next thing you know, they'll be singing the Psalms in Beijing.

Thanks to RPC for drawing this article to my attention.

The Tragic Case of Gary Fadden

My barber recently sent me the link to this blog post about Gary Fadden. You may have never heard of him, but if you ever hope to survive the aftermath of a violent confrontation, you need to learn from the tragedy that changed Gary Fadden's life.

You can learn several important lessons from this incident:

1. The criminal justice system often has its own agenda which leads them to treat good guys like bad guys (that's why we call it the criminal justice system);
2. A cell phone is a good thing to have in the car ("can you hear me now?")
3. When the prey flees, the predator pursues (which puts you & me on the horns of a dilemma, since the first objective in self defense is to avoid violence);
4. You can do everything right and still end up in the soup (Murphy's Law of Negotiating with Cannibals).

Here's the link:

The Gary Fadden Incident

If you have further observations or lessons to learn, please share them in the form of a comment. We learn from each other.

Speed Punching Exercise

I just received a link from Keith Pascal to a page with a speed punching exercise on it. Since it leads into an offer for "The Home Study Punch e-Course", I don't think he'll mind if I share it with you.

Speed Punching Exercise

I'm sure you will immediately see how adaptable this exercise is to palm heel strikes, judo chops and why not even kicks?

Mindset: Courage

Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. (Jos 1:9)

Richard, the Norman king of England, bore the French nickname couer de leon (heart of lion). In fact, our English word courage descended from the very same French word for heart.

In this sense, heart does not so much refer to the organ that pumps blood as it does to the center, the essential core (which may also come from couer) of one's being. Thus we might think of courage as "core-age".

Merriam-Webster defines courage as follows:

: mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty

Simply put, courage is strength at the core.

I am put in mind of a scene from The Magnificent Seven in which two boys from the Mexican village speak with the Hispano/Irish gunfighter, Bernardo O'Reilly(played by Charles Bronson). When the boys refer to their fathers as cowards, Bernardo turns each one over his knee for a spanking and then lectures them on how their fathers go to the fields day after day, enduring hardship and disappointment in order to feed their families. He ends with the words, "I never had that kind of courage."

To be continued

Memorial Day

To those who have stood "between their loved homes and war's desolation" . . . Thank you.

Disaster Survival Kit

Someone recently emailed me for advice about assembling a disaster survival kit. I thought my reply might be of interest to some of you. (Edited to protect the identity of the recipient)

My dear Frodo,

Sorry for the delay in answering. I used to have some really good links to sites that sell survival items, but that was a couple of crashed hard drives ago.

Your survival kit is, I assume, something that you would use in your home in the event of disruption of services due to either man made or natural disaster.

For a home survival kit, you would want

1. a minimum of 2 wks supply of food & water (3 months would be much better)
2. a means to cook your food (camp stove, grill, etc.) and fuel (also matches or lighter)
3. camp toilet or chemical toilet (extra toilet paper)
   
4. emergency lighting (kerosene, propane, battery powered or candles) with extra fuel/batteries & matches
   
5. Good flashlight in addition to emergency lighting (batteries)
   
6. weapon & ammo for protection (firearm and/or bow & arrows, which are quieter)
7. emergency radio & extra batteries (or crank)
8. well-stocked first aid kit (First Responder training might come in handy, as well)
   
9. personal hygiene items -- a big factor in keeping up morale (soap, toothpaste, deodorant, handi-wipes, razor blades, feminine hygiene items, if needed)
10. Plywood to cover windows in case of glass breakage
    
11. basic tools to clear your property of debris (chainsaw, crowbar, etc.)
12. Comfort items (music, chocolate, coffee, tea, etc) -- again, for morale (and/or barter)
    

This list is not exhaustive, and you will have to determine the priority of the items. You will find a much more complete list in Pugsley's The Alpha Strategy.

That's for in-home survival. In case your home is too damaged to be safe or you are forced by authorities to evacuate, you will want to keep a "bugout-bag" in the trunk of your car or somewhere handy so you can grab it in case you have to bug out.

This might include:

1. A Bible
   
2. 3-5 days' supply of food/water
3. a backpack style burner to heat soup or water for stew, etc. (extra fuel & matches or lighter)
4. stainless steel cup, pan & plate
   
5. good flashlight & spare batteries
6. a GOOD multi-purpose folding camp knife (like the ones the Boy Scouts used to carry; not a Dollar-Store Chinese special) and a camp ax, (collapsible saw & machete would be nice, as well)
   
7. personal hygiene kit
8. first aid kit
9. roll of duct tape
10. nylon cord (a "bit of rope" to keep Sam Gamgee happy)
    
11. handgun & ammo
12. sleeping bag or blankets
13. a change or two of socks & underwear, boots or walking shoes, a complete change of clothes, in case you need to flee in your PJ"s
14. Cold weather gear (may be optional in southernmost areas of the Shire)
    
15. 5 gallons of Petrol -- they call it gasoline in Rivendell ;-) -- in a safe container

There are other considerations, like water purification for both home & away. If you think you might end up having to survive in the wilderness, you may want to think about a tent.

If you could afford it, a motor home properly stocked & accoutered (electric generator, etc.) would be better than a bugout bag, but in addition to the expense, it would certainly attract attention (and that very deadly sin, envy)

That brings me to a great book if you're thinking about post-crash survival: Gary North's Successful Investing in an Age of Envy.It's out of print, and he has not put it on his free books site. But it is a good source of investment, survival & mindset material.

Well, most of the above came off the top of my head, so don't rely on it alone. There are some good lists for survival kits out there, but ultimately you have to make your own decisions in terms of your priorities and your budget.

I started thinking survival in the early 1970's, and, although we are much better prepared than ever before, I still see us as woefully underprepared. Nevertheless, we are better off than just about anyone we know.

A lot of it has to do with mindset. We know what we've been through, and what we think of as inconvenience, many would think of as loss of absolute necessities.

With sincere regards,
Uncle Bilbo

P.S. Dr North says, "Keep your convictions visible and your assets hidden."

Home Sweet Home Defense

No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house. (Mar 3:27)

I think I may have mentioned recently that my wife has noticed increased reports of home invasions on the local news. A news search for "home invasions yielded the following results, all reported in the past few days:

Tippecanoe County, Indiana

Houston, Texas

Newark, New Jersey

West Des Moines, Iowa

Dougherty County, Georgia

Edinburg, Texas

Sparrow Run, (Delaware?)

Rockville, Maryland

So, it's not just we here in South Carolina who have experienced an uptick in home invasions. Now, put that together with an ABC Nightline report that the FBI attributes at least 500 murders along U.S. highways over the past few years to the work of serial killers. Feeling paranoid, yet?

Then there are the hoplophobes who want to take firearms out of the hands of homeowners (or at least make us unload and lock up all firearms). After all, when seconds count, the police are only minutes away.

No man can enter a strong man's house and spoil his goods . . . . Therefore, you should strive to be strong.

Do your best to develop the following strengths:

1. Spiritual (warrior-servant of the Great King of Kings)
   
2. Physical (warrior fitness)
3. Mental (warrior mindset)
4. Technical (warrior skillsets: empty-hand and armed)
5. Tactical (warrior scenarios)
   

M1 Haiku

I call my M1 Garand (chambered in .308) Old Thunder. Here's the haiku:

breathe out, squeeze trigger
Old Thunder hugs my shoulder
breathe in, smell cordite

My Barber Sent Me This Quote

As seen on a gun forum:

A golf course is a terrible waste of a perfectly good rifle range. -Lt. Col. Dave Grossman

Empty Hand & Baton Skillset, 2

In "Empty Hand & Baton Skillset", I showed a thumb-strike that transfers into a strike with the front tip of the baton. I want to build on that, but first let's review the basic baton grip.

If you remember, my instructor taught me to grasp the baton in the middle. This provides more versatility, in that you can use both ends for striking. As you hold the baton vertically in front of you, think of the upward portion as the front of the baton and the downward portion as the back.

Now let's look at the Judo Chop as a transferable skill. The following illustration comes from my book, 12 U.S. Military Combat Techniques That Could Save Your Life.




Look at the illustration & then visualize the combatants a half-step further apart. Instead of one soldier striking the other with his empty hand, he holds a baton (in the middle) and strikes with the front shaft.

The only change in the skillset is a slight snap of the wrist at the termination of the strike.

As you read this, you may very well say, "Well, duh! Could you point out anything more obvious?" Exactly! This isn't rocket science.

The only reason I am doing this is to spur you to look at your own empty hand skillset and think about how easily it would transfer to a weapon, like the baton. Then pick up a stick and try it out.

My Kind of Gal, 3

Folks seemed to enjoy the "My Kind of Gal" posts, so I thought I'd include one from closer to home. She is my kind of gal, she's a model of Christian Martialist womanhood, and she's my daughter. Here is one of Raquel's introspections:

I wanted to avoid all the silly brainlessness of being ‘girly’ without sacrificing the frills. I wanted to indulge my interest in weapons and ninja without losing my ability to match a purse perfectly with my outfit. I wanted to be a warrior princess.

Now, none of this is really surprising, but there are a couple interesting realizations here. One, is how close to foundational this is for me. The primary tenet of my life is that Christ is King over everything, and the entire focus of my existence is on obeying and worshipping Him. One of the secondary tenets seems to be that I should be strong, intelligent, and brave WHILE being irrevocably female. It doesn’t sound so very strange when I put it like that, but sometimes it’s hard to embrace both sides of that in a fallen world.

The second weird realization for me is that I’m actually living this childhood dream. Sure, I’m not as cool at it as I always imagined, and it definitely impresses fewer guys than it did in my imagination… But still, I can go from talking weapons to color coordinating my plate with the rest of my outfit to plotting world domination and back to straightening my hair with nary a second thought. Because I really am that…well…bizarre, I guess. And still, the one and only Duct Tape Valkyrie.

Something she left out of the contrast is that she's also very domestic: grinding wheat, cooking & baking (her pie crusts rival those of my grandmother). Then she can turn around, field strip & clean her Helwan 9mm.

Raquel's best friend once said she was like River (on the Fox TV series, Firefly). That is, everyone looks at her as the one they need to protect. Then, when the showdown comes, she goes into berserker-warrior mode & saves everyone else.

I'm sure she would be disconcerting to the feminist crowd who like to paint the womenfolk of "patriocentrics" as weak and totally passive. What a load of rubbish!

A truly strong man is not intimidated by a strong woman.

Reality and the Reign of Christ

As a Christian Martialist, I serve the Lord Jesus Christ as my Prophet, Priest and King. Furthermore, His reign over the nations of the earth is THE fundamental political reality that the nations of the world have to face.

The child's catechism asks, "Why do you need Christ as your King?" The answer is "Because I am weak and helpless."

The Bible teaches that God instituted the governments of this world to function under Christ as protectors of the weak and helpless sheep from the predatory wolves (Romans 13). Civil authorities that do not acknowledge Him will, sooner or later, become a terror to the good.

About a century-and-a-half ago, the NRA proposed an amendment to the constitution that would acknowledge Jesus as the America's Lord and King. (Not the National Rifle Association, the OTHER NRA.)

We, as Christian Martialists, must realize that such an amendment would not establish Christ as King, but merely recognize a reality that already exists. He is King -- over America as well as Iran, Saudi Arabia, China, Russia and any other country you care to name.

In Psalm 110 God the Father speaks to God the Son in the following words:

The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit Thou at my right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool. (Psa 110:1)

The Apostle Paul reaffirms this:

For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet. (1Co 15:25)

Of course there is another reality we must face, namely that the nations of the earth do not acknowledge Christ as their rightful ruler. It is the truth we find in Psalm 2:

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against His Anointed, saying, Let us break Their bands asunder, and cast away Their cords from us. (Psa 2:1-3)

This reality is paired with the reality that the Lord of Heaven laughs at the pitifully weak human rulers who rage against Him.

The end of this whole matter is that we obey the speed limit laws for the same reason that we pay our taxes: our King requires it of us. As the Apostle Peter has exhorted:

Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by Him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. (1Pe 2:13-14)

But when the powers that be make themselves a terror to Christ's little lambs, the Christian Martialist must understand every ordinance in light of the reality that our King is above every merely human authority. We must think and act as though the preamble of the US Constitution reads as follows:


We, the people of the United States, humbly acknowledging Almighty God as the source of all authority and power in civil government, the Lord Jesus Christ as the rightful Ruler over the nations, the Divine Authority of the sixty-six books of the Christian Holy Scriptures, the law of God as the supreme law of the land, in order to constitute a Christian government, and in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the inalienable rights and the blessings of life, liberty, and property to ourselves our posterity, and all the people, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

We must do this because those words reflect the true reality of earthly government, to wit:

Christ is King. He can't be impeached, and He's not going to resign.

Montana Asserts State Sovereignty

In the post "States' Rights Battle Brewing?" and "States' Rights Battle Brewing?, 2" I mentioned several states that had passed or had introduced bills asserting their authority to overrule unconstitutional regulations of the central power in Washington D.C.

Out in the big sky country of Montana, lawmakers have taken this a step further. The following comes from an article by Hylary Hylton at the Time website:

Montana has passed a law allowing local gun manufacturers to sidestep federal regulations as long as the weapons they make are sold within the territory of the state. "It's a gun bill, but it's another way of demonstrating the sovereignty of the state of Montana," Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer said, according to AP, as he signed the bill into law in mid-April. "I like big guns, I like little guns, I like pistols, I like rifles, and I would like to buy a gun that's made in Montana."

The Montana Shooting Sports Association which drafted the law also plans to support the law in the courts, up to and including the U.S. Supreme Court.

The article reveals that similar moves are afoot in other states:

In Texas (which recently saw Gov. Rick Perry joking that the Lone Star State might take up the ultimate state right and secede from the Union), a similar bill is in committee as the legislative session winds down. Tennessee and Alaska "Firearms Freedom Acts" are working their way through the process. Utah may take up a bill next year.

Along with the rise of the Oath Keepers, this is some of the most encouraging news I've heard in a while.

My Kind of Gal, 2

It's a short video, and the payoff is fantastic. Underscores the truth that when seconds count, the police are only minutes away.

WARNING: Video shows female in short nightgown.

I would like to think my daughters would do something similar.

I'm not normally a fan of full auto, but it is dramatic.

HR 2159

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y) has sponsored the bill known as HR2159 or the Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2009. In an article at roguegovernment.com, Lee Rogers says,

This legislation is incredibly disturbing because since the 9/11 false flag terror attacks, the government has been utilizing the bogus war on terror as a pretext to label a myriad of people as domestic terrorists.

The bill will enable the Attorney General to put American citizens on a "suspected terrorist" list that will bar them from purchasing firearms. If you think this means disarming Muslim training compounds across the U.S., take a look at where the politicos & bureaucrats have focused their attention lately.

Chuck Baldwin of Covenant News sums it up very well:

First, it was a Missouri Analysis and Information Center (MIAC) report; then it was a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report; now it is a New York congressman's bill. Each of these items, taken on their own, is problematic enough; taken together they portend "a clear and present danger" to the liberties of the American people. It is getting very serious now.

As readers may recall, the MIAC report profiled certain people as being potential violence-prone "militia members": including people who supported Presidential candidates Ron Paul, Bob Barr, and myself. In addition, anyone who opposed one or more of the following were also included in the list: the New World Order, the U.N., gun control, the violation of Posse Comitatus, the Federal Reserve, the Income Tax, the Ammunition Accountability Act, a possible Constitutional Convention, the North American Union, the Universal Service Program, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), abortion on demand, or illegal immigration.

The MIAC report prompted a firestorm of protest, and was eventually rescinded, with the man responsible for its distribution being dismissed from his position. The DHS report profiled many of the same people included in the MIAC report, and added returning Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans as potentially dangerous "extremists."

I encourage all Christian Martialists to read the entire article by Baldwin here.

Mindset: Carefulness

From the CBS TV show, "The Unit":

"What do you do if you see Indians?"

"Be careful."

"What do you do if you don't see Indians?"

"Be twice as careful."

Armed Student Prevents Mass Killing

Atlanta Georgia -- ten students at a party -- two armed gunmen enter & herd the men into one room & the women into another -- as one gunman counts his ammo, the other asks how many he has & the first replies, "Enough!"

As one of the gunmen runs away, a neighbor hears him yelling, "Somebody help! Call the police." Why did the home invader want the police? Because one of the students at the party was armed. He pulled a handgun from his backpack, wounding one invader who fled and fatally wounding the other, who also fled before he died.

Sadly, one female student was wounded in the crossfire, but she is expected to recover. How different if no one at the party had been armed. Five female students robbed, raped & murdered and five male students robbed and murdered. AND a bleeding heart media calling for a ban on firearms.

Instead, a WARSKYL sheepdog honorable mention goes to the unnamed student who stepped up and took action when it counted.

Here's the video:

Oath Keepers: Men of Principle in Uniform

In "Terrorism & Bureaucratic Paranoia" I wrote:

As for me, I do not fear the veterans in society around me. I am much more wary of those still in uniform, who are flush with unquestioning patriotism that fuels their training to follow any and all orders.

Yesterday, RPC sent me a link to a video about an organization called Oath Keepers that leads me to qualify that statement. It seems that there are still some men in uniform who will put their lives on the line for lawful principle and against unlawful orders.

Oath Keepers are,

Military, Veterans, and peace officers who will honor their oaths to defend the Constitution, will NOT “just follow orders,” will stand for liberty, and will save the Republic, so help us God. Our motto is: "Not on Our Watch!"

They have published a declaration of ten unlawful orders that they will not obey. You can read the full version here. A summary of the ten follows:

1. We will NOT obey orders to disarm the American people.

2. We will NOT obey orders to conduct warrantless searches of the American people

3. We will NOT obey orders to detain American citizens as “unlawful enemy combatants” or to subject them to military tribunal.

4. We will NOT obey orders to impose martial law or a “state of emergency” on a state.

5. We will NOT obey orders to invade and subjugate any state that asserts its sovereignty.

6. We will NOT obey any order to blockade American cities, thus turning them into giant concentration camps.

7. We will NOT obey any order to force American citizens into any form of detention camps under any pretext.

8. We will NOT obey orders to assist or support the use of any foreign troops on U.S. soil against the American people to “keep the peace” or to “maintain control.”

9. We will NOT obey any orders to confiscate the property of the American people, including food and other essential supplies.

10. We will NOT obey any orders which infringe on the right of the people to free speech, to peaceably assemble, and to petition their government for a redress of grievances.

If you know anyone who is active military or a peace officer, please send them a link to Oath Keepers or to this blog post. And if you are a Christan Martialist, you need to do two things:

1. As these men have drawn a line in the sand, so should you determine where you will draw the line and disobey unlawful civil proclamations (Acts 5:29);
2. Support these courageous men with a) your prayers that their faith may rest in Jesus, our King & that He will sustain them whatever may happen, and b) your actions so that these men will never have to stand alone against statist tyranny (and a small financial donation wouldn't hurt).

Now, before you visit the Oath Keepers website, I'm sure you'll want to watch this video:

America: Refuge for Terrorists?

President Bush said that we needed to fight terror on the other side of the world so we wouldn't have to fight it here. There's a certain logic to that, as long as you ignore the fact that ANYBODY can enter this country at our southern border.

And, of course, the feds seem to have turned a blind eye to terrorist training going on in this country for the past 25 years. (See "Islamberg," "Islamville & the Muslim Scouts of America," "Terrorism & Bureaucratic Paranoia")

It now looks as though President Obama is going to continue (if not escalate) the foreign war against terror while providing aid to Muslim radicals. He has issued an executive order for US Immigration & Customs to earmark over $20 million for Palestinian "refugees".

It's unclear to me whether this might include bringing Palestinians to the U.S.A.

Now, don't get me wrong -- I think the Palestinians got a raw deal back in the late 1940's. That's when Britain & the U.S.A. forcibly evicted them from their homes, farms and businesses, some of which had been handed down within families for centuries.

We did this to make a "homeland for the Jews". The problem is that there was no place for the Palestinians to go. We didn't take them, and neither did their Arab neighbors, so for the past couple of generations, most Palestinians have grown up in camps for displaced persons.

The present generation has grown up with frustration, hatred and a laundry list of wrongs done to them by Israel & the West. $20 million is too little, way too late, and bringing them here would invite disaster.

Here is the link to the president's Executive Order as it appears in the Federal Register:

Presidential Determination No. 2009-15 of January 27, 2009

Thanks to gotgadgets for sending me the link & drawing this to my attention.

When Guns are Outlawed . . .

Perhaps you remember the bumper sticker that says, "When Guns are Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Have Guns". It's a statement that a civil power which robs us of the means of self defense is not on our side.

Proscription of weapons has been a standard practice of tyrants, however, since long before the invention of firearms. The Philistines banned weapons and the means to make them in Israel:

Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel: for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears. (1Sa 13:19)

Deolexrex recently sent me a link to an article that traces the origins of karate as a resistance movement against Japanese tyranny. Here is the link:

The Unintended Consequences of Despotism.

Perhaps the bumper sticker should read: "When Guns are Outlawed, Freedom Loving Martialists Will Take Guns away from Their Oppressors." Maybe it's too long to fit on the bumper of my Toyota. ;-)

Empty Hand & Baton Skillset

Bill H. was the jujitsu instructor who taught me that someone won't be good with a weapon who is not already good with his empty hand technique. It was not until recently that I began to deconstruct the baton techniques he taught me in light of that truth.

He taught an approach to the baton that I have not seen elsewhere. Instead of grasping the baton at one end to wield it like a club or a whip, you grasp it in the middle so that you have equal use of both ends.

As you hold the baton vertically in front of you, think of the upward portion as the front of the baton and the downward portion as the back. (This is not official terminology; just a convenience to help you visualize the descriptions that follow.)

Now let's take a look at an empty hand technique that you'll find in the bonus section of my book, 12 U.S. Military Combat Techniques That Could Save Your Life.
This is a thumb strike to the base of the throat. (Take care! If you miss & hit the Adam's apple, the strike could be fatal.)

Now picture the same strike, only the practitioner has a baton (grasped in the center) in his hand. He is striking with the forward tip.

The gross motor skills are the same with the baton as with empty hand.

To be continued . . . .

"Shooting Back" Missionary Still Armed for the Lord

In "Terrorist Attack on Church", I told you about how Charl Van Wyk, a missionary from South Africa, foiled a squad of terrorists who attacked the church where he worshipped. Armed with a snub-nosed .38 Special, he shot one terrorist, and the rest ran.

My pastor recently sent me the link to an article about Van Wyk, who is still an active missionary and who still believes it is the Christian's duty to protect the weak and helpless. Here is a link to an interview Bob Unruh of World Net Daily held with him last year:

Would '93 church massacre hero shoot back again? 'I did'

My pastor sent me the link to this more recent article by Drew Zahn:

'Shooting Back' author: Why guns, church must mix

In addition, here is a video interview by Gary Baumgarten:

Empty Hand & Weapons Skillset

In "Knife Fighting vs. Fighting with a Knife" and "Cane Fighting vs. Fighting with a Cane" I made the point that weapons training should draw on the same skillset as your empty hand training. I recently received an e-letter from Tim Larkin of Target Focus Training that highlights the same point:

Fighting with weapons is a subject that has generated
volumes of writing in the combat arts world. What is
interesting to note is that for the most part weapons
training is treated as requiring a completely
different set of training principles as opposed to
'empty hand' fighting.

In fact, there are whole martial arts devoted to just
training with a weapon. All this leads to tremendous
confusion from the client's point of view.

Basically, you end up with 2 totally different sets
of principles in response to violent attacks:

1) One response for a hand-to-hand assault, and
2) A completely different response to a weapons attack

Larkin's own approach is quite different:

Your fighting principles MUST be the same with or
without a weapon.

Fighting is fighting regardless of whether you have a
weapon, are facing a weapon, are on the ground, or are
assaulted by more than the other guy.

When you truly understand that your brain is your
primary weapon, your body your secondary weapon, and
EVERYTHING else (read knife, club, or weapon of
choice) is ancillary, you then become a person that
knows how to FIGHT WITH A WEAPON... rather than being
a 'weapons fighter'.

The former gives you unlimited options; the latter
limits you to the weapon in hand.

So, I've been thinking about how that applies not only to knives and canes, but to batons and to handguns . . . .