There are three things that cause human death: injury, illness, and disease.

There are only three ways to cause trauma to the human body: cut, crush, or burn.

There are three things needed to fight: sight, base, and air.

Human arms are only capable of three movements: push, pull, and swing.

There are only three types of weapons in traditional interpersonal violence: impact weapons, edged weapons, and hybrid such as a bullet.

Combative Anatomy is the study of how to stop a human from being physically violent as fast as possible.  There is no pain compliance because it requires feeling and waiting for a response due to feeling causes hesitation and lack of movement.  For the citizen, no time should be spent on something you cannot count on.  Pain compliance is useless if you are fighting for your life.  The probability of your attacker being under the influence of drugs and alcohol are very high.

Ironically, the things that are most likely to eventually kill and attack are also those that do a poor job of instantly stopping them from being violent.

The fastest way of stopping an attacker is by attacking his head and spinal cord.  This is the fuse box and main power line of the body.  This is the spark that generates everything the human body can do from speaking to throwing a punch.  These targets are most susceptible to strikes from impact weapons.  Many altercations will start open handed.  Luckily, the body has many impact weapons: hands, feet, elbows, and knees.  When it comes to improvised weapons, (anything you pick up in a pinch), the vast majority will best used as impact weapons.  In the case of an edged weapon, purposely designed or improvised, a pommel strike to the head will stop a man faster than a stab to the heart.  In the case of a firearm, a very small amount of training time should be spent on intentional targeting of the head.  Even though much time has been dedicated to this over the last century, the reality is that there are few documented instances of shooters within conversational distance intentionally targeting the head and being successful.  The possibility of being able to do so during say a hostage situation where your gun is out and the attacker is stationary would increase the likelihood, however it is better to dedicate your time to the most likely situations before the “could happens”.  Any attack of the central nervous system has immediate effect and is easily observed.  It’s like turning a light switch on and off.

The second fastest way to stop violence is by attacking the structural system comprised of the bones, muscles, ligaments, and tendons.  An attacker who cannot walk cannot chase you and unless armed with a firearm is a non-threat.  The best targets here are the elbows and knees.  The key is to bend/break them the way they are not intended to bend.  Again, they are best attacked with your body’s natural impact weapons.  Using your knees and elbows to strike the area just above your attackers’ knees from the back or side, and their elbow just above it as the insertion points of the tri-cep muscle.  Effective attacks to these areas will be immediately visible.  An overwhelming attack to the head and knees is a potent option. It is also very readily apparent when a bullet hits one of these junctures / joints on the body.  It’s like kicking in one wall of a tent. There are other options that require more thought and training that will be discussed in future posts.

The final, and least effective way to immediately stop violence, is the targeting of the Circulatory System including the heart and lungs.  People mortally wounded even with a penetrating wound from a blade or bullet are able to continue to physically perform with intent for some time.  More than any other thing, this causes the person shooting said attacker to freeze in disbelief instead of moving and mentally moving onto another tactic.  Quite simply, you are dealing with a system under pressure with many variables including shot placement and pressure levels determining overall outcome.  As it refers to firearms training, the following are training considerations-

Traditional firearms teach center mass, but not really.  They are saying center mass from the waistline to the head.  True center mass would be at the beltline.  This has conditioned shooters to bypass the area of the knees and groin which as previously explained are more likely to have an immediate mechanical and visually obvious impact on the situation.  The gun should be fired as soon as the barrel is between you and your attacker.   For lack of a better term, this provides a “ballistic ball tap”.  Not only is this effective default targeting of the knees and pelvic girdle, it also has the natural reaction of bringing the head down towards where the chest would normally be.  This takes the shape of the body from an “I” and immediately transforms it into and “O” making all subsequent rounds more likely to hit the brain and spinal cord for fast stoppage.

Any serious handgunner should have a Blue Gun and Airsoft in the form of their carry gun.  Practicing this live during force on force, no matter your level of training, will quickly prove the effectiveness of this practice.

Much of traditional handgun training fails in real life scenarios because it is at odds with the natural human’s stress responses.  It is an individual decision when it comes to what is more important to you, pretty targets or survival.  There is nothing wrong with going to the range and shooting for fun, just don’t entertain that it will prepare you to survive a real-life shooting.  Put in the work and then enjoy the fun.