ASSUME HE IS ARMED!

By Bradley J. Steiner, American Combato
I cannot urge strongly enough that the whole idea of “force continuums” for practical self-defense is ridiculous and dangerous. Ridiculous, because it assumes that, somehow, the victim of a violent attack will have the capacity to know (rather magically, I would assume) the criminal history, the abilities, and the intentions of the attacker(s).
How??? Somehow. And that is r-i-d-i-c-u-l-o-u-s. It is dangerous because if a person accepts this asinine politically correct drivel he will assume – with absolutely no justification – that his “hunch” and the initial appearance of the attacker(s) have provided him sufficient evidence to guide the severity of his reaction to the onslaught. (Believing this is more likely to assist a serious attacker than it ever is to enable a defender to handle his emergency with adequately decisive and severe force.)
Here is solid survival and self-defense WISDOM:
Be 100% non-aggressive, non-violent, considerate, and polite in your physical conduct, speech, mannerisms, and interactive gestures, approaches, and responses with all with whom you deal and interact. However, should you ever be attacked physically by someone who is either unknown to you or whom you know to be a troublemaker, treat it as a potentially grave physical threat… a threat to your well-being and perhaps your life, itself.
Make no snap judgments based upon hunches or your intuitional evaluations, upon the appearance, age, or gender of the assailant, etc. Take the attack as an immediate, dangerous threat that must be stopped forthwith! This assumption is necessary and – except to a fool – justified.
One crucial thing to consider – and to always assume – is that any unprovoked violent attacker may be ARMED. In fact, statistically, he is probably armed. Felons who commit acts of violence are routinely armed with knives, guns, improvised (but deadly) items-as- weapons, coupled with what may at the outset of their attack by a well-disguised veneer of harmlessness. The worst and most dangerous psychopathic murderers (i.e. Ted Bundy, Kenneth Bianchi, Richard Kuklinski, etc.) were masters of deception and could approach a victim in a most disarming manner.
Besides, even if some scrap of sh-t who approaches you with what on the surface seems like a low-level attack (i.e., a shove, a wrist grab, seizure of your clothing, blocking your path, etc.) he very well may be well-armed. How can you tell? YOU CAN’T TELL. That’s the message.
Look at the picture below. This is the late Chic Gaylord, one of the finest combat handgun holster-makers of the 1940s and 50s. He ran a shop in New York City and provided outstanding, quick-draw leather to the FBI,
U.S. Secret Service, and NYPD officers. His book, Handgunner’s Guide, is a classic and is referred to in Kill Or Get Killed by Rex Applegate.

This photo was posed by Gaylord to show the numerous ways a firearm could easily be concealed and carried upon the person by anyone.
Remember… the laws where you live (perhaps in NYC, Chicago, Honolulu, or some other outrageous violator of Americans’ second amendment-protected right to keep and bear arms) may keep you from going about with the protection of a handgun; they will have not the slightest effect on violent criminals who, by definition, couldn’t care less about gun laws – or any laws they wish to violate!
Criminals come up with all sorts of ways to hide not only handguns, but knives, bludgeoning implements, razors, and even, in some instances, vials of acid and cut-down shoulder weapons. You would do well if God forbid one of these pieces of crap attacks you, to assume that the beast is armed, and decisively SHUT HIM DOWN, forthwith.
When he is rendered immediately hors de combat, it won’t matter what the hell he has concealed on his person, and may have available to use against you; he will be unable to endanger you further… and you can get the hell out of there fast (as you should).
Remember: You can forget about competition, sports, classical art, and methods of control, arrest, and submission when it comes to mastering skills to save yourself and perhaps a loved one from sudden, unprovoked criminal savagery. Be real. Violent criminals – may they be damned forever – are always “real.”
In closing:
DON’T WAIT TO FIND THIS OUT WHEN AND IF THEIR VIOLENCE IS EVER DIRECTED AGAINST YOU!