The prospect of having to confront two or more assailants in a street attack or home invasion, carjacking, etc., is not remote. Punks, like jackals, often attack in groups. They feel safer that way and, since they don’t want to get injured, their confidence is highest when they outnumber a victim and feel confident their sheer numbers will overwhelm him.
It is, of course, a supreme act of cowardice for individuals to band together and attack someone. And, it certainly shifts the odds in favor of the scum who are the assailants. Still, such a situation is not necessarily hopeless. Our students (Professor Bryans’ and my own) have, on a number of occasions over the years, successfully taken defensive action when confronted by two or more street freaks. Invariably they were not only successful but – perhaps surprisingly – they emerged in excellent shape with no serious injuries.
I mention this to offer realistic and justifiable hope, not to encourage anyone to foolishly assume there is some magical way to handle multiple attackers that insures victory every time. Attacks by multiple assailants is, in fact, one of the three “most dangerous” forms of physical attack; forms of attack that pose a deadly threat and danger even to accomplished experts in combatives. Attacks by armed assailants and attacks from behind are the other two types of attack that no one can afford to underestimate, no matter how skilled, powerful, and experienced he may be.
Right off, let me emphasize that you definitely need some serious training in realistic close combat in order to be successful in fending off any violent attack, especially one in which you may be outnumbered.
(While this is not a sales pitch for my product, I will say my American Combato Home Study Course provides exactly the kind of skills required for dealing with actual, real world violence.)
The types of techniques you need? That’s easy to enumerate, but they must be mastered, not merely remembered. When the pressure of violent combat is on, there is no time for conscious deliberation or recollections. You act and act fast, and you resort to that which you’ve embedded in your motor memory.
Low kicking, using the side or front kick, as demonstrated in our YouTube presentations, as well as open hand chin-jabbing and chopping and kneeing, also demonstrated, are paramount skills. Elbow strikes and fingertips thrusts to eyes, as well as clawing the eyes, are effective.
Nothing fancy and nothing “Bruce-Leeish.” Just utterly ruthless, extremely damaging, very simple actions that frankly knock out, maim, or, if necessary to save a life, take a life. Being attacked by more than a single individual justifies the most savage and brutal retaliatory action. Your life is at stake! This is certainly not the time to become affected by compassion, fair play, or rules of sportsmanship. You get one chance to repel the monsters. Make the most of it!
Tactics and mental attitude are always of greatest importance in all self-defense emergencies. Providing you have serious mastery of a relatively small number of quality skills, your tactics and mindset will insure that those skills do the most good.
The following derives from that which we learned years ago from men who have been in actual hand-to-hand combat and whose tactics have been proven to work in real world combat situations.
- When confronted by a clearly threatening approach by two or more adversaries who provoke in you a certainty that their intention is to physically harm you, ATTACK FIRST!
- Attack with the greatest possible element of surprise on your side. Explode suddenly.
- Shout and growl like a madman as you drop one of the attackers immediately and dramatically. Break his leg with a hard side kick to his knee; chop him without warning across the throat; drive your fingertips into his eyes. Then, immediately…
- Attack another (or the other if there are only two). Follow this one-after-the-other attacking pattern, rendering each adversary as seriously injured as opportunity and your capacity permit. Do not stop attacking! Keep on moving and attacking!
- A relentless, ongoing bobbing and weaving body action, during which you lash out, kick out, inflict injury any way you can, must proceed.
- When dealing with multiple attackers, your objective always will be to escape; escape as soon as you have created the opportunity. But do not attempt to flee by turning your back on anyone in the attacking group who remains ambulatory. Escape when you have maimed or rendered completed helpless the pair or the group, so that no member thereof possesses the physical capacity or the will to pursue you. You must in essence, attack and continue to attack like a madman or wild animal. No halting, no cessation, no mercy, no hesitation; just unbridled, all-out ferocity and murderous action.
Obviously, should you be jumped outright, you must instantly react with murderous violence. There is no time to delay. If you hesitate, you may be killed.
If, as I hope will be the case, you will be legally armed with a handgun in any group attack situation, remember this:
You must not go for your concealed weapon when two or more scumbags are within arms’ reach of you. They very well may succeed in neutralizing your effort and securing your handgun. Save the pleasant surprise for when you have created distance, time, and space in which you cannot be prevented from accessing your weapon and, if necessary, using it.
Only when you have ample time and distance should you access your weapon. It is unrealistic to expect two or more street punks to stand by and allow you to draw a sidearm.
If you possess a stout walking stick, you have a huge advantage – providing you know how to use it as a weapon, and, of course, if don’t need it for assistance.
If you are armed with a knife (lockblade folder of legal blade length), the same caution applies as for a handgun. It takes too much time to draw, open, and use such a knife effectively for you to attempt to access it before you achieve the opening to do so.
A utility knife may be a perfect solution. Inside your pocket, in your hand, you can press the razor blade without being seen and whip the knife suddenly to gash open an attacker’s face or throat.
Throwing some gravel or small change (or perhaps a hat or sweater that you are carrying across your arm) into one man’s face, and powerfully kicking a second in the testicles or chopping him across the carotid artery or throat may be a workable opening move. But follow up fast! It is your vicious and relentless attack with which the scum had never anticipated that your advantage relies.
Never confront a pair or group of street rodents in a “fighting stance.”
Never let them know or feel you intend to resist and that you can.
The element of surprise remains key; be sure to capitalize on it.
I will close by saying that, frankly, you have nothing to lose by taking aggressive action against multiple attackers.
They likely won’t leave you in good shape if they are successful. So determine to destroy them first. You’ll almost certainly be injured to some degree in the process… but if you escape with superficial injuries and leave them immobile on the sidewalk, you’ve done a great thing!
by Bradley J. Steiner