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The_Dunedan · 10-22-2003, 02:45 PM

Ok Darkblack, cut the crap. As someone who has trained in My-Jhong Law Horn Kung Fu ( Sifu Don Perry, Sihung GM Johnny Lee, Sigong Yi Yi Ting ) and with handguns, I can come down on both sides. There are situations where my MA training will get me out of the mess, and there are situations where it won't. For those situations where it won't, I carry a pistol.
These situations are more common than you apparently think; if the assailant is more than 1 meter or to away, he is out of range of any applicable MA technique, and only a pistol, employed quickly and accurately, will do the job. At extreme close range, ie grappling range, getting to the pistol becomes difficult, and MA training is definitely a plus. However, the final, deciding factor nearly always comes down to this; who posesses greated firepower, and the ability to employ it. Kung Fu is fine for me; I'm 21, male, and in good condition. However, what about the 60-year-old grandmother? What about women in general, most of whom lack the skeletal muscle mass to effectively employ MA against a ( probably ) male assailant who will ( probably ) outweigh them by 60lbs or more, and ( almost definitely ) have more than double their skeletal muscle on a pound-for-pound basis? There are female martial artists who could resist such an attack ( Laura Truly, Gini Lau, etc etc ) but they are VERY rare.
I am also someone who has, as you put it, turned my body into a weapon, and a very efficiant one at that. But I also know that I may one day be faced with a situation in which my own life, or the life of another person, depends on my ability to shoot quickly, accurately, and without hesitation. I've known people it's happened to, including more than one rape victim who would have been spared such indignity by the posession and use of a pistol. In all but one case, these were small women who would have had little or no hope of fending off an attacker using MA techniques; the size/weight/muscle mass ratios were too skewed. I've fought people who had that kind of advantage on me; I KNOW what that feels like. When you're THAT out-weighed and out-reached, the only thing you can hope for is for your opponent to get stupid. If he doesn't oblige you, you're capital-S Screwed.
I also resent your comments to the effect that skill with firearms is lazy in comparison to skill at MA. Again, as someone who's fairly decent with both, bullcrap. Ask Jeff Cooper or Ab Topperwein or Jack O'Connor or Carlos Hathcock how long it took them to get as good as they are/were; how many thousands of hours and tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition. How much practice, how many guns worn out and replaced. Being skilled with a firearm requires just as much practice; it simply requires a different -kind- of practice.
This kind of prattle reminds me of the Martial Artists you see on television every now and again who claim to be able to stop, dodge, or otherwise negate bullets. Not physically possible. Even Qigong can't negate physics. I've seen guys do some pretty incredible things, but if you're stupid enough to argue with a bullet, you deserve whatever you get.

10-22-2003, 02:45 PM	#97 (permalink)
The_Dunedan Junkie	Ok Darkblack, cut the crap. As someone who has trained in My-Jhong Law Horn Kung Fu ( Sifu Don Perry, Sihung GM Johnny Lee, Sigong Yi Yi Ting ) and with handguns, I can come down on both sides. There are situations where my MA training will get me out of the mess, and there are situations where it won't. For those situations where it won't, I carry a pistol. These situations are more common than you apparently think; if the assailant is more than 1 meter or to away, he is out of range of any applicable MA technique, and only a pistol, employed quickly and accurately, will do the job. At extreme close range, ie grappling range, getting to the pistol becomes difficult, and MA training is definitely a plus. However, the final, deciding factor nearly always comes down to this; who posesses greated firepower, and the ability to employ it. Kung Fu is fine for me; I'm 21, male, and in good condition. However, what about the 60-year-old grandmother? What about women in general, most of whom lack the skeletal muscle mass to effectively employ MA against a ( probably ) male assailant who will ( probably ) outweigh them by 60lbs or more, and ( almost definitely ) have more than double their skeletal muscle on a pound-for-pound basis? There are female martial artists who could resist such an attack ( Laura Truly, Gini Lau, etc etc ) but they are VERY rare. I am also someone who has, as you put it, turned my body into a weapon, and a very efficiant one at that. But I also know that I may one day be faced with a situation in which my own life, or the life of another person, depends on my ability to shoot quickly, accurately, and without hesitation. I've known people it's happened to, including more than one rape victim who would have been spared such indignity by the posession and use of a pistol. In all but one case, these were small women who would have had little or no hope of fending off an attacker using MA techniques; the size/weight/muscle mass ratios were too skewed. I've fought people who had that kind of advantage on me; I KNOW what that feels like. When you're THAT out-weighed and out-reached, the only thing you can hope for is for your opponent to get stupid. If he doesn't oblige you, you're capital-S Screwed. I also resent your comments to the effect that skill with firearms is lazy in comparison to skill at MA. Again, as someone who's fairly decent with both, bullcrap. Ask Jeff Cooper or Ab Topperwein or Jack O'Connor or Carlos Hathcock how long it took them to get as good as they are/were; how many thousands of hours and tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition. How much practice, how many guns worn out and replaced. Being skilled with a firearm requires just as much practice; it simply requires a different -kind- of practice. This kind of prattle reminds me of the Martial Artists you see on television every now and again who claim to be able to stop, dodge, or otherwise negate bullets. Not physically possible. Even Qigong can't negate physics. I've seen guys do some pretty incredible things, but if you're stupid enough to argue with a bullet, you deserve whatever you get. __________________ "I personally think that America's interests would be well served if after or at the time these clowns begin their revolting little hate crime the local police come in and cart them off on some trumped up charges or other. It is necessary in my opinion that America makes an example of them to the world." --Strange Famous, advocating the use of falsified charges in order to shut people up.