How the F*ck can you take a man's pistol with a blade?!

Fair question, and one that I will probably fail miserably at articulating on a blog post.  But I'll give it a shot.

Let me start with this - most of the time the guy with the knife is going to get shot to pieces.  "Victory" is defined as taking the gunner with you to hell.

That said, here is an Aiki basic: In Judo when one pushes, the other pulls.  In Aiki when one pushes, the other turns.

Here is a very crude image to help visualize the premise of the technique:

Keep in mind there are dozens of variables and 20 years of experience involved - I am simply trying to articulate the premise.

The moment I expect X to go for his pistol I start moving in an arc that forces him to draw and pivot across his body.  You do NOT move in a straight line unless you have a serious speed advantage.  You shuffle-step, you step left and then right, bob up, then down, but every step brings you closer.

If he's an amateur (or scared and reverting to training) he will bring his pistol up in some sort of modified stance that let's him look down the sights - you go low, spinning, and come up dragging your edge across his wrists or fingers, with a back-slash across anything tender - belly, achilles, hamstring, carotid, whatever you can get.  Then you finish him.

If you have a katana, the extra reach works to your favor.  Take his wrists off - then you have a pistol, too.

If X is not a total amateur he will take a step to the rear to create distance and he'll fire from the hip - good luck to ya.  Like I said, most guys with a knife at a gun fight - get shot and dead.

A few tidbits for context: The average man with a bad attitude can cover 30 feet in 3 seconds.  The "average" pistol fighter can NOT clear lether and double tap a moving target that is advancing at that rate.  (I would counsel against trying this move against Alan Mullenax).  I can personally cover 15 feet in just about 1 second, clearing a blade for action as I move and forcing the pistol fighter to change his angles of defense. 

And I am nothing special - most of the folks I have trained with can do the same - many are faster.

Use that information as you will.

How many of you practice techniques in your weekend militia training unarmed against one or more armed enemies?  Use paintball, it is pretty close to the real thing.  But if you are not willing to train hard, don't bother - the unarmed fighter must to be able to take the gunner down, and it hurts.  Otherwise it is all just slap-fighting.

Next exercise: How many of you carry a tomahawk, machete or even a real combat knife?  You carry that for wetwork, of course.  But you also carry that for those times in real combat (CQB) when you simply don't have time to reload.  It happens more than you may like to think - and no, I am NOT talking about carbine-range contact.  I'm talking real CQB with a dozen men in a room, with more waiting to flood in.

Take your hawk, machete or battle knife and find a stand of bamboo and draw - then for 60 seconds go at full speed.  Every swing hits a new piece of bamboo, trying to take it down, and never let your feet stop moving.  Never forget your profile - do NOT stand tall for more than 2 seconds at a time to give a Bad Guy an easy target.

At the end of 60 seconds if you have any real muscle control left in that hand and arm, you're starting to get in shape.  Odds are it'll be trembling and barely able to hold your blade.

What Evil this way comes is for real, folks.

The Universe does not care if you live or die.  Neither do most of your neighbors.

Kerodin
III