This course is designed to train the student to defend and/or disarm (when appropriate) an attacker that is wielding a weapon when the student is unarmed or cannot safely access a weapon they may have on their person.  Too many times people will attempt to deal only with the weapon (or attack) and think nothing of dealing with the attacker.  You can watch countless videos of armed attackers attacking an unarmed victim with complete or nearly complete impunity.  Why wouldn't they?  They have the weapon and know that the person they are attacking will very much only be defensive against the weapon.  There is one disadvantage (among others) that every weapon has and that is.. Weapons Over Reliance.   This applies to both the attacker and the victim (if they have a weapon not in hand at the time of the attack).  This means that the attacker feels so empowered that they have a weapon and their victim does not, that caution in many cases is thrown to the wind.  Contrarily, the victim feels so overmatched that their thinking is the only way they will survive or prevail is to access their own weapon at all cost.  This in many cases, will lead to unrecoverable exposure to an attack that the defender will be immediately rendered incapacitated and unable to continue any meaningful defense.

Reality Defense Training stresses the Stay Alive First approach.  This means even if you do have a weapon, you should not attempt to access it unless or until it is mostly safe to do so.  It is not a fair trade to shoot them at the same time they are stabbing you in the neck.  Many martial programs use this exchange to declare which weapon is better or more dangerous.  We encourage you to read the Weapons: Which one is the most dangerous?  This paper will provide you with a better understanding of weapons.  In the Unarmed Weapons Defense program we will provide instruction on how to defend against a Stick Weapon (bat, tire iron, pool cue, broom handle etc), Blade (any cutting or puncturing implement), Flexible Weapon (belt, extension cord, etc), Ballistic Weapons (Firearm and thrown objects).

 

Note: In courses and locations where it applies, we will also teach how to access a firearm and functionally bring it into the situation and use it as a defensive implement prior to discharging it.