Kick against Straight Stab (Bailing Out)

This defense can be used if the defender recognizes the knife attack and wants to bail out and away from the line of the attack. If the defender does not recognize in advance that a straight-stab knife attack is coming, he should make a regular front kick as in the previous exercise.

Starting Position: Neutral or passive stance.

As the attacker bursts in with the stab, step diagonally forward with your left foot and “bail out” with your body, taking your right shoulder toward your left knee to get out of the line of the attacker. As you make this body defense, deliver a round kick with the ball of your foot to the attacker’s groin. Recoil your foot quickly and move off, looking to escape or pick up an object to use as a shield or weapon.

Variation: It is possible to continue with attacks and attempt to control the weapon. This is, however, difficult to perform in realistic scenarios, and we no longer require it as a part of the technique. However, we describe it here for reference:

After delivering the round kick, recoil your foot and chamber for a side kick. Deliver a side kick to the side of the attacker’s knee while controlling the knife hand with your right hand.

Gun Defenses Gun from the Front

Caution: In training, DO NOT let your partner put his finger on the trigger as it may get broken.

Starting Position: Neutral or passive stance.

As the attacker presents the gun with his right hand, smoothly send your left hand to the weapon in a straight line, putting the side of your index finger at the side of the weapon and pushing in a straight line to your right. The movement should take the gun off your body parallel to the floor. Any diagonal movement up or down means that the gun stays on your body for a longer period of time. This movement also moves the weapon from vital areas (center of the chest) to areas that are less vital, until the gun is completely off. Just as your hand reaches the weapon and begins to redirect, make a body defense by allowing your left shoulder to come forward. This has the added benefit of putting your motion and weight toward the gunman even though your feet have not yet moved.

Grab the weapon sharply and “punch” it down so that the gun points 90° away from you and is roughly parallel with the floor. You should already be putting weight down on the weapon. Burst forward with your feet so that you end up in a fighting stance with your left foot just outside the gunman’s right foot. Often, the gun will end up on the attacker’s stomach. This is fine, but is not a requirement since the gunman’s body position is not always predictable. A more consistent rule is this: The gun should be in front of your right thigh (but not pointing that way), with your weight on it.

Keep your weight on the weapon but deliver a punch to the face with your right hand. Always make sure your weight stays on the weapon!

Recoil your punch, slide your hand along your body to avoid the line of fire, reach down, and grab the weapon at the hammer or the back of the slide.

Rotate the gun sharply 90° to “break” it from the gunman’s grasp. This may break the gunman’s finger.

Pull the weapon back toward your left side. Note that your feet have not yet moved. As soon as the weapon is in your possession, retreat to a safe distance.

Tips: The initial redirection must involve no other body movement: no leaning, no tensing, no shifting of your feet.

As you redirect in Step 2, your right hand can already be coming up to punch, but it should

be close to your body so that it is not in the line of fire.

To the Head Variation: This technique is the same as the regular defense against Gun from the Front (page 250), with one difference: You make an earlier body defense by moving your head even before your hand has reached the gun (although the hand always leads the motion). This is possible because the movement to get your head out of the line of fire is shorter and simpler than moving your whole body.