The Knife as Pistol Retention Tool. No Fuss? No Muss?
I have had someone try to take my pistol in a ground fight, well, it was kind of a ground fight...on top of furniture. We were sideways flopping on a couch and a table. I was able to choke this guy out because of the position we were in. Had I let go of him with my one hand and arm to pull and open a folding knife? Probably be dead now, I guess. Everything is positional and situational. Otherwise, I have only had a few passing tugs and pulls on my gun handle through the years. But, I have extensively studied and exercised pistol disarming and retention.
In 1998, I made a video tape called, Tactical Folder for Pistol Retention. It sold modestly to die-heart knife people and some police. It was during an era that officers were coming of age with duty knives and various folders were appearing clipped to the pants pocket of police uniforms. In my last few years on the street in the 90s I wore a Cold Steel Tanto Folder (called Tanto but rather much a straight blade) It was, as Dwight McClemore would say, “a big rascal.” Some officers back then were toying with the idea wearing a folder or fixed-blade knife right on the Sam Brown pistol belt. This had many police administrators scratching their heads, turning a blind eye and also quietly praying that the day would never come when an officer used his knife to gut and kill a suspect. Imagine the lawsuits and confusions. Duty knives were welcome, barred or ignored. This is true of policing worldwide.
One popular reason to tote a knife was to use it against someone stealing your pistol from your body. And I will say that at first, second, even third glance at the idea it seemed like a good one. Then you take the fourth and fifth glances ….you wonder how statistically proper this method is as a main strategy. Is a knife a primary tool to protect your pistol?
For starters. For the big picture, and you must look at this big picture to fit this subject into a proper prospective, pistol retention is a very complicated bit of tactical science. I will tell you right now that I have seen all the other retention DVDs on the market, young and old, and am aware of the old and current training procedures by law enforcement. I will proclaim here that no one had broken down this subject into the comprehensive outline I have on. No brag. No exxageration, just fact. The best equation of study is:
Dissect the directions of attack
Front, back, right side, left side, from above or from below
Dissect the methods of attack
From any of the above directions, an ambush or interview, two-hand gun grab, one hand gun grab and one hand beating you. Both hands beating you and then he removes pistol from unconsciousness and/or stunned, you.
From the weapon at its carry site, to and through the draw process to weapon presentation and/or use with a one-hand or two-hand grip
So, to completely learn to disarm, one must:
Learn common and uncommon weapon-carry-sites
Learn weapon holsters or ease of removal of guns from non-holster sites
Learn all the single and double –handed quick draws from start of movement to finish
Now Retention issues! See all the takeaways. Counter the takeaways.
Learn counters to all these disarms! You cannot get good at pistol retention unless you do your homework and learn the above disarms. See all the takeaways. Counter the takeaways. I have a collection of 18 combat scenarios that I have compiled that really cover the spectrum. The list of counters are both generic and are also at times specific solutions to specific problems. We shouldn't list them all here because ultimately this essay is really about just using your knife for retention.
For a primer on this subject.
For a quick primer on the subject, to use your knife for retention you need one hand free from the scuffle! You must pull the knife and open the tactical folder. How many police officers practice knife quick-draws under combat stress and from awkward positions? Almost none. It is hard for practiced experts under combat stress to acquire, open and draw. Many SWAT and special teams carry folders into hot zones, all while wearing gloves. No matter how expensive and “sensitive” these gloves are, you are layering yourself away from a stress, folder quick draw.
It is also counter-reflexive to pull a knife while your gun is mid-way to a draw position, or in a shoot position or a threat presentation position. When your gun is grabbed and you have a two-handed grip, letting one hand go from your pistol to pull and open your knife is just not a safe or practical move. You will instinctively feel the need to keep both hands on your pistol. We hope that if the suspect is this close? You have your gun in a single-hand grip and turned back away from the suspect. In many of these situations, your free hand is busy fighting the attacker. Taking it from the fight to pull a knife, might also be a tactical mistake.)
Eliminating knife-pulls from many two-hand grip situations and one-hand-grip situations, trims the possibilities down dramatically. When are the best opportunities? In the big picture, the option may largely be when the suspect is tugging on your holstered weapon and he is in practical striking range. Looking at all the angles of possible attack I previously listed, being front, rear, right, left, up or down, your strike-ability range with a knife, is limited to the front and a side. Two of six possibilites?
In CQC? Your free hand is usually busy (not always, but quite possibly fighting and not free to break away and draw and open a folding knife. Looking at statistics, we see so many gun take-ways involve the suspect pummeling you with one hand and grabbing your gun with the other. Or, just getting pummeled with two hands. Pummeling. Ever try to find your folder, pull it and open it while being pummeled and tossed around? Practice that one much? Not likely and I'll bet you have a false sense of security about what you and your knife can really do.
So when exactly is the best time to pull and open a folder for pistol retention? When the suspect is standing within knife arm striking range and you have the time and skill to open the folder under such stress. If you run the numbers? This is quite limited possibility. But we presume from this position, you will stab the attacker.
On the subject of stabbing, All of us veterans in police work have marveled at one time or another about the tenacity of stabbed people. We have worked cases where people have been stabbed tens and tens of times and are still functioning. When you draw your knife in this retention struggle, where will you stab and how many stabs will it take to get a good result? We have also worked many calls and cases where people have been punched or forearmed tens of times about the head, neck and body and are still functioning. In this vein, many stab victims report that they felt as though they were being punched or hammer-fisted at first, while actually being stabbed. These are things to consider when pulling small blade to retain your pistol. How fast to you see results? Stabs at a moving target may prolong the fight.
But, I now must ask you, how many eye gouges does it take to get a good, distracting result? Blinding, in fact. The answer to that is one. An eye gouge requires no extra “find-and-open-folder-under-dire-stress” time and support training. Just open fingers and plunge. 95% of the time, It is faster and easier just to stick your fingers into his eyes then run the risk of removing your hand to your side from desperate combat, then finding, pulling and opening a tactical folder all inside a violent struggle.
I repeat, 95% of the time, it is just faster and easier just to stick you fingers into his eyes. Given all the physical possibilities I have listed above, and the training level needed, 95% of the time, it is faster and easier just to stick your fingers into his eyes.
I can only tell you to try these tactics with gear and full force-on-force training, and you see how well you can get the knife out compared to the eye attack. Many major enforcement agencies do “sand-pit” style retention training. Trainers (usually with very little gear) get in the pit and grapple around with cadet's to steal their guns. Note the word “grapple.” No one hauls off and belts the cadet senseless (as many bad guys do). And, the cadet cannot exercise the true, vicious, survival tactics that really counter the attack. Therefore this training is nothing but abstract, lame and incomplete. It is not "FOF."
So the quick draw of a folder under combat stress is really a major problem. Now this leads us to the new, short, fixed-blade knives. Of course, the common ones are carried vertically on a the belt. But, there's a new modern series that are nifty, little curved things or at times shaped and applied like push-daggers. They are curved not for some esoteric, Indonesian reason, but for an angled, natural grip, quick draw, from the holster's tilted, slant. In this sense, think of a push dagger with half the handle gone. Good models are only $50 or so!
So, when the stinky feces hits the street fan, you convulsively grip this knife handle and pull it out - no fuss, and slay away - but with plenty of muss. These blades are very short. The suspect tenacious. Prepare for a vicious, medieval experience. Prepare your supervisors, prosecutors, attorneys and news media too. Most knife salesman and knife teachers don't know what the word “muss” bloody well means. Don't forget your free hand may be to busy to pull your little slant-carry push dagger, too.
These fixed blade, knives and the sheaths are hard case material and positioned… well, somewhere amongst everything else an officer must carry these days, to facilitate this emergency quick draw. This positioning makes them a left-hand or right hand-only access. They are also targets of very easy takeaways. Plus, your admin must first approve this little Klingon, claw thingy on your duty rig. Will they? Many admins have trouble approving any folding knife, least of all, a Klingy thingy.
What do you have to worry about when implementing a training program and policy on pistol retention that includes a knife response? It is the same problem I once had. I wanted so, so much to squeeze a knife into the solution. Force it. I wound up over-using and over-working a knife solution when other, easier, simpler responses should have been prioritized.
So who will force feed you knife solutions? I learned that:
- People who sell you knives will do this, blindly or on purpose.
- People with knife courses will do this, blindly or on purpose.
- People who train you that are fixated on their tool will do this.
- All miss the big hand, stick, knife and gun picture. All-knife-all the time-doesn't make Jack a dull boy. It makes Jack…a full-time knifer.
So, in 2002, I took my Knife for Pistol Retention film off the market. I'd like you all to think about prioritizing the good ol' fingers-into -the-eyes tactic for a first response to so many pistol retention problems. It is quick, blinding, easy, distracting and proven highly effective. Always drawing a knife may not be as quickly effective and practical in a majority of positions and situations.
Sure, carry a knife too. I did. Fixed, straight, angled, or folder, you may really need it in some situations. But it sure can be mussy. Mussy in approval, mussy in concept, training and danmed mussy in execution.
Hock
