YOU'LL GO TO JAIL!!!

[Gabriel Suarez]

I was at the gym...yeah..in winter I go to a gym that is a bit warmer than my garage gym. But also because Shield Maiden has a personal trainer. Anyway...done with my workout and sitting around drinking water. Two other guys notice my Kyokushin shirt and we have a nice conversation while my gal finishes leg day. Discussion turns to ground fighting. Its the usual "ground fighting is king" thing. I humbly tell them we didn't do much of that in the old days...much to my loss. But that I have trained a bit in BJJ to be a bit conversant in it.

Told them that my focus is street not tournament or cage. That on the street it will never be evenly matched or between just two...so if I see you try to take me to the ground, or try to choke me, it is instant deadly force situation. I think I know enough to stay on my feet long enough to go to guns...or keep my blood flow long enough to do the same...then every mother fucking round in my blaster is going to be injected int the adversary's body...any part of his body...until either I am out...or he is. Done and done...and staying done.

One of then nodded in agreement and chuckled. The other was shocked..."You'll go to jail", he said.

Well...I disagree with that and I think anyone here...specially those of my age group, unless they have the eloquence of Forest Gump, could justify their actions easily. But lets discuss the issue if it was not as I see it.

If you are taken to the ground, expect a serious ground and pound...likely from a younger and fitter opponent. Expect others to join him because when their side has the advantage the cowards will want to get a boot in there. The potential is for you to end up like Reginald Denny. Look the homeboy up. Specially an interview he did in 2002. Ten years after getting his ass and head kicked in.

You could...lets play devil's advocate...go to jail for those ten years. Most likely far less than that in modern America...specially if you have money. Lets say you do five years. You spend those years working out, reading, maybe getting a new degree in something interesting. Then you get out...and your brain is still good...your body works...you are healthy, etc. In five years...after getting your head caved in, or your arm destroyed...guess what...you are still a Forest Gump and your arm is still fucked.

I wonder if Denny would have been given a choice.

Reggie...here is a Glock. When they pull you out, kill every man that touches you. Shoot each motherfucker in his fucking face. You will be charged and go to prison for five years...but when you get out...you are still you and can get on with your life...maybe even be on Joe Rogan. Or...you can obey the law, be afraid, get your brain crushed and body beaten to a pulp...and then have the cognitive capability of Joe Biden...but you will be a squeaky clean good citizen with no record.

I wonder which path he would have chosen?

Which path do you choose?

[Yondering]

Seems like a simple choice to me, and I'm sure most here as well. There's a reason I have a Glock and a "your insides will become your outsides" knife in my belt.

My observation is that the "you'll go to jail!" thing is the excuse of a lazy and timid mind not wanting to train for a bad situation. Training takes commitment as we all know, and requires a mental acceptance that this bad thing could happen, which I think may be the hardest part for a lot of people. They want to be comfortable and safe, instead of preparing for screaming and clawing at eyes and blood everywhere. Some just need more persuasion to break out of that shell, which I think SI is good at encouraging, and others just want to hide from it.

Another example of this that I've run into a few times recently is this idea that there's no reason to train with a pistol past 15 or 25 yards (depending who you talk to) because "you'll go to jail if you shoot someone farther away", with the claim that you could never justify shooting anyone that far in court. My take is those people most likely just suck at shooting at distance and don't want to practice it, and aren't mentally prepared to even consider taking out some active shooter or other bad guy at a distance.

[Gabriel Suarez]

LOL.. I remember the interview with Fat Fudd who watched the active shooter walk into that IHOP...a mere 25 yards away. Let that never be said of us, should the Lord listen to our hearts and give us an opportunity like that. Churchill's tap will probably not be inside your comfort zone.

[Brent Yamamoto]

I think groundfighting is fun as hell. In the dojo.

Out on the sidewalk? I am going to shoot you and every MFing friend you brought with you.

Going to the ground would be…choosing poorly.

[Gabriel Suarez]

Agreed Brent. The problem is that people mistake dojo for street.. and range for street.

[Brent Yamamoto]

Yes.

I do not want a boot party on my face. I want to be able to eat a fine meal and smile at my woman with my real teeth. I want to be able to walk and talk without pain or a slur or a limp. The only brain cells I intend to lose are from fine liquor and wine. I am not smart enough to end up like Stephen Hawking and I’m too smart to end up like Reginold Denny.

The only jujutsu I will be doing outside the dojo…will be inside the bedroom.

[steve_k]

Only seem to hear that at gun shops and the Fudd email distribution group at work. It tends to provide for some interesting listening.

[apamburn]

I've been taken down enough, and mounted enough, to know how quickly I can be seriously injured.

I also have seen waaaaay too many videos of people going to ground and the horrible, life altering injury that happens when they get stomped or go limp.

Me on ground, especially mounted == deadly force and will be responded to accordingly.

[Shooter Ready]

One of then nodded in agreement and chuckled. The other was shocked..."You'll go to jail", he said.

Be a thinking man and realize that there is killing with in the law. Even Mas Ayoob himself proclaims the virtues of articulating your side of the story, in which a reasonable person was forced to defend himself from life threatening harm.

A man needs to realize his limitations, and our adversary may be superior in size and numbers. Thus, we are justified in using a force multiplier. Many here have thought about this deeply, yet this exercise is more important than yet another range session or the purchase of another firearm.

Ground fighting and knife fighting are for the movies. I'm a middle aged white collar worker. I will shoot them and tell THE story.

[Gabriel Suarez]

So isnt the Pistol Groundfighting series basically a quantification of just that very thing?