#1 A firearm may not be available. Life subjects us to places and occasions where we can?t carry a gun with us practically, or legally. If we do chose to carry in these situations it's often in a condition that's hard to get the gun from quick enough to help in a close and dynamic fight. The gun will also most likely be a small and weak model which is easy to hide. If you do use it, you will face possible repercussions such as, loss of job if you carry at work and they say you can't, or arrest and jail time if you aren't allowed by the law to carry. The very fact that you were carrying illegally just might show negligence on your part since you don't care enough about the Law to obey it. Even if it was a justifiable shoot this will possibly be brought up in the civil suit.

#2 Fights often start at ranges to close to employ a gun. Remember that the line of force from your gun is .22 to .45 inches wide and up to a ¼ mile long, if he is close enough to keep outside that line he is going to be safe. If he can control your gun hand and positioning he is safe. Anyone who has taken a reality based gun retention class knows how easy it is to get of the line of force if you're close enough, and how easy it is to take a gun.

#3 Firing in a close area with others creates backstop problems. If someone attacks you inside a crowded bar, What do you do? If someone starts to draw their gun to kill you and they're standing in front of a bunch of grade schoolers, What do you do? In a popular restaurant a drunken patron bumps into you, gets angry and attacks, What do you do? The list could go on and on. Without other options than a firearm your choices are rather limited.

#4 Deadly Force may not be justified under the circumstances. You still may have a very dangerous situation, and it could very well become a deadly force fight, but you're not justified right now. What do you do? I hope for your sake that it's not something you saw in the movies.

That's only the first few that come to mind. The list could get much more detailed and longer, but I hope you get the idea. When you do decide to round out your skills there are several things you might want to look for in a fighting system.

Basic start positions should be universal and branch (make you choose X response) after you have already begun to act. These basic initial movements should also be consistent from firearms, to knives, to improvised weapons, to no weapon/ unarmed situations. The basic idea is that if you have to stop and think about your response you will end up to far behind the power curve to prevail in the encounter. In other words you will most likely lose the fight. Complicated martial arts take years to become effective for this very reason. You will need much more hardwiring of the system to come up with an immediate response if you have more choices to make.

A good system should allow you to use a lower amount of force and still leave you in a good position to quickly escalate. If it takes substantially different positioning / body mechanics to go from light physical control techniques, to higher force & damage techniques, you may get caught behind the curve.

Please pick your instructors carefully and remember that there are no absolutes. Actually if someone insists his is the only way that just may be your answer as to whether he's teaching a street viable system.

Just A Few Thoughts,
Dave Vaughan