For some
time now the big discussion in this community has been gun control, or more
importantly the government trying to infringe on our personal freedoms. I believe the larger issue at hand is the war
being waged against our inalienable
right to protect ourselves against anyone that would attack us. Inalienable rights given to the individual by
the Creator are not for any man or government to infringe upon. It has nothing to do with guns, it has to do
with removing our ability to be able to defend against criminals and
tyrants. There should be no laws
governing the mere ownership or carry of any weapon by the citizen, but instead
simple, just, and swift punishment for misuse that may include future
ownership.
Even though
I agree that firearms are the best mechanical equalizer yet invented, I also
know that not anyone can afford one, nor are all those inclined to defense at
peace with their only option being deadly force. The one weapon that fills this gap like no
other are black jacks and saps. Outlawed
in many places due more to reputation than actual criminal use, most associate
them being carried by law enforcement.
Even though they began disappearing from law enforcement use in the
early to mid 90’s, many police are still wearing uniform pants with “sap
pockets” that now carry knives or flashlights instead.
The reason
they disappeared from police work was because of their effectiveness, have you
ever heard of such a thing? With their
heritage coming from the days when a patrolman hand to drag a suspect back to
the call box to call for a wagon, they gave way to police that are more and
more technology reliant day by day. But
as I say during my Total Officer Survival course, the one thing that no
technology will ever change is that sooner or later the bad guy has to be
handcuffed.
These tools
caused to many excessive force complaints, and more importantly the payouts
stemming from them. My feelings on that
have never changed, the bad guy , even if he believes he is innocent of the
crime, since they all do, should head verbal commands, or get what he has
coming. People will get upset by these
comments and say that I am giving the police a free pass to beat people. The truth is that in my experience “citizens”
seldom have the occasion to have a hostile interaction with law enforcement,
much less a struggle.
At the root
of the issue is not what tools cops carry, but what kind of cops we hire and
how we train them. More and more we get
recruits that have never been punched in the face, or even played a contact
sport. They get hired and receive
training based around liability and checking boxes. Their firearms training is not realistic, so
how do you think there combative/force on force training would be any
difference. They learn about what will
get them and their agency sued, not about what options they have to deal with
out of control scenarios. Then they hit
the street, guided by confusion, fear, and timidness. Some will be able to avoid conflict for a
while, but sooner or later they will be tested.
Old time
police did not have time for bullshit, nor did they tolerate it. They knew that the job was violent and their
success and survival was based on knowing how and when to use violence. That is missing from our police, they are not
intentional, and they have been neutered by being made to feel that using force
is always bad.
Blackjacks,
saps, and training can provide a legitimate force option that fills a
void.
The first things we have to admit
is that pain compliance does not work, to stop people from doing bad things the
need to attack the structural system for control, and the Central Nervous
System for deadly force. If you are a
citizen reading this, next time you get a chance to talk to a cop ask him how
he feels about pain compliance. You will
find that they have little faith in it, but some people are making a ton of
money on it so they keep teaching it. So
what happens is that they panic and do ineffective things over an over again
resulting in more injury that if they had used a damage tactics sooner.
Back to the
use of the blackjack and sap by the citizen, why we fight to keep our gun
rights we should work to restore our ability to carry all weapons. Jacks and saps have an interesting
characteristic not found in other weapon, they can allow someone with little to
know training to defend themselves against a much bigger attacker by
concentrating force, while at the same time lessen the level of force needed in
the hands of a trained person.
In my next
article I will discuss the selection, carry, deployment, and use of jacks and
saps as an option for the police officer and citizen alike.
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