Emotional Defense

How to Be Better Prepared to Survive an Attack

I've been teaching self-defense to military, law enforcement and civil­ians for almost 25 years and there is one aspect to everyone's training that must be the same. Techniques may differ depending on the mis­sion for the military, laws that po­lice must stay within and scenarios that civilians prepare for. However, the one thing that must be present within all of their arsenals is many times the missing piece.

Put simply, emotional training.

''Techniques'' are useless without emotional intensity training along­side of them. Anyone can perform a self-defense technique while calm, relaxed and ready for whatever attack is coming. True training must involve being surprised, while having one's heart rate spike and perspective at least slightly cloudy by chaos. That is reality. That is how it will be in a real-life situation and it should be mimicked in one's training.

If you want the mindset of a war­rior, you must strengthen it by making sure it can adapt under pressure and stress. There are four main components that must be a part of this type of training.

The first is variety, so you don't know exactly what you are defending against. As stated before, anyone can do a block or perform a punch when they know what is coming at them. But, what happens if the opponent pulls a knife or attempts to take them down to the ground? That is variety, and having the ability to adapt within a second or two is priceless.

The second element that must be injected into training is the envi­ronment, such as light, footing and temperature. These create emo­tional stress because rarely is one attacked in a well-lit place, at room temperature on a matted surface.

Although this next additive to your training could be grouped in with the previous point, I have found that loud sounds also spike the emotions in a unique way, so make sure annoying music or yelling with your partners is included. Too much self-defense training is done with nice popular music in the back­ground at just the perfect volume. In a violent attack, awkward and hair-raising sounds are all around.

Lastly, most people can emotionally handle stress if they are not some­how physically fatigued. For exam­ple, if you're sick, and have missed out on sleep for a couple nights, emotionally getting through a day can be exponentially taxing. The same holds true for increasing your mental and emotional strength in self-defense. I'm not recommending getting sick on purpose or going without sleep as a form of training. Although, sleep deprivation is one way many elite units, such as the SEALs, test their candidates.

However, doing a round of 25 ''burpees'' or sprinting right before practicing a self-defense move or taking part in a sparring round can build the strong mindset we've been talking about.

The fact of the matter is, training and conditioning our minds to adapt and overcome variables that will be present will make you emo­tionally and mentally stronger.

Bullpup Shotguns?

By Jason Hanson

A bullpup shotgun is a firearm with a de­sign where the action is located behind the trigger group. In other words, the action (the part that loads, fires and ejects) is built into the buttstock, significantly reducing the overall length of the weapon. This shorter overall length gives the bullpup better ma­neuverability in confined environments such as moving around corners, through doorways and rooms and getting in and out of vehicles.

Since bullpups are held closer to the body, they cause less arm fatigue and allow a faster reaction time from a lowered posi­tion. Bullpups tend to have more weight concentrated rearwards than conventional weapons. This distribution of weight makes them very easy to move quickly to engage targets in close quarters combat.

If you've never owned or shot a bullpup shotgun, I'd definitely recommend checking one out the next time you visit a gun range to see if it may be a good fit for you. They can be excellent home defense weapons, if it's something you' re comfortable with. Here are the top bullpup shotguns I would consid­er if I were in the market for a new shotgun.

Kel-Tec KSG Shotgun.

The KSG has a desirable feature in that it ejects downward, making it 100% ambidextrous. The KSG can hold 14+ 1 rounds, meaning it has two feeding tubes that hold seven rounds each and you can chamber a round. What sets the KSG apart from other bullpup shotguns is its Iightness and compactness. The MSRP is in the $800 range, but they're hard to find so they will probably go for much more than that.

UTS-15.

The Turkish UTAS UTS-15 has a lot of quality features that make it a player in the bullpup shotgun market. It's compact and maneuverable, with an overall length of 28.3 inches and an 18.5-inch barrel. As with most bullpups, there's no adjusting the stock for length of pull on the gun, so it is what it is. It holds 14+ 1 rounds and sells for around $800.

Remington 870 Bullpup Conver­sion.

This is a great conversion option that gives you the reliability of a reputable com­pany like Remington. n,e conversion only takes about an hour and makes the shotgun almost 10 inches shorter than the traditional 870. If you feel more comfortable buying a well-known brand, consider the 870 con­version, which will cost around $750 for the shotgun and the conversion kit.