I’ve posted this video before on Facebook, but I consider it’s value of such importance that I want to feature it in a blog post.
The idea here is about the value of elbow control as a priority in gun disarms, which are quite risky to say the least.
The outline for the structure is this. Please note that this is from Nathan Wagar’s Youtube comments.
My approach is not that you should never grab the gun, it’s that it shouldn’t be the first concern, or you will get shot if it doesn’t work the first instant. Not only that, you still don’t have control over the threat, so you will most likely get shot multiple times. End game.
If you look carefully, and sometimes I agree it has to be felt in person, the wrist can’t bend far enough to put me in the line of fire, precisely because I have the elbow. The positions I have chosen have been tested on many different body types, with SIM rounds, and it has not once been an issue once I controlled the weapon bearing arm.
Also, and I would like to stress this, this approach is not to never grab the gun. The steps are
1. Move out of the line of fire.
2A. Control the elbow.
B. Control line of fire.
3. Effect the disarm.
A and B happen nearly simultaneously, but one needs to happen before the other, or I run the risk of losing it all. In a risky endeavor, it’s all about the highest percentages.
About Nathan Wagar –
Nathan Wagar is Co-Instructor at Fortitude Tactical Group (FORTAC) and department head integrated combatives and small unit tactics (SUT). Nathan was a former U.S. Army Infantry team leader with the 101st Airborne Division. He served two combat tours to Hawijah and Bayji, located in the “Deadly Triangle” of northern Iraq. As a member of the hand selected “headhunter platoon”, he has served numerous missions in conjunction with Special Forces as well as CIA operatives. His mission experience includes nine combat air assaults, riot control, indigenous Iraqi force training in room-clearing and small unit tactics, small kill teams, reconnaissance, convoy security, personal security detachment and house-to-house raids of over five hundred structures in the course of missions designed to retake portions of Hawijah. His platoon conducted a series of targeted raids culminating in their capture of theh #2 High Value Target of Northern Iraq in ’07-’08. He is currently a Pro-Trainer in the Crazy Monkey Defense Program under Rodney King, a level 2 certified Red Zone knife defense instructor under Jerry Wetzel and a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He is the creator of the “Pressure Trap” gun disarm system for the Red Zone Program. He trains the Secret Service in New Mexico assigned to the Albuquerque field office and is the owner of Crazy Monkey New Mexico gym.
