Dont know how many Kenpo gun techs. are floating around online, but I did find this one.
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Hey Mike,
First off, I want to make it clear that this is not an appraisal of the system, or even the instructor, simply of the techniques as presented. To begin with, some positive aspects. Well, he moves pretty fast, and once he gets hold of the wrist, he doesn't let it go, so that's good.
On the other hand....
I'm not particularly impressed with these gun defences, or, honestly, the way they appear to be being trained here. To begin with, there is very little in the way of moving his head off the line of fire, and his immediate action (the rising cover with his elbow and forearm) is rather dangerous, in that it allows no real control over the gun-hand. That is then followed with a rather complicated control (involving switching hands, and a fine-motor lock on the elbow and wrist, then turning it back again, changing hands again, and moving into a different control). A bit too difficult under stress, I feel.
When done against a gun to the back of the head, there is even less movement away from the line of fire, with the same raising cover being used, then a sweep down to catch with the second control (again requiring changing of your hands as you go), and finish. In this instance, if he didn't get shot with his first movement, he certainly makes a good attempt of getting his foot or leg shot as he passes the barrel of the gun straight past his own lower body.
Leaving off such things as "... now, I'm going to slap him with his own gun....", let's look at how this is trained here, and see how realistic it is. The set-up, to begin with, is a good enough place to start. Sifu Joseph Simonet is, as he says at the beginning, "just standing there". Now, that's good, actually, as moving from a "posture", as in training, is not very likely in an actual situation. However, even with a gun to the side or back of his head, he still just stands there.... The natural (and expected from the bad-guys side) response to that would be to raise your hands in some sort of "submissive", or surrendering gesture. If I was a gunman, and had my gun pointed at someones' head, and they didn't get their hands up, I'd start to wonder what was going on with them.... and you don't want a gunman starting to worry about you doing something, especially when you're going to do something! Add to this the way he remains calm (not showing any signs of stress in any form, again an expected and normal response). So not a good set-up, psychologically speaking.
The first movement (both against the gun to the side, and behind) involves bringing both arms up in a form of a high cover, but with no movement to get your head out of the line of fire first. As Sifu Joseph is starting with his hands relaxed down at his sides, that actually increases the amount of time it will take to get his cover up, and that actually leaves him more open to being shot. Again, add to that his little telegraphing habit of tensing his shoulders, and he may be in trouble... If he started with his hands up (as above), this may have a much better chance, but he would still be well advised to get his head out of the way first and foremost. The actual movement itself (the rising cover) is also something I wouldn't place huge amounts of trust in, as it knocks the gun-arm to the side (possibly discharging the weapon while it is still very close to your head), while gaining no control over the weapon at all. He waits until the second movement for that, and if the gunman moved or pulled back in response to his sudden action (which would be again natural and normal), his reach for his control isn't really guaranteed. And I'd want something with higher return and lower risk.
The gunman here isn't really helping the reality of the training himself, it must be said. Starting from his set-up, he is standing with his feet evenly, and the gun extended forwards in his right hand. This isn't really realistic, and shows that he doesn't really have experience with a handgun. There is no bracing to the footwork, and no real threat or confidence in his holding of the weapon. When the techniques are applied to him, he simply moves his arm as much as it is pushed, allowing the Sifu to simply keep positioning him as he wants to. Every human being has an inbuilt "flinch" response, and things such as Tony Blauers' SPEAR use that in their approach, but of those that use such understandings in their training, most only think about how that is used in the defensive actions, rather than remembering that it exists in the attacker as well. It is especially important to remember it when dealing with weapon defences, as it comes into play there quite a bit.
As soon as you grab someone's weapon, or even look like you are trying to, they will do what they can to stop you from getting it, and that means pulling back in a lot of cases. And that could have a very bad effect on techniques such as this, as there is no real control straight away, so if the gunman was to pull away as soon as the first movement was telegraphed, you could suddenly find yourself facing a gunman now far more agitated (you'd raised their adrenaline by trying to move), further away, and still with a gun trained on your head. If he went for the control straight away, as the gunman pulled back, you could still keep him in control, and this would be a far safer technique.
These aren't the only issues I'm seeing, but this is getting long as it is, so I'll deal with it in a few bullet points. Here is how we deal with gun defence, and in brackets how I see this example in comparison:
First, get off the line of fire (something that is not done here at all, to my mind).
Second, get control of the weapon and weapon hand (the first action against the gun itself should get control of it, rather than as a one-two action seen here).
Third, keep control and position the weapon in a safe position (Sifu Joseph moves the gun away from himself in the first technique, but passes it past himself on the second. And when controlling it, he is pointing the barrel in many different directions, regardless of who it may be pointing at. For me, I would point the gun at the safest possible place, the ground if I have to, or straight back at them for preference).
Whenever possible, the disarm should end with you in control of the weapon (In both techniques the end had the gun falling to the ground, even closer to the gunman in the first one. Falling and hitting the ground may discharge the weapon, and it being on the ground is leaving control of it up to chance to a great degree, as you both struggle in the ensuing chaos).
Finally, with control of the gun, get distance from the gunman, with the gun aimed at them, in order to discourage them trying the same type of thing on you (Needless to say, that didn't happen once here, and really should be trained every time)!
Obviously, I'm not a Kenpo practitioner, so I hope these comments aren't taken as a critique of the art, as they are in no way intended to be. Just some observations from an outsider.
