how many of you have gotten into a street fight?

arnisador

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There are many stories in oriental martial arts of turning such items into weapons--the kai oar of Okinawan, the horse bench of China, and so on.
 

white belt

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I think of all of those perfectly good bricks being broken by Martial Artists. They could be training for a surprise "Brickin'" (c) I suppose. :) Point taken Arnisador. A talented, determined person can turn most anything into a formidable weapon. A handful of dirt on the ground is no exception.

white belt
 
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Master of Blades

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I dont know if its just me, but has the past not proved that if we dont have something, then we just replace it with another. If the world didnt have guns we would probably all be walking around with swords or whatever. You get my point. I dont think the world would be that much differant.
 

white belt

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Master of Blades,

I agree. It might actually be a worse place. I don't think Ghengis Khan was packin' heat when he stormed most of Eurasia. Alexander the Great sure never had to bust a cap in anybody's butt. The Roman's nailed a guy up for suggesting we might try to get along. Hell, in modern times a guy named Jeffrey Dahmer used Chlorform and a Cookbook as his weapons of choice. I'm keeping my gun, thank you.

:)
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Master of Blades

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White Belt,

Great post.......thanks for backing me up. I used to think very differantly about Guns but this thread made me really get thinking on the matter. I stick by my statement that the world would not change much without guns.
 

white belt

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Master of Blades,

A bow to you on reaching Black Belt! :) As far as backing you up goes, I have been left behind by the truth and run over by it. I find it is much more fun to hitch a ride when truth comes by. :) Thanks for the ride.

white belt
 

KennethKu

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Gun is for deterrence. A show of force is usually sufficient to deter aggression.
 
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rmcrobertson

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The problem with guns is the one Crichton mentioned in "Jurassic Park," a statement so wise that he must have lifted it from somewhere: basically, he says that guns--like the fatal genetic engineering in the book and movie--give power that was acquired without discipline, so you don't respect it. Of course, this is true of a lot more than guns in this society.
 

KennethKu

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Yes it is true.

It boils down to your goal.

If you want to build character, learn MA.
If you want to deter crime, learn firearms.

This is not to say MA is not useful in self defence. A gun is no solution to every problem.
 
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Astra

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Yeah. Besides, you can't just shoot someone who is only interested in annoying and nudging you. Unless you're a psycho :p
 
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bob919

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a gun can end any fight even if you just point don't belive what your sensei says (dont try to disarm from 10 feet away) just damn surrender
 
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GouRonin

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Originally posted by Astra
Yeah. Besides, you can't just shoot someone who is only interested in annoying and nudging you. Unless you're a psycho :p

That's right. If they cheese you off then you stab them in the leg with a pencil. That will make them back off.
 
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bob919

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the worst thing about the uk is thatthe laws stop the enthuiast getting guns but it doesn't stop the gangs getting guns
 

white belt

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Well...the street fight thing. How many weapons, (forks, bricks, etc.) have been mentioned in this thread thus far? Maybe the webmasters could start a contest to find out and the winner gets a free MT t-shirt.:)

white belt
 
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GouRonin

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I'd almost pay someone to make sure I DIDN'T get one of those gawd awful looking things...
 
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Kirk

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Originally posted by GouRonin
I'd almost pay someone to make sure I DIDN'T get one of those gawd awful looking things...

"And I thank you for your support" --Bartles & James
 
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fist of fury

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Originally posted by bob919
the worst thing about the uk is thatthe laws stop the enthuiast getting guns but it doesn't stop the gangs getting guns

That's what we try and tell gun control advocates here. Just because guns are outlawed doesn't mean criminals will stop using them because thier illegal. Disarm the citzens and put guns in the hands of criminals.
 
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rmcrobertson

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Oh, fiddle-faddle.

By the way, how many of the gun enthusiasts keep the gun out and loaded, all the time? Do you carry a loaded, cocked pistol? Do you keep one in your car?

It's kind of a rhetorical set of questions--my point is, of course, that if you do not have the gun right ready to go, it is exceedingly unlikely you'll get it an emergency. Even if you do have everything set--which is against every signle rule of gun safety I was taught or have ever heard of--you probably won't get the thing on target fast enough.

Oh, and here's another rhetorical question. If you've got a gun for home defense, what kind of gun is it? what kind of gun do you think of? I bet the majority think handgun; the right answer, a twelve gauge loaded with birdshot, just isn't sexy enough. Friend of mine, few years back, had to back some clown who crawled in through his window out of the house...he used a twelve gauge with a pistol grip that he found under his bed...only problem was, he damn near got shot when the cops showed up, to find him standing on this yutz's neck with the barrel screwed into his ear. (Best line: "What the hell were you doing, crawling in my window?" "Well," said the loony, "You didn't answer when I knocked on the door.")

Yep, just another liberal. Just keep the snarling to a min, please, keeping in mind that a) I was brought up in the country, and yes, I've fired guns up to and including a Sharps .50--but no handguns other than paintball, a game I truly suck at. b) Some of my best friends have guns. Lots of them. I have no worries about their ownership. c) My first MA teacher had a home invasion near her house a couple of years back, and they weren't able to catch all those bastards right away (eventually, they found the guy under a car across the street from her). She stuck a clip in the Taurus, and put it on the dining room table with the front door and grille locked. Good for her.

The fantasy (and largely, it is a fantasy) is that nine gangsters out of, "Cyborg," are gonna kick down your door as Western Civilization falls. If that happens, you're dead meat most likely. Thing to do for REAL self defense against the armed, is work to make sure that this scenario does not happen.

Personally, I have a Red Ryder BB gun (no, I'm not kidding) and a big back door. The arts have graced me with superhuman powers, and I feel sure I can get out that door and over the backyard fence pretty quick. They can have my 18 year old RCA TV and the Apple. That's why I got insurance.

But if I can't get out the door, or somebody else in the house can't--Ahura-mazda help them. As was already mentioned, the arts are a lot more portable and available.
 

Nightingale

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in my college ethics class, the professor asked us "are guns good or evil?" and requested a show of hands for each option. Most students voted for "evil." As I was sitting in the front row, my professor noticed that I had abstained from the vote and chose to pick on me. He looked at me and asked "Well, Kris, is a gun good or evil?"

I replied "A gun is simply a tool. It doesn't have the ability on its own to be good or evil. Whether a gun is good or evil depends on who's holding it, the intentions of the person who's holding it, and who its pointed at."

The point is... my philosophy about guns is very similar to my philosophy about martial arts. If you have it, you have the responsibility to know when and how its appropriate to use it. If someone is teaching a person how to use a gun, its common sense to include gun law and gun safety in the lesson. The same with martial arts. I think if you're teaching martial arts, you have an obligation to give them a complete education...not just the skills to use the tools, but the knowledge of WHEN to use them. Whether the student takes these lessons to heart is up to them. Whether you continue to teach them is up to you.
 

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