Newsletter 995
The Gun, the Sword, and the Martial Arts
The gun extends a straight line
The sword extends a straight, or curved line.
The bullet goes further than the sword,
but,
even with training,
not too much further.
Odd statement, eh?
I mean, the bullet disappears into a mile away.
The sword ends at three feet or so.
But here’s the kicker,
the further away you are,
the more control of your body you must have.
Beyond a certain distance,
probably 15 feet,
control goes out the window,
and you miss a lot of shots.
(We’re not talking about sniper rifles here)
So let’s look at the basic-basics of the sword—and the gun.
Sink the weight for both.
Breath deeply and control that breath.
Relax.
Align the body properly.
Move the body with CBM
(Coordinated Body Motion).
Well,
we are fine through the first four items.
Sink, breath, relax, align.
Motion (CBM) is where it all falls apart.
I was watching a movie last night,
Jason Statham shot about 40 guys
in about five minutes.
He shot them while he turned flips,
under his arm,
behind his back,
swinging off the side of a ship,
during explosions.
40 guys,
and he wasn’t even nicked.
I guess he had that motion thing down,
right?
Nope.
The camera had it down.
The script had it down.
In reality he would have been shot,
filled with lead actually,
by the time he hit the second or third guy.
That’s just the way it is.
(why do you think SEALs sneak in?
Because charging in an easy way to die.
Why do you think ninjas sneak in?
They don’t want somebody to fight back-
they don’t want to get hurt.
Why do you think your friendly neighborhood mugger
attacks from the rear,
swinging a weapon…
he doesn’t want to risk getting a boo boo!
It’s not actually cowardice,
it’s simply good tactics:
hit without getting hit.
Deliver a force or flow,
without receiving a force or flow…)
Anyway,
It is INCREDIBLY difficult
to hit a moving target.
(People tend to shoot where something was,
and not where it is going to be)
And it is harder to hit a moving target…
while you are moving.
When you train with a gun you have to have a stable platform.
You run from place to place,
momentarily freezing and shooting,
then continuing.
Only when you make the final approach
do you unload,
firing everything you’ve got,
because during that last few feet,
when you are running,
you’re probably going to miss,
so shoot a lot of bullets and hope.
Of course,
all statistics can be improved by practice.
But,
motion is a killer.
In the martial arts
you are closer,
and there is this thing called ‘block’ and counter.
You train to handle the attack.
With a gun the only way to handle the attack
is to duck,
hide,
get a mile away.
No blocking.
So you do not develop the idea of motion against motion.
At least not to an appreciable degree.
Yes,
there are gun tactics,
training in them helps,
but if you really want to know tactics,
you must have an intuitive understanding
of how to respond with your body
to the motion of his body.
You really need the martial arts
in addition to training in shooting.
You need that ‘zen’ frame of mind.
And here is where it gets interesting.
Here is the point that led me to write this little squib.
When you train with the martial arts
you develop a state of mind.
This is a ‘zen’ state of mind.
A peacefulness during combat,
a peacefulness during…motion.
You actually develop this same state of mind
with any other practice.
Practicing something until you have mastered it
brings calmness, certainty, peacefulness.
You can attain it with a gun,
while you are ‘in platform,’
but there aren’t any practices that I know of,
in gun training,
to impart that zen state of mind
while you are using a gun while in motion.
So if you want to learn a gun,
good,
it is a tool for a martial artist,
if there ever was one.
But you need something like ‘The Gun Kata,’
made popular in ‘Equilibrium.’
I am really waiting for some fellow
to send me a video,
or a link,
to somebody doing an effective Gun Kata.
Here’s a link for weapons training…
Have a great work out!
Al
