Black Medicine Anthology

by N. Mashiro

  I had a little difficulty picturing a situation involving a rifle as an expedient weapon. In what kind of situation would an inexperienced person have to pick up an unfamiliar rifle and use it for self-defense?

  The first thought that came to mind was defense of a ranch house or hunting lodge where rifles are normally expected, though you might not normally be the one who uses them. A woman home alone might get into that situation.

  Or you might stumble on marijuana growers while hiking in a national forest and get lucky enough to grab one of their rifles. They tend to be very touchy about intruders.

  How about this one. Your date gets amorous and won't take no for an answer. In desperation you grab a deer rifle from behind the seat of her pickup truck.

  Well, this is the 90s, you know. Get with it.

  I should restate my premise that you are engaged in a short-range personal confrontation. The enemy is only a few feet away. You have a rifle in your hands and you need to use it. What do you do?

  What Kind of Rifle?

  There are many kinds of rifles. There are bolt-action single-shot rifles, bolt-action magazine-fed rifles, lever-action magazine-fed rifles, pump-action magazine-fed rifles, and semiautomatic magazine-fed rifles. Also, there are centerfire rifles and rimfire rifles. What did you grab from the rifle rack?

  Basically, if the rifle is not semiautomatic, there will be some kind of handle or lever present which opens the action and simultaneously cocks the hammer. You have to cycle this lever between shots to eject spent cartridges and to chamber new ones.

  Semiautos chamber a new round after each shot. Usually there is a relatively small handle on the bolt, about big enough to get one finger around, that is used to cycle the bolt to load the first cartridge from the magazine. Just yank it all the way back and let go. You've seen them do it a thousand times on TV.

  What is the distinction between centerfire and rimfire rifles? I have to assume that you don't know, so here it is. A rimfire rifle is a .22-caliber weapon. It is terribly underpowered for fighting. A centerfire rifle is likely to be a rifle for big-game hunting or for military use, firing large, heavy bullets with a lot of energy behind them. One of these can tear off a man's head or arm as it passes through.

  Where is the Safety Button?

  All the rifles I have handled have had safety levers, buttons, or other safety devices. Some engage the safety automatically each time you cycle the bolt. It pays to know where it is.

  Just like with the shotgun, first look for a transverse button built into the trigger guard. Push it to the left to unlock the safety.

  Look for a sliding switch on top of the receiver where your right thumb rests. Push it forward to release it.

  If it is an "assault" rifle (one with a pistol grip in addition to a shoulder stock), look for a lever on the left side of the receiver, where the right thumb rests. Push it down.

  I have one rifle where the safety is a lever that intrudes into the forward part of the trigger guard. You push it forward, out of the trigger guard loop, to release the mechanism for firing.

  Safeties tend to be well-marked, easy to work, and within reach of the right forefinger or thumb when the piece is grasped naturally. Just keep your wits about you and you will find it.

  How to Hold the Rifle

  As with the shotgun, seat the rifle butt firmly against your shoulder before firing it. The big centerfire rifles kick quite sharply. Pressing the stock hard against your shoulder before firing helps avoid bruises.

  Remember to keep your thumb away from your eye, too.

  How to Aim the Rifle

  Just line up the sights on what you want to hit. If the rifle has a telescopic sight, look through it and put the crosshairs on the target.

  Compared to a pistol, a rifle is easy to shoot accurately. Even a novice can pick up a rifle and hit a man-sized target 20 or 30 meters away. I dare say that you will be able to strike your target all the way across the bedroom if you apply yourself.

  Be advised that most centerfire rifle bullets will pass completely through a human body at short range and will still have enough power left to penetrate walls and injure people at some distance from where the shot was fired. It is hard to keep this in mind when your life is on the line, but it must be a part of your thinking any time you handle a firearm.

  What to Aim For

  With a heavy, centerfire rifle, aim for the center of the chest. There just isn't any better advice.

  If it is a .22 rimfire rifle, aim at the chest first and be ready to switch to the head if that doesn't get results.

  When to Shoot

  "Don't move!" If he moves, shoot.

  How Many Shots?

  For a centerfire military or hunting rifle, one shot in the chest is all it takes. Pause and reevaluate. Use a second shot if necessary. Hunting weapons contain one to five cartridges, depending on the model, so use them wisely. Military weapons use 5- to 30-round magazines. Some boltaction rifles contain one shot and that's all. Make that one shot do the job. Fortunately, a single chest wound from a heavy rifle bullet is devastating.

  If your expedient weapon is a .22-caliber rimfire, it probably fires from a 10-round magazine. Treat it like a pistol. Put two shots in the chest and pause. The next shot, if necessary, goes to the head. A.22 may bounce off his skull, so aim for an eye.

  If it is a single-shot .22, do I have to tell you where to aim?

  What to Expect

  A .22 rifle has about the same wounding potential as a .22 pistol, which is to say, not much. Put a bullet in his brain and he will go down unconscious. Put a bullet in his lung or even his heart and he might not notice it for awhile.

  The large centerfire rifles are a different matter entirely. They fire big, heavy bullets traveling a two to three times the speed of sound. They produce an effect called "hydrostatic shock" in living tissue. This simply means that the flesh splashes away from the bullet so hard that it makes a temporary wound channel that is inches wide. A high-velocity rifle bullet passing through a man's thigh makes an instantaneous channel wide enough to put your fist through. The flesh is very elastic and snaps back to form a narrow permanent wound channel, but organs and tissues nearby are pulped and ruptured. The impact can break nearby bones even though they were untouched by the actual bullet. If this high-velocity bullet hits a fluid-filled cavity, like the heart or braincase, it simply blows it apart.

  From two steps away, one high-velocity rifle shot through the center of the chest really ought to end the contest.

  And be advised that the muzzle blast from a full-size hunting rifle or military rifle is awesome. In a small room it could literally be stunning.

  If the Rifle Doesn't Fire

  You know what to do by now.

  Next Steps

  Lawyer. Also, you may want to see an ear specialist if you fired that shot inside a closed room.

  There is a story told of a karate master in Japan who was challenged to fight by a belligerent sailor in a bar. The karate master reluctantly agreed to the contest, but first walked over to a nearby table and picked up a large bread knife. He dropped it on the floor and kicked it across the room to the astonished sailor. "Pick it up," said the martial artist quietly. "You are going to need it."

  The sailor looked at the karate master for several seconds and then abruptly turned tail and ran out the door. Psychology prevailed. You might think that this is the moral of the story.

  You might also note that a karate master can cross a room and break your neck a lot faster than you can bend over and pick up a knife from the floor. If the sailor had been stupid enough to go for the knife, he never would have reached it. The master altered the tactical situation to create a game he could control. That's the idea we want to explore in this chapter.

  When your person is under assault, it is hard to keep your cool and use your brain. It pays to have thought about it a lot ahead of time. "Tactics" are tricks and techniques you can apply to manipulate a violent situation in your favor
.

  Aggression and Confidence

  Let me tell you about a purely psychological tactic that works extremely well. Thugs are greatly unsettled by confident opponents. The mugger threatens you and you don't look scared. In fact, you start to grin and circle closer to him. He decides he has made a mistake. Sometimes this will end the situation with no further action.

  If they were brave they'd be holding down jobs like the rest of us.

  Use of Lighting

  Most street crime occurs after dark. One usually pictures a scene where a few bright lights cast deep shadows. Think of a lonely sidewalk illuminated by an occasional street light. If traffic is heavy on this street, there will be a continuous stream of bright headlights coming down the street. Here come the bad guys. They move to cut you off.

  If you have your wits about you, it is a very simple trick to shift position so that the brightest nearby light is behind you. For instance, you can back up against the flow of traffic so they have to look into the passing headlights to see you. This illuminates them but turns you into a black silhouette. The light in their eyes contracts their pupils, making you even harder to see.

  Why is this helpful? You can see their faces and hands, but they can't see yours, at least not clearly. They can't see the expedient weapon in your hand. It is much harder for them to see your fist or foot attacks, so they can't dodge or block very well. Untrained fighters (you) tend to telegraph attacks through heroic facial expressions. They won't see those either.

  Another variation on this theme is to carry a pocket flashlight. When somebody confronts you late at night in the street, shine it in his eyes deliberately. Shove it right in his face and he'll never see the low-level kick coming.

  Shouting

  Everybody who studies self-defense recommends shouting loudly for help. They also recommend screaming loudly whenever you get punched or kicked. The whole idea is to attract attention, and criminals just don't like attention.

  Karate students shout when they attack. This has morale effects on both the shouter and the shoutee and would be valuable for that reason alone. In addition, however, the karate yell, or kiai, contracts the fighter's abdominal muscles at the instant of impact. This makes a very solid connection between your shoulders and your hips, passing a measure of your leg strength into your hand blows.

  Shout when you fight. Shout something very loud and, if possible, very obscene.

  Using Cars as Barriers

  Look around when you are on the street. What do you see that is almost always present by the side of the road or in nearby parking lots?

  Cars. Parked cars.

  There are five tactical possibilities offered by parked cars. Think them through so you will remember them.

  • If you can get a car between yourself and a lone attacker, he will have a hard time getting at you. It is very hard for a big, ungainly guy to play ring-around-therosy like this and catch the quick young lady on the other side of the coupe.

  • Many cars these days, particularly in upper-class neighborhoods, have sensitive burglar alarms. Rocking the car, or even touching it, can set off the alarm. As you run from the attacker, kick a few cars. Find one that honks, wails a siren, and flashes its lights. Use that one for your ring-around-the-rosy game. The owner will either show up on the sidewalk with a gun or will call the cops.

  • Many cars still have those convenient tubular metal radio antennas that are so easy to snap off at the base. Pull it out to maximum length, break it off, and then use it as a flail to cut the attacker's face and hands.

  • If there are multiple attackers, get into the narrow lane between two parked cars. This channels the attackers into single file as they come after you. At worst, only two can reach you at a time (one from each direction). This is a lot better situation than simply standing on the sidewalk with six people punching and kicking you.

  In the chapter on shields, I warned you that the shield is effective only until the attacker realizes that he can grab it, at which point you must let go of it. Making a stand between two cars works only until the attackers realize that they can climb on top of the cars and jump you from the side. At the first sign of this attack, you must break out or your fortress may become a trap.

  Keep in mind, however, that you can get up on top of the cars, too. If you are adroit and are wearing rubber-soled shoes, you can run across a crowded parking lot by leaping from the top or hood of one car to the next, probably setting off many burglar alarms in passing.

  • A lot of people don't lock their cars. Find an unlocked car, jump inside, and lock the doors. Then turn on the emergency flashers and the headlights. Lean on the horn. Look in the glove compartment and under the seat for expedient weapons. For that matter, look for a cellular phone! Dial 911.

  Fight One, Dodge One

  One of the essential principles of tactics is to concentrate your strength against the enemy's weakness. Suppose you are beset by two attackers. Would you be smarter to fight them both at once or one at a time?

  When two men try to fist fight you at the same time, it is relatively easy to swing around to the side and get one of the opponents between you and the other opponent. Then you play ring around the rosy again, keeping the second bad guy always on the far side of the first one.

  Run your best tricks against the man in the middle, and try to hurt him so badly that he folds up and falls on the floor. I'll leave the details to you.

  Now dance left and right to keep the second opponent on the far side of his crippled (or unconscious) partner. Most people will not step over the body of a fallen comrade to press the attack, but if they do, they look down to avoid stepping on him as they cross. Expect this downward glance. That's when you launch your attack at his head.

  Using "Coward Psychology"

  When you contend with a mob or gang of attackers, their group psychology can be used against them in a fight. It is not uncommon for the big scary guy to face you and threaten while some sneaky weasel darts in from the side or the rear to cut you down. Once you are hurt, everybody joins in.

  It is a good principle of tactics to expect an attack from behind. Karate students practice endlessly at knocking out an opponent and turning immediately to the rear.

  So here you are in the tight space between two parked cars. Thug #1 is closing in from your left. Thug #2 is coming in from your right. You are getting dizzy looking back and forth, wondering which one will attack first.

  Here's how to take control of the situation. Take a big step to the left, jumping right in the face of Thug #1 with a big, angry yell. Make this so sudden and loud that he hitches back half a step in surprise.

  You can bet that Thug #2 will leap in toward your back. Cowards are irresistibly drawn to backs. After spooking Thug #1 you immediately turn around and attack #2, catching him by surprise in the middle of his step. A high attack followed by a near-simultaneous low attack are best. If you get in his face fast enough, you can be through his defenses and doing damage while he is still in mid-gasp. You have about two seconds before you have to turn away from #2 and leap back at #1 again. Make the most of it.

  Somebody is going to jump in at your back. The trick is to draw him in on cue and catch him unprepared.

  Coordinated Defense

  What if you are not alone when the fight starts? Maybe your best friend is with you, or your brother, or best of all a friend from your self-defense or martial arts class. Martial artists inevitably learn to fight alone. There is much to be said for fighting as a team instead. It doesn't take much practice. The trick is for at least one of you to understand how to do it.

  Here you are walking to high school with your brother. Four members of the local gang, the Smelly Frijoles, block the sidewalk. It is not just your lunch money they want this time. The big Frijole doubles up his fist and punches your brother in the mouth.

  It doesn't matter how many bad guys there are. The only ones that count are the ones within reach. You and your buddy need to stay close togeth
er and fight the same guy at the same time. Double-team the opponents one at a time in rapid succession.

  Your brother is trading punches with Numero Uno. Instead of grimly taking on the other three Frijoles, you should step up to the side of Numero Uno and stomp the side of his knee. You will probably be able to grab one of his arms at the same time. Uno will be severely handicapped for the one long second it takes your brother to kick him into submission.

  You will only have a second, but that is all it takes. One or the other of you will suddenly have your hands full of Mr. Dos. Even if you both have an opponent now, you can dodge and dance, looking for a chance to step in and double-team your buddy's attacker. Break the knee first. Then use the knee or foot to the face, or even the ungracious groin kick from behind.

  The key is to put two attackers on the pavement, screaming and moaning. The odds are that the other two will suddenly start shouting "OK! OK! We don't want any trouble!" Back off and get out of there. If I were you I'd find a new route to school. Or a new school.

  Running Away ... At First

  Let's say you are alone and are confronted by several bad guys. If you are in pretty good shape, my advice is to turn and run.

  Why? Aren't they likely to catch you? Sure they are. Cowards can't resist backs. They will chase after you, but they will not all run at exactly the same speed. They will string out along the sidewalk. Each one will be alone, and not at his best, when you suddenly scoop up an expedient weapon, turn around, and attack the man in the lead.

  This is another technique for changing a many-againstone fight into a series of one-against-one fights. Put the first guy down, then turn and run another block. Some of the attackers will stop to "help" the guy on the pavement. Make another stand and take out the new leader. If you can put him down and then take off again, the odds are that the chase will be over.