Imagine being attacked unexpectedly, right now, out of nowhere. The sudden realization of imminent harm is shocking. Confusion and fear confound our effective response. Unless we’re well-trained and experienced in responding to violence, we will likely react instinctively when psychologically, emotionally and physically overwhelmed. Instinct alone is not a recipe for success.
Instinctively, we tend to pull away when grabbed and push back if pushed. We retreat in the same direction as the attacker’s charge. We struggle to stay on our feet even when being overrun. We may begin to draw our handguns well after our attacker begins drawing. These behaviors play into the attacker’s plan to overwhelm his victim, forcing submission as quickly as possible.
Criminals are generally rational, if evil, actors who engineer their crimes to ensure they are as safe and successful as possible. They generally don’t confront those apparently stronger or more capable. While the intoxicated, under the influence of drugs and/or psychotic—or the inexperienced—may challenge, threaten and/or simply lay into us without thought of consequence, more experienced criminals use violence selectively to their advantage or to protect themselves.
Ambush is the most prevalent method of criminal assault. A surprise attack from a concealed position or through disguised motives permits the attacker to gain proximity to their target. A sudden, unexpected rush or a smooth, relaxed approach as if uninterested, followed suddenly by revealing a drawn handgun or knife at your ribs are just two examples of common ambushes. While someone reading this is likely now murmuring, “Situational awareness …” we are forced to honestly admit that the goal of being aware of our surroundings and those around us is never 100 percent accomplished. Further, we should acknowledge that someone innocently walking up to us or passing us by without our first noticing occurs too often for us to claim, “It could never happen to me, because I’m always frosty.”
Real self-defense preparation begins with honesty, not fantasy. We’re human, and humans get focused and distracted in equal measure. Therefore, it behooves us to prepare mentally and physically to prevent being ambushed, while accepting our human limitations. If ambushed, we will be surprised—not just a little, but disorientingly. We will frantically attempt to make order out of this sudden chaos (and if physically assaulted, pain). Our first instinct is to resist, to regain our lost status quo and at least find stasis prior to formulating a defense, even though that time is past and we need to positively respond, now.
When in a losing fight—whether a physical struggle or a shooting situation—and at such a disadvantage that it seems a no-win situation, continuing to do the same thing that isn’t working is not a path to success. Lost time in any fight cannot be regained. When we’re losing or defending a rapidly diminishing position and we have no time, there is only one solution: Change the fight.
Changing the fight means doing something equally surprising to the criminal attacker, disrupting the flow of the fight. If the situation or fight is going well for the assailant, doing something different forces him or her to pause, adjust and perhaps frantically switch to defense rather than ruthlessly pursuing their goal. This creates badly needed time for us.
Let’s use some examples of what changing the fight might mean in different contexts.
Someone grabs you
You are being pulled toward your attacker. Resisting by pulling against his or her force cannot change the situation: if you were bigger and stronger, he wouldn’t have grabbed you. Change the fight: When pulled, push. When pushed, pull.
Assaults are based on the expectations of the attacker. Pulling a smaller, weaker victim is already calculated to overcome any resistance by pulling away. So, change the fight by moving much faster in the direction the attacker is intending. If they pull, go quickly into him, surprising them, while seeking to strike any available open targets (a universal combatives principle is to seek available targets and to put appropriate weapons—hands, feet, knees, fingers, clubs, knives, bullets, etc.—to the nearest open target). Think about the psychological result experienced by the attacker who just a moment ago was in control, but you are now rushing at them and hitting their nose or groin or throat with your free hand. Continue pushing in, striking and giving him no time to regroup. Conversely, if they push, pull hard while stepping back and to the side. This often causes them to lose balance, giving you the opportunity to exploit this new vulnerability, perhaps by directing them into something hard (a utility pole, fire hydrant, corner, etc.) or into the ground with force.
As in judo, using an attacker’s momentum against him can lead to both physical and psychological success in changing the fight. Photo: AP images
Being transported in a vehicle against our will by a criminal to a secondary location is almost invariably fatal. These scenarios provide privacy and time for the criminal to act out his or her crime. If being pulled or pushed into a vehicle, change the fight: Drop to the ground with your legs toward the attacker and kick at his knees and groin. Force them to bend down and lift you into the vehicle, making their facial targets available (eyes, nose and throat). Make noise. Even if they are armed with a knife or firearm, the hard truth is anything they can do to you at this initial point of attack, they can do much more slowly and maliciously with privacy. This should be the fight of your life, because it is the fight for your life.
Someone armed charges you
When confronted by someone charging with a knife, almost everyone instinctively attempts to back directly away from the charging threat. Few can run faster backward than a person running forward. Sometimes, this occurs so quickly that drawing our handguns is impossible. When retreat isn’t a viable solution, there are a couple of options to change this fight.
Move hard forward at an angle, forcing the attacker to change direction. If armed, draw your handgun while moving (practice this with an unloaded handgun or, better yet, an inert plastic training replica). This movement should be sudden and sharp, executed late—when he or she is nearly to you—in and at a severe enough angle that they run past you, unable to react. Angular movement may give you extra seconds to create a solution. If there is an obstacle you can put between you and the attacker, all the better. Force them to spend time negotiating it before contacting you. Anything to give you more time.
If suddenly overrun by a knife-wielding attacker, the typical method used is to reach out and grab an arm, hair or clothing with their empty hand, then repeatedly strike the victim’s torso or face with the knife. He or she then follows the victim to the ground, continuing to stab. Let’s break our options down for these two situations:
You are about to be overrun
He or she is expecting to grab and stab you while you’re standing. Change the fight: Go quickly to the ground on your back, using your shod feet to keep him away from your upper legs and torso. Draw your handgun and target their upper body. Yes, this could potentially result in injuries to your legs, but bleeding from the legs is usually much easier to recover from than stab wounds to the torso.
On the ground while being attacked
This is a terrible—yet still survivable—situation if you change the fight: Keep moving. In prisons with high inmate-on-inmate assault rates, inmates learn to keep moving, never stopping their rolling, and fighting back. Their goal is to never give the knife-wielding attacker an easy, stable target. While it might not reduce the number of wounds, it can result in more peripheral wounds and fewer life-threatening injuries. While moving, attempt to put your feet between them and you, and never give up. At the first possible moment, safely draw your handgun and respond with fight-stopping force.
Facing someone drawing a handgun
If facing someone who is already drawing a handgun, you need to immediately change the fight. Attempting to outdraw an already drawn firearm gives the attacker the advantage of “action beats reaction,” allowing them the gift of the first one or three shots before you can respond. Changing this fight depends on the context of this fight.
Angular movement, adding obstacles and even charging an attacker are all ways to potentially gain vital initiative over a foe expecting capitulation or predictable forms of resistance.
If he or she is within two steps reaching for what you believe is a handgun, the goal is to immediately interfere with their ability to cleanly draw the pistol. Charge into them (regardless of size differences) and grab or swat at their gun hand. Keep moving into and through them despite any size differences; do not let him catch his balance. Strike them with your free hand if possible. As soon as you can, safely draw your handgun and immediately end the fight. This very strategy, caught on body-worn camera video, saved the life of a Milwaukee, WI, detective on Jan. 9, 2025, when a suspect drew and pointed a handgun at the police officer. The detective immediately diverted the muzzle, continued pushing forward, then drew and fired his own handgun, immediately stopping the threat.
If he or she is beyond two steps from you, reaching for what you believe is a handgun, rather than losing a flat-footed, quick-draw contest against a guy with a head start, change the fight: Move hard at an angle. The best option is to move to hard cover close by while drawing, and fighting from behind something that can stop bullets. If that’s not an option, movement while drawing, then engaging the attacker is the next best option. If the environment permits, moving at a sharp angle past the attacker can be effective and confusing to the threat. There have been reports of success when the defender moved straight at the attacker, screaming while firing, with the combination appearing to stun the criminal. This, however, keeps you in the same line of fire as if you remained still and exchanged fire.
These examples and suggestions are just a few proven methods of changing a fight, enabling us to prevail in situations where we started out on the losing end. The result of any physical fight or shooting is never predictable. We cannot know if we are going up against a highly experienced thug for whom violence is second nature, or facing an incompetent. There are no classes governing the weight, size, strength and capabilities of the individual you might have to vie with for your life. What we can probably predict is that the criminal attackers we might face will engage us when they believe they have the advantage.
It’s a military maxim to never fight an enemy on the ground of his choosing. When defending against physical and/or deadly force, we don’t want to fight the fight that is being imposed upon us by our attackers. Change the fight. Take the initiative and force the other guy to recalibrate. This creates time for us, and that time could be what we need most in this fight for survival.
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