Ok, I actually saw this pointed out in a self defense DVD. Sounds like really bad advice, but since the DVD was about defense against a gun, it made some sense to include it, if it’s possible.
They claimed that you wouldn’t want to bet your life on it and you should focus on getting out of line of fire, but that if you grab a revolver or semi-automatic pistol correctly you can prevent it from firing. The idea being that if you prevent the revolver from revolving or the sliding thingy (name?) ontop of the semi from chambering, the gun won’t fire.
Now, if the gun is cocked this wouldn’t be true would it?
Even if there is no bullet in position/chamber, could this work? Ie, would hand grip strength be enough to hold the gun inoperative, assuming no real struggle just the foe trie to fire while you hold it?
Second question, just a wacko idea, is it easy to grab and throw the safety of a gun on? Which of those switches does what on a semi? :eek:
The only thing I can see having a remote chance of working is getting your finger, or the web of skin at the base of the thumb between it and the forefinger, between the hammer and the breech. If you can do that, then even if the trigger is pulled, the gun can’t fire. I imagine this could be pretty painful, but I suppose it would beat getting shot. I can’t say I’d recommend trying this, however.
You could throw on the safety in theory but that brings up the same problem that the first idea has. Another person is holding the gun and is probably intending on killing you, if not before, certianly now that you have pissed him off. Even if you managed that trick the gunman is still holding the grip and that gives him a lot more leverage to break your hold. What are you going to do then? You have to let go sometime. Do you think that the gunman is going to surrender to you because you have temporarily thwarted his ability to fire?
It sounds idiotic to me. You would always be better off making a sudden evasive move even if the gun was pouinted to your head.
I remember a GI Joe comic way back in the day when the Soft Master (one of the masters of Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow) disarmed someone robbing his store by grabbing the slide, pushing it all the way to the rear (thus ejecting the chambered round) and depressing the magazine release to drop the mag.
Well, of course you make an evasive move! The point is that you make it impossible for them to fire while you hold and redirect the gun with one hand. Then you punch with the other, or eye gouge, etc. As I stated, it’s not a think to rely on, it’s an “Extra”. For instance, pushing the gun away or holding their wrist means the gun can still go off which might make your natural reaction to flinch a problem.
Anyway, still wondering if this is how a gun operates and what if chambered or cocked already.
Also, a la Jet Li in that dumb movie, is it possible to strip the slide off a pistol? What holds them in place. Lets say you did grab a semi from a guys hand, he might tackle you and take it back, can you remove the slide easily?
Yes, it can be done, but you would have to be crazy to try it.
On newer automatic pistols, there is a safety that is called “out of battery”. What this means is that they slide of the gun has to be completely forward keeping the round fully in the chamber. If you move the slide back a small amount, the safety will engage, and the gun does not fire. Not all autos have this safety though.
I remember that one of the berretta models that is assigned commonly to law enforcement had a problem the someone in front of the gun could just reach up and remove the slide from the gun without any problem. They had to redesign the gun to stop this.
As for revolvers, there are two kinds. The single action and the double action. On the single action, the trigger only drops the hammer. On the double action, the trigger can cock the hammer and drop it and rotate the cylinder with one pull. All double action revolvers that I know if can operate in single action also. Grabbing the cylinder of a single action won’t do squat. The hammer will fall, and the gun goes boom. On a double action, if the hammer is already cocked (ie single action) it is the same and it will go boom. If the hammer is not cocked, one could stop the cylinder from rotating and stop the gun from functioning.
As mentioned above, you can stop a revolver from firing by blocking the hammer with your hand. It is really really going to hurt though.
I think your best bet would be to get the muzzle of the gun as close to your skin as possible - guns rely on velocity, right? I don’t have any “cites” or “science” to back me up, but I’m willing to bet if you stuff the gun into your gut or some other part that doesn’t have any major bones - you’d probably come out with just a flesh wound, since the bullet wouldn’t have enough time to “rev up.”
I think I read that when they launch a space shuttle, a baby holding a rope could effectively pull it off course when it is first taking off - just by pulling on the rope - because the shuttle needs time to get going. But if you wait a minute - that same baby would be sucked into outer space by the tug of that rope - I’m pretty sure they haven’t really tested this, though. Strange how “science” works!
Sorry to get so far off topic! Good luck dodging bullets!
Uh, no. Bullets are ballistic; that is to say, they don’t have any propulsion behind them after they leave the barrel. So, by the time the bullet gets to the end of the barrel, it’s already nearly reached its maximum velocity. Putting the end of the barrel against you is as sure a way as any to ensure that the maximum energy is delivered to you.
Well scientists carefully observe and then test resulting theories. Because of this reliable beginning, then yes, “science” works.
In your example, the baby can exert only a small force, since it is not strong or heavy. Given the space shuttle is massive, the small force would have only a tiny effect. I suppose that if the shuttle was thus slightly off course at takeoff and no inflight corrections were made, then there would be a large error at the end of the long space journey.
Isaac Newton explained all this in the Middle Ages (he didn’t know about space flight, but he knew about forces and motion). So scientists don’t need to test it.
Where did you read this? (And why are you reading such junk?!)
If you are holding a gun on someone and you get the gun to within their reach, you are asking to have the gun taken away/ jamed or whatever.
Since guns have an effective range of much further than a person reach why would the mugger/ robber/ murder get within arm’s reach?
I do reacall reading of a case where the victim to be got the web of his hand between the hammer and the gun preventing it from firing. I bet it hurt like a bitch however.
No, you are not getting it. There is no way that you can evade as effectively while holding a gun with one hand. That is a very dangerous unnecessary step in all cases because you are still going to have to let go at some point. If you are going to evade, just make the move and quickly.
In summary, if you need to fight, then fight. If you need to escape or evade, then do it. Don’t combine half-assed elements of the two because you will end up dead.
Two answer your second question, if the gun is a revolver and the bullet is already chambered (fired single shot style with the hammer cocked) then this won’t work at all. For the other cases, it would work in theory but it is still supremely stupid.
I’ve read that the best defense against someone pointing a pistol at you is to just run. Most people aren’t all that accurate with a pistol, especially in a high stress situation. Even someone who goes to a target range isn’t going to be used to shooting at a live moving target (usually). You might get shot, you might not, but even if you do, most likely it won’t be a fatal wound. There’s still a chance you could die, but the odds are in your favor.
Grabbing for the gun, on the other hand, means that you have to get from where you are to where the gun is, and do whatever it is you are going to do (and many of the things mentioned in this thread require quite a bit of skill and dexterity), all before the guy simply pulls the trigger. The chances of you pulling all this off aren’t so good.
If you’re in a situation where you have a gun on you at close range and you can’t escape, you’re probably better off trying to disarm the attacker than screwing with the gun itself. If you dig your thumb hard into the inner part of their wrist, where the tendons are, they will be in a lot of pain and probably drop the gun.
On the Beretta 92, there is a button on the right side of the frame which must be pushed in to un-block the lever on the left side, which is rotated down 90 degrees, (counter clockwise as seen from the left side of the pistol) in order to release the slide so that the weapon can be ‘stripped’ and cleaned. It is possible to grab the gun, push the tab down, and pull the slide off to disarm the weapon, but in the scene where Wah Sing Ku (Jet Li) pulls the slide off of Riggs’ Beretta 92, the button has already been pushed down and the lever partly rotated, to assist Jet Li in performing the audience-shocking feat.
…Isn’t there still a hammer on semi-autos? So if it’s cocked, then the hammer is just waiting to be released by the trigger pull, and if you manage to pull off the slide, the gunman can still get off one more shot… the hammer just won’t recycle.
