Kelly McCann says Never Fight Empty-Handed

“Never fight empty-handed unless you’re forced to.”

– Kelly McCann

When it comes to pure self-defense, not martial arts, Kelly McCann’s combatives program is hard to beat, and in my opinion one of the best programs around. And for street survival, the above quote makes a lot of sense. Never fight empty-handed unless you’re forced to, and then use your empty-handed combatives to gain you time to deploy your weapons.

With this, McCann also says, “You should always be armed with a legal less-lethal or lethal weapon.” McCann’s first Combatives Principle in his book Combatives For Street Survival: Hard-Core Countermeasures for High-Risk Situations is Go Armed.

You can’t argue his reasoning that no matter how skilled you are, the use of any type of weapon provides you a significant advantage.  I’m not sure if I’d go as far as he does when he says, “if you don’t arm yourself with a legally concealed weapon or an improvised weapon when necessary, you’re negligent.” But maybe that’s the lawyer in me thinking of proving negligence in a court room, and not just the fact of being careless or neglectful. I do agree that since we never know when we might be forced to face violence, it makes a lot of sense to always carry a weapon or an item that can be used as a weapon.

I also think McCann makes a good point in that a weapon acts as a trigger when coupled with good situational awareness and attack-recognition skills. (Be sure to download the guide to Situational Awareness at the top right side of this page.) When you find yourself reaching for your weapon, it triggers heightened situational awareness, compelling your immediate escape from the situation.

If you want to truly be prepared for violence, remember Kelly McCann’s first principle of combatives and arm yourself with a weapon that can be legally carried in the jurisdiction where you live.

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