What role do weapons play in modern self-defense and hand-to-hand combat training?
It is absurd to speak of a close combat system without weapons. Close combat includes both armed and unarmed combat, of course — both from the offensive and the defensive perspectives. Ditto for practical self-defense. How “practical” is a method of self-defense that omits a significant and substantial body of skills (ie those involving weapons) that not only are effective in defending yourself, but that also must be taken into account as being likely to be employed by attackers? The modern student of combat arts must train to use weapons and to defend against them. Otherwise he is defaulting (or his teacher is) on the responsibility of comprehensively addressing the subject at hand. Stickwork, knifework, the combat employment of the handgun, carbine, and shotgun, as well as such “unusual” weapons as the tomahawk, garrotte, spring cosh, and expedient weapons-at-hand, etc. is all an important and quite legitimate aspect of complete combat training in a modern close combat/self-defense s
