Expect Nothing

by Dave Spaulding

I spoke with a street cop today who almost died in an attack. He is experienced and skilled, being state-certified in firearms, defensive tactics, and OC instruction. I have had him in my classes, and he knows what he is doing. During a stop for a routine traffic violation, the citizen became incensed at being detained and attacked in what the officer called a “raging bull state,” against which the officer’s OC and ASP baton had no effect. The suspect tried to take the officer’s service pistol, all the while telling him that he was going to kill him, before a group of citizens intervened and helped restrain the crazed man. The officer told me that none of his skills worked and everything he believed in was a lie.

Unfortunately, this officer's story is not a new one . . . at least not to me.

I have long questioned the practice of spraying students with OC or hitting them with a Taser during training, as it gives them an unrealistic expectation of what the tool can do. Students in training are not filled with a chemical cocktail of cortisol and epinephrine that can turn off any pain signals to the brain temporarily. They feel the full effects of the given tool and think their opponent will too. Expect nothing. It is well documented that people can be shot through vital organs, such as the heart, and still be mobile for 20 to 40 seconds — what has been called “ambulation after death” — causing havoc and death before they finally succumb. The human organism might not be hard to kill, but it is certainly hard to stop quickly.

No matter what skills you decide to incorporate into your skill set, often referred to as your “toolbox,” understand they may not work quite as well as they did on the range or in the dojo against a partner who was a bit more willing to comply than an aggressive attacker. As a matter of fact, do not count on any technique to work . . . expect nothing . . . and plan to move to a contingency technique or skill instantly. Shooting rounds, swinging a baton, or throwing a punch and expecting instant incapacitation is likely to meet with failure. Train hard; stay on guard; and shoot, punch, kick, or bite your opponent until he or she thinks it’s time to stop. All you can do is help them arrive at that conclusion.


Dave Spaulding is a retired lieutenant from the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office in Dayton, Ohio, where he worked in all facets of law enforcement, including SWAT, training, crime-scene investigation, undercover operations, and violent crime investigations. He is a graduate of most of the better-known shooting schools and the author of more than 1,000 articles in firearm and law enforcement publications. He is the author of the two best-selling books Defensive Living and Handgun Combatives, and has been featured in Ruger’s Tactical Tips at www.ruger.com.