‘Featured Articles’ Archives
Why the Kerambit?
Why do some knives become fads? There are plenty of reasons. The Rambo movies made hollow-handle survival knives all the rage back in the 1980s. Theorizing over a lockback stiletto supposedly purchased by OJ Simpsons made that knife a best-seller during the publicity surrounding Simpson's murder trial. Any and all forms of "tactical folder" swept [...]
The Power Slap
One of the dangers of striking to the head of a human being is that the skull and jaw (with teeth in it) present some very real dangers to the striking hand. One can easily break a closed fist when hitting the skull. Punching someone in the mouth can cut you badly -- or leave the other party's teeth embedded in your hand. (Nasty infections [...]
Roderick Scott Trial: What’s Wrong with New York?
His name is Roderick Scott. He's a 42-year-old black man with the build of a football player. He also holds a New York State Pistol Permit, or he did until recently. In fact, until April of this year, he kept a .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol readily to hand. Whether that pistol has been returned to him by now, and whether he still [...]
Pocket Sticks for Self-Defense
Five or six inches of wood, plastic, or metal doesn't seem like much, does it? A dowel not much bigger than an ergonomic writing pen is actually among one of the most effective close-quarters self-defense weapons you probably aren't carrying. Innocuous, usually legal, and very useful, the pocket stick is an accessory that everyone can [...]
Fitness and Self-Defense
It's extremely popular in certain circles to make public declarations of one's devotion to fitness and conditioning. Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) enthusiasts in particular tend to engage in these histrionics (as do those scrawny or otherwise out-of-shape Ultimate Fighting Championship groupies who revere and aspire to become MMA exponents). This is by [...]
The Myth of “Pressure Testing”
Much is made, largely on the parts of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) enthusiasts and other practitioners of "martial" sports, of the concept of "pressure testing." The phrase is invoked ad nauseam by those who believe a technique, a system, or a methodology that has not been used with success (or that has not been used at all) in the Ultimate Fighting [...]
Why the Buddhist Peace Fellowship is Wrong
On a whim, recently, I purchased a copy of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship publication, Turning Wheel. The theme for the issue was "disarmament," which I could not resist exploring. Since the founding of The Martialist it has been my assertion that pacifism is an unworkable, self-destructive, ill-conceived philosophy of false moral equivalence in [...]
Going Armed: Understanding Utility and Hoplophobia
I've read some truly stupid things about the martial arts on the Internet. One of these is the opinion, particularly prevalent among foreigners who do not share America's heritage of gun ownership, that self-defense is acceptable – but that armed self-defense is some sort of psychotic obsession practiced and prepared for by slavering, [...]
Guns, Gun Control, and “Martial” Artists
“Most systems taught today could not meet even basic combat training needs,” wrote Richard Loewenhagen in Mastering Kung Fu, “because they are more artistic expressions than scientific achievements of maximum efficiencies in a life-and-death reality. The real danger in this type of training is that it leads to the illusion of [...]
Enemy, Thy Name is Complacency
When I was in college, I witnessed something that would change my outlook on awareness and self-defense forever. I was leaving a four-story residence hall in which one of the university's dining halls was located. I had just come from dinner and was feeling relaxed and untroubled. As I exited the building I stopped to see what was going on [...]
