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‘Know your enemy’ is a profound military maxim. It also applies to self-defence.
The Threat
A key element in military planning is to make an assessment of the threat likely to be faced. This permits the correct equipment to be issued and a suitable plan to be put in place. For example, a team assaulting an oil rig seized by gunmen would not expect to encounter armoured vehicles and can probably dispense with antitank weapons. Combat will likely be at close quarters where sub-machine guns and shotguns are more useful than sniper rifles. No special forces team would ever be committed without at least some understanding of the threat to be faced.
The same philosophy applies to self-defence. In order to defend yourself effectively you need to understand the nature of the threat as it really is, rather than relying on an impression gained from movies and headlines. What sort of threat are you likely to face? What will an aggressor actually try to do? What are the odds of being faced with a weapon or a gang?
FALSE IMPRESSIONS
It may seem from a cursory look at the news that the streets are a battleground, a deadly arena of fists, guns and knives. In fact armed attacks are not at all common, though they are serious enough to merit attention when they do happen. Lesser levels of violent assault are more frequent, but even these are not as likely as many people think.
Extreme threats
Generally it is better to surrender property than to tackle weapons, but if you think you are going to be harmed anyway, fighting is your only option.
Be aware!
Most robberies and many assaults are opportunistic. Distractions such as phones and music can make you vulnerable
The perception of constant street violence derives mainly from the fact that it gets reported while its absence does not. Headlines like ‘nobody got stabbed today’ would not sell a lot of newspapers, so we are told about incidents that do happen and never hear about the millions of people who go about their business unharmed. To illustrate that, look at this page. The words stand out but there is a lot more white space between and around them. You do not notice it because it is not brought to your attention. So it is with violence – a lot more people do not encounter violence than do. That said, if it happens to you then it does not matter how uncommon it is.
THE LIKELY THREAT
As a rule, civilians are most likely to face an u
