One of the most famous martial arts, karate, evolved on Japanese-occupied Okinawa. While the current sport version concentrates on the empty hand style, the original used a variety of improvised weapons. They weren’t as good as swords or spears, but better than nothing. Despite the myriad of martial arts movies where lightning-fast reflexes prevail over curiously slow bullets, the real life Righteous and Harmonious Fists fell readily to them.
MMA, mixed martial arts, is a more intense discipline than most. People who fight in it, especially those good enough and determined enough to turn professional, are hardly unsure of their own ability to defeat opponents with bare limbs. And yet, most of them carry weapons. Perhaps the awareness of inadequacy of a single unarmed defender against a mob, or the disadvantage of a small woman against a large man, or of an empty hand against a hand with a knife makes them prefer a ranged defensive option. Grappling or ground-fighting work fine on mats, not so well over broken glass on pavement. Even a quick and accurate kick doesn’t help against a rifleman at twenty yards.
To be fair, most rifle training has a dojo flavor to it. Firing on highly visible targets at known distances, not using cover or concealment, not training in fire teams, all adds up to most people decent shots but not necessarily effective fighters. It’s a little less true for pistol training as force on force scenarios with Simunitions are more popular. Even with the many tactical limitations, firearm training makes a typical shooter more capable of defending herself than most conventional martial artists. In sum, firearms training is a type of martial art. It augments rather than replaces other styles. Because even a beginning firearm user can be credibly dangerous to attackers regardless of his physical condition, gun training should be considered the first choice for those of us who have lives outside of the dojo and can only afford so many hours every month to keep up the skills.
Nice! Where’d she get that awesome M1A with the forward mount and the Aimpoint?
That second picture reminds me of Little Moonlight, except that of course Little Moonlight packed an 1860s Colt pistol.
Of course, “martial” does mean “military.”
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Without a name attached to the PSA, I’m going to believe that the woman is just a model and not a real-life “Professional MMA Fighter”. In other words, somebody with as much credibility as any other model or actor celebrity.
On the lighter side, I think that MMM1A would be a cool sport.
Just so happens that she is a pro MMA fighter: https://www.facebook.com/jenny.liou.56?fref=ts
Then put her name on the poster. Otherwise, to people who don’t know who she is, it has as much credibility as an actor playing a doctor for some drug ad. Or a review or endorsement by somebody posting on the internet as “anonymous”.
The message in the poster does not depend on any known personality. It is a universal constant. Like practically all of Oleg’s posters, it makes a general statement of principle using compelling imagery and text. If you put Chuck Norris or David Carradine in the image, it wouldn’t make any difference except possibly to distract from the message.
What part of “shooting is a martial art” fails to sink in here, and how would a world famous personality holding the firearm make it any easier to understand?
Oleg has produced thousands of message posters. You could pick nearly every one of them apart on the same grounds (“Is that REALLY an escaped slave in the nineteenth century, defending her life with a gun? I think it’s just a twenty first century model PRETENDING to be a slave…”) and yet that wouldn’t address the significance of any of the messages.
The message in the poster depends on whether or not the reader believes that the subject really is a professional MMA fighter. Oleg’s claim is that this person is a “Professional MMA fighter who prefers a firearm for self-defense”. If the person in the picture is just a model, and not an MMA fighter, then Oleg’s claim is bogus.
If you saw a political ad with somebody claiming to be a doctor or cop or mother or astronaut or shooting victim on TV, but refusing to identify themselves by name, how much credibility would they have?
I never questioned the idea that shooting is a martial art. I only questioned whether or not the subject in the picture is really an MMA fighter. Since her name was not included on the poster, I had no way to verify who she is.
Oh, I dunno – I give it more credibility than I’d give the poster design advice from some anonymous commenter on the internet… like yourself!
(Take that in the good humour meant; it is quite delightful to watch “Anonymous” criticize anonymity!)
Actually, I’d give Oleg far more credibility than yourself, good sir, by his long track record of having the most interesting people, guns, and cats wander through his life.
Чем дзюдо и карате, лучше старенький ТТ!