The first thing I want to say about this Paladin Press produced DVD is that I really like how Paladin is using menus with their DVDs.
Paladin has increased their production value as they have learned through experience and customer feedback as to what people want with educational DVDs.
The production quality is high with multiple angles, close-ups, good sound and clear instruction.
The menus make it easy to find the sections you want to review and train with.
So now let's get to the featured material on this DVD.
James Miller, a former police officer and SWAT operator spends 75 minutes teaching basic handgun disarming techniques.
They are simple and effective.
I must point out though, that no matter how good you are at gun disarms, you should only resort to them if all other options of avoidance, de-escalation, or escape are futile.
Empty hand techniques against weapons are clearly last ditch options.
Miller starts the program with basic safety protocols.
He also shows the training equipment used in the program.
I like that Miller included this, because the mark of all good instructors is training hard, but training safe.
This is especially important with any weapon training.
I suggest everyone watching this video listen and adhere to Miller's safety protocols and suggestions.
The next section of the DVD focuses on Principles and Concepts.
Here, Miller discusses range and distance, response time, joint-lock directions, and his disarm formula that consists of clear, control, disarm, and disable.
Miller demonstrates these four essential elements to each disarm.
The principles and concepts included in this section are important and Miller taught them clearly and succinctly.
I also really like that Miller goes over what to do with the handgun once you have disarmed your attacker.
Many programs forget this important part.
What do you do with the gun afterward? Miller tells you.
Miller then gets to the section on empty-hand responses.
The techniques he covers include disarms for these attacks: One-hand hold to the body; one-hand hold to the head, including a horizontal hold; two-hand hold; rear attacks to the body; and rear attacks to the head.
Miller only teaches a few techniques for these attacks.
That's good.
Under stress, knowing a few techniques well is better than knowing too many not very well.
He also addresses the controversy with clearing to the inside or outside.
Miller's discussion on this makes a lot of sense.
The direction you clear will be determined by the situation you find yourself in, so know techniques for both directions.
The techniques were the same or similar to some of the techniques in many Hapkido curriculums, and therefore were very easy for me to follow.
I think anyone with a solid foundation in the workings of joints and how joint locks work will have an advantage with this program.
If you don't have experience with joint locks, these techniques may not be as easy to learn.
However, if you follow along with Miller with your training partner, you should be able to get proficient.
The key is to train realistically and safely with your partner.
In the next section of the program, Miller goes into armed responses.
This is where Miller teaches how to disarm your opponent when you are also armed.
He first covers how to disarm your attacker when you are armed with a knife.
He shows these techniques with a tactical folder carried on his right hand side, tucked in the waist of his jeans and with a fixed blade carried on his strong (right) side.
I personally feel these techniques would be harder to execute than the empty hand techniques because besides knowing the disarm technique, you must also be good at drawing and using your blade.
These techniques will take a lot of practice to become proficient enough to pull them off in a real situation.
Next Miller teaches gun vs.
gun.
He clears the attacker's gun and controls it, and then rather than draw his blade, he accesses his own firearm.
Like the knife vs.
gun disarms, these techniques require that you have proficient training with the firearm you are carrying as well as the disarms Miller teaches.
For law enforcement, where officers train and carry weapons regularly, these are most useful.
For everyone else, if you are carrying a weapon, you should be training with it as well.
One must always remember, sometimes you might not have the time to draw a weapon you carry, so you need to know the empty hand techniques too.
After teaching the techniques, Miller's next section covers training evolutions.
He starts with using an inert trainer with slower walkthroughs , but not by the numbers.
Move slow but smoothly with no gaps.
He then picks up speed as he gets more comfortable.
Once comfortable with the techniques, he increases the stressors to make training a bit more stressful.
Next he shows how to train with different training weapons that actually have a plastic projectile to make training even more realistic, including some scenario training.
Miller concludes the program with a short discussion regarding finding another way to end the confrontation, and only using the disarms if there is no other way.
Then he encourages you to train hard and train safe.
This is a very good basic program on handgun disarming.
Paladin Press did a very good job of filming and editing, and Miller did a solid job with his instruction.
Again, I feel a person who has a background in an art or style that includes joint locks will be able to learn the techniques in this program much easier than someone without such a background.
If you want to incorporate handgun disarms into your training, get this video and start practicing what Miller teaches with your training partner.
The DVD is approximately 75 minutes long and is produced by Paladin Press.