John Uwaya

Self-Defence John Uwaya

These days, self-defence is understandably on every lip as 25% of news centre on crime and insecurity across the world. The situation is that bad with security threats rising in both sophistication and scale as admitted by Britain's spy chief - Andrew Parker in October 2017: "That threat is multi-dimensional, evolving rapidly and operating at a scale and pace we've not seen before. ... It's at the highest tempo I have seen in my 34-year career. ... The threat is more diverse than I've ever known." So?"...the proper mindset is understanding the need to take responsibility for one's own security. The resources of any government are finite and the authorities simply cannot be everywhere and cannot stop every potential terrorist attack or other criminal action. The same principle applies to private security at businesses or other institutions, like places of worship" - Scott Stewart: A Practical Guide to Situational Awareness, Stratfor, March 14, 2012. "Personal security measures by individual citizens are only the last of many tiered protection programs by the government. The citizen and his or her family should see themselves as part of this much larger team, and support the teamwork with civil and law enforcement authorities that will continue to make criminality and terrorism very unpromising ventures" - (Personal Security Guide, Pentagon Force Protection Agency, 2005, USA). By Implication, as much as security is the sole justification for a government, the reality is that no country can protect crime targets everywhere and every time. Hence the now incessant national as well as global alerts to vigilance. So, as you legitimately expect protection by governments, you must not be a target of opportunity. That is self-defence but the modus operandi is controversial. Some people emphasize close combat methods and others stress lethal or deadly force. While close combat methods like martial arts, use of stun gun, pepper spray, etc are of little avail on the face of present day gun and bomb threats, use of lethal or deadly force risks legal consequences. Hence both sides of the divide come short of the holistic approach. Therefore, to strike the right balance between lethal and close combat methods for safety as well as legality, this ten-chapter book is a must read.