Legendary operator and firearms instructor Jon Farnham brings a horrible attack from last night to our attention and offers the salient self-defense lessons we need to learn.
It happened in Fort Worth in a nice residential area where a man was delivering firewood to a homeowner. As the man and the homeowner were unloading the firewood, an agitated naked man suddenly appeared.
As the two men tried to "reason" with the man, he grabbed a piece of firewood and hit the delivery man on the head. The homeowner withdrew quickly to the house to call police. As the homeowner was making the call the attacker continued to beat the delivery man, killing him.
Police were able to corner the still naked attacker at a local bed-and-breakfast after he threatened a woman there. Police had to taste the attacker to subdue him.
According to Farnham, the suspect has a criminal record.
Here's the lessons Farnham can share from this murderous attack:
1) When it’s least expected, you’re elected!
2) In a personal-safety emergency, there will be no time to “get ready”
Unless police are physically present already, there is zero probability they’ll arrive in time to save you.
3) Getting into a hand-to-hand fight with a person who is out-of-his-mind is no laughing matter!
There is no “reasoning” with such a person. They are unpredictable and extremely dangerous, as we see.
4) Thinking you’re “safe,” because you’re “at home,” or “close to home” represents a dangerous delusion.
“Going armed” means “being armed,” continuously, without fail! A gun sitting in a dresser drawer inside a home will be of no help when the homeowner is attacked while outside, even when the gun is technically only a few meters away
5) Our criminal/justice system, as currently administered, obviously has no intention to fulfill its legitimate function of protecting innocent people from violent criminals. Demonstrably vicious predators, instead of being jailed, are out and looking for victims, as we see!
Another point of note here is that the two defenders initially tried to talk with the man and calm him down. We have to realize that "de-escalation" is a two way street and our efforts to de-escalate the situation depends on the attacker's co-operation.
It's terrible to have to report these kinds of attacks that we seem to be seen more and more of. But we are continuing to de evolve into a more dangerous time with our current social and cultural fracturing and we need to be mentally and physically able to defend ourselves
But we need to be aware of the different examples of attacks that happen. This should inoculate us from being temporarily confused, or to initially being in denial of the attack as it happens.
We have to be in the position to save ourselves when no one else can.