How It Works: Taser's Electrified Shotgun Slug

Great article at Popular Science on the new Extended Range Electronic Projectile, or XREP.

Excerpt:

It’s midnight. You’re a cop patrolling the wrong side of town when you spot a mugging. The assailant is about 40 feet away, out of range of your stun gun. You shout, but he darts down an alley. It’s a dead end. The crook picks up a bottle, hurls it at your head, and makes a break for the street. You draw your gun.

And so goes the “capability gap,” one of the trickiest situations in law enforcement. For an officer in the field, this is a danger zone spanning 35 to 65 feet in which an assailant is beyond the range of Tasers and yet near enough to throw a deadly object, pushing an officer one step closer toward the use of deadly force. “Plain and simple, we need a less lethal option that works within throwing range,” says Sid Heal, a retired commander with the Los Angeles sheriff’s department and a consultant to the U.S. Department of Defense.

That’s where the Extended Range Electronic Projectile, or XREP, comes in. Unlike Taser’s conventional stun gun, which shoots tethered probes up to 35 feet to deliver an incapacitating jolt, the company’s new XREP is a 12-gauge wireless projectile that can be fired up to 100 feet from any pump-action shotgun. It sails through the air like a normal slug yet induces muscle paralysis on impact. “It takes everything that’s a Taser and puts it in a slug-like device,” Heal says.

Head over to Popular Science to read the rest.

Technorati Tags: Taser,less than lethal,XREP,police,cops

You never know…

You never know what someone else is going through.

You never know how much a kind word or thoughtless remark will affect someone.

You never know what you mean to others, and how much you can hurt them by your actions.

I recently trained about 11 officers at a 15-person police department (last Thursday), and heard on the radio, by chance, that one of them died by his own hand this weekend, after taking the life of his wife. That prompted some soul-searching on my part. I am not naive enough to think that I should have known what was going through his head, or would have been able to prevent it in any way, but made me think about the impermanence of life itself, and how those whom he has hurt by his actions will be affected forever. It will never be forgotten, by his children, or theirs, into the future.

I explained it to my son today. I explained that things like this are why I try to always tell them I love them, that I always think that, if this was our last moment together, that I want them to remember me well. And how much I hope that he learns that the little things in life matter. They do.

God bless.

Don’t Tase Me Bro! – effects of the Taser

Photo via PoliceOne.com 

This photo is a great illustration of the effects of the Taser non-lethal device. At my former agency (I was a civilian employee), all officers being so certified were required to take a shot from the Taser before being allowed to utilize one. My current experiences visiting and meeting police agencies throughout the country are very similar – they require it.

I believe that this type of training helps develop both empathy on the part of the officer as to what the subject will go through, and how to best utilize the tool. A good idea, in my opinion.

See the original post here. If you’re in law enforcement, or have an interest, check out PoliceOne.com, and you can follow them on Twitter, too.

Want to take a hit?

Technorati Tags: Taser,police,nonlethal

A few Fat Loss Myths

 

Nice post at Training Like An Athlete by my Twitter buddy Ryan Miller.

Check out these fat loss myths and see if you have fallen for any of them.

Let me know your thoughts below….

Myth:You must cut carbs(or fat) to lose weight

Truth:To lose weight you need to take in fewer calories than you burn regardless of what percentage of carbs, protein or fat you are eating. Your body needs all 3 macro-nutrients(carbs, protein & fat) to survive. If you cut out one of these essential nutrients your body will not function properly and eventually breakdown. Concentrate on whole, naturally occurring foods

Myth:You must do long slow cardio to burn fat

Truth:Training at high intensities cause you to burn a lower percentage of fat calories in favor of carbs, but you use more total calories. That is the key to weight loss. High intensity training also causes an effect known as EPOC…Excess Post(exercise) Oxygen Consumption. This phenomenon has been shown to increase your metabolism up to 48 hours AFTER you exercise!

Sound familiar? Either way, for more, head over and read the whole post.

Technorati Tags: weight loss,fat loss,fitness

Highly Recommend you read Traditional Taekwondo Techniques

I don’t blog nearly as much as I once did, but whenever I have a chance to check out some online martial arts material, one of the first places I go is this site. Whether you are a TKD stylist, or not, I’d recommend checking out Traditional Taekwondo Techniques, expertly written by Mr. Colin Wee.

Mr. Wee is not only a good friend in the martial arts to, and has been for about four or so years, but covers technique breakdown of what he calls traditional Taekwondo, and interweaves techniques and material from his many years of training with an open mind.

Some of my favorite posts are:

Roundhouse Kick: Muay Thai v Taekwondo
Calibrating the Taekwondo Side Kick
Most of his drills category.

There are many others I can’t recall at the moment, but I’d encourage you to check it out. You WILL learn something.

Traditional Taekwondo Techniques is also on Facebook here.

Technorati Tags: taekwondo

Style Vs. Style: Kickboxing and Taekwondo – UPDATED

Via OnlineFightVideo.com, an interesting style matchup.

What can we learn from KB vs TKD?

While we should (but won’t) all agree that the style debates are old and irrelevant, I’d like to take a different tack: what can we learn from this? I’m going to ask that you add your thoughts into the comments, and I’ll try to summarize in this post in a few days. Wide open…

UPDATE:

My comments:

Thanks for the comments on this one. I thought it was interesting in that the TKD guy seemed to be in more control. Specific thoughts:

1) Fried chicken tub hats with steam don't really help your fighting ability, but do make for an interesting entrance.

2) The KB fighter was at a definite disadvantage on the outside. It would have been to his benefit to close, move laterally, and punch more effectively, as opposed to clinching, which moves them back to the kicking range on breaks. Bad tactics.

3) KB boy also tried to match kicks with TKD Timmy (not sure of his name, but this works). Not smart.

4) The groin can be a very, very good target against a high kicker. So can the legs. The best tactic against a high kicker is to target the lower body, which makes the kicks come way down quick, or the testes will be moved up into the trunk. I actually thought leg kicks must have been against the rules until both fighters started using them at roughly 2:00. Why wait?

5) High kicks can be extremely effective, but must be used sparingly. Neither fighter developed a pattern of techniques that created openings. They are also risky. Several high kick misses put TKD Timmy on his hands and knees and back, and as Worg says, you go there on the street, you're F***ed. True!

6) Both fighters had their hands low in range, and that's just stupid.

7) Neither fighter used an effective lead. I think I saw one good jab in the entire fight. Against better opposition either of them would be toast with their wide punches and kicks.

8) Both of these guys help us explain why MMA is so popular. When the clinch happens, as it does so frequently in boxing, kickboxing, and even TKD, it becomes boring for spectators. MMA starts at that point, in my opinion. It forces action, instead of being a delaying tactic.

9) The spinning backfist should be used more. Even without aiming, it's a force to be reckoned with - it has to be defended or you will get knocked out. It can be thrown blind and still be effective.

10) As Mr. Zimmer said so well, “I think that the style does not make as much difference as the fighter... from any discipline a good fighter can learn about other disciplines and overcome stylistic differences.” Well said. I’ll leave it at that!

Ground self-defense options

This was posted on Striking Thoughts most recent Martial Arts News post.

My take on women's self defense changed quite a bit about 15 years, ago, and the physical instruction actually starts on the ground first, then we work our way up to a sitting, then standing position (where most start).

Any technique you teach for self-defense which do not work on someone much larger and stronger than you should be secondary. Check out more at Jiu-Jitsu Sensei's site here.

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The Martial Explorer: Don't go to the ground!

Our MA blogging buddy, Jesse Crouch has a nice post with video detailing just why you want to avoid the ground when defending yourself. Especially the bottom position!

You can follow Jesse on Twitter too: http://twitter.com/jessecrouch

For more information:

See our Multiple Attackers category.

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Police Tactical Footwork from Bagua?

Dojo Rat has an interesting post with video of Bagua footwork being used for  handgun drills. I’d love to hear from any law enforcement firearm instructors on this one. Click the picture to watch at Dojo Rat’s site.

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