CLICK HERE for our website and be one of the first to get this material.  Shane has won the Grapplers Quest Advanced Division and NAGA Advanced and overall divisions multiple times.  He trains with with pro MMA fighters and he grew up fighting.  All of these techniques have held up in real street fights.  Shane trains in Albuquerque at FIT NHB with Tom Vaughn.  If you know me, you know that Shane is a good friend and we put together great material for you.  I train with Shane to update my skills in the United States.  This is a culmination of a lot of hard work.  In HDTV.  Excellent quality.  Ships internationally too.

Dec 2, 2010, Albuquerque, NM.  Self-defense and awareness are just as critical during the holidays while many of us are traveling to visit relatives and on vacation. It is important to remain vigilant and be aware of your surroundings always prepared to defend yourself and your family. Many licensed concealed carry holders think that it is too difficult to travel with a firearm or other self-defense tool and therefore are not as prepared.  Remember that you are on vacation, the bad-guys aren’t. You might be in an un-familiar city while the local, potential thieves, muggers, and rapists may be hard at work looking for an easy target like a clueless tourist.

If you are licensed to carry a concealed firearm there is a great website to stay informed about current laws and reciprocity rules for each state. The sitehttp://www.handgunlaw.us is constantly updated and will give you access to read the laws that apply to each state you are visiting. This site offers links to each state’s statutes as they apply to concealed carry. It is also useful for anyone who may possess a firearm while visiting other states for instance on a hunting trip or moving to a new state.

Flying commercially with firearms is not as difficult as many people think. We do a lot of flying as we travel for various training around the country, usually carrying multiple firearms. I often hear “wow, it sure must be a pain to get through security with all of that stuff”. Actually, it is pretty easy. You can download the rules from the TSA’s websitehttp://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/assistant/editorial_1666.shtm. It involves filling out an extra form at the airline’s counter and packing right, not much to it.

Ryan Fellows is a nationally accredited law enforcement trainer; NRA Firearm Instructor certified in multiple disciplines, NRA Law Enforcement Firearms Instructor, a CHL Instructor and is a federally licensed firearms dealer. He provides group and private training in firearms and close quarter combatives. He is certified by Glock as an armorer, and is an Israeli Combat Shooting Instructor. He is a professional action sports photographer, experienced outdoorsman and backcountry skier. He has spent his lifetime in the mountains and has experience with various types of weapon systems. He has been married for eighteen years with three daughters. Ryan is the owner of several businesses and resides in New Mexico.

I conducted a self-defense training class for girls in grades 3-7 yesterday.  This was a fantastic opportunity for me as a teacher and a father.  I think that I had more fun than the girls.  I had to take a look into their little fears as I prepared for the class.  I train many adults but have done few seminars for kids.  My wife mentioned it to a friend of hers and before I knew it there at least twenty girls signed up.  I decided to keep it fun but had to speak about the harsh reality of self-defense and explain that I was not teaching them a martial art.  I gave them concepts, tools and let them prove their new abilities on me. 

I prepared for the class by talking to several little ones, including my girls.  I listened to the group of girls at the class yesterday and learned that most small girls fear abduction by strangers.  We live in a good area of the United States and it surprised me that these girls were all somewhat afraid about being abducted by a stranger either in a public place or from inside their home.  It seems likely to me that these girls know what is going on in the world and watch or at least hear the nightly news.  Of the girls I surveyed, they stated that they would all be too afraid to take any action once the abductor placed them inside of his/ her vehicle.  In general, girls of this age were not afraid of bullying, fights with other kids or other types of confrontation.

I did some research and found these statistics relating to child abduction:

• 800,000 children are reported missing every year. Approximately two children every day.
• Of the children reported missing, 350,000 are family abductions.  Children are taken away by family members in violation of custody agreements.
• Non – family abductions amount to 204,000. These include kidnappers who are acquaintances or complete strangers to the victims.
• Only 115 of non-family abductions are stereotypical abductions, defined as those in which a child is detained overnight, transported at least 50 miles, held for ransom, intended to be kept permanently or killed.
• The rest of the 800,000 missing cases include runaways, throwaways, or lost children.

Family child abductions

• In 16% of family abductions, the child experiences severe mental harm.
• 8% of the children experience physical harm.
• 7% of the children are sexually abused.
• Mothers take the child away 46% of the time.
• Fathers take the child away 54% of the time.

Non-Family child abductions

• More than 65% of the children abducted by non-family members are girls.
• 46% of children are sexually abused.
• 31% of the children are physically abused.
• 32% of abductions take place in a street or a car and 25% take place in a park or a wooded area.
• The top 3 places an abductor imprisons the child are – a car, the abductor’s home and the abductor’s building.
• Most abductions are carried out within a quarter of a mile of the child’s home.
• 75% of the abductors are male.
• 67% of them are below 29 years of age.

Stereotypical kidnappings

• 40% of children in stereotypical kidnappings are killed.
• 4% of children are never found.
• 79% kidnappings are carried out by strangers and 21% by acquaintances.

After reviewing these statistics, it seems like the little ones were justified in their fears.  In fact, they were not in denial.  According to one very large survey, over 75% of parents fear that their child will be abducted.  I have to admit that I share in this fear to an extent.  I guess these statistics support why the months of these girls called so quickly after hearing about my “real world” self defense class for girls.

I taught self-defense and Israeli Krav Maga to these girls as opposed to martial arts.  I see the general definition of martial arts not being self-defense related.  I have been a student of various forms of martial arts for half of my life and I see that many of the techniques are just that, techniques for class and not the real world.  The only rule in self-defense is survival.  Where it relates to these young girls, they would never be in a situation that could be confused.  Why would they ne taught martial arts as a means for self-defense and how would these girls understand the difference?  Young girls are easily influenced and they want to do as they are told.   I feel good being able to give them concepts and a number of highly effective tactics for dealing with their fears and statistical possibility for their safety.  In contrast, if I was teaching the girls a pure martial art, I may not feel as good about the relevancy of the material for their fears or vulnerabilities.

I make my training and seminars relevant by addressing a person’s fears first, then building upon the confidence that they gain from physically confronting the fear with concepts or physical fighting skills.  For this group of girls, it was obvious that I need to work on the scenario of a bad guy grabbing them by the wrist and attempting to take them away.  After solving this problem for them in minimal time girls worked the scenario with me as the “bad guy” using full contact against me.  I gave them hard resistance and I didn’t let go until I was in pain.  This is a valuable lesson that the girls learned.  They actually experienced success.

Next, we moved on to some self-defense concepts and finished with one of the worst-case scenario for them.  Being placed in a bad guy’s car after a successful public abduction.  Each child did this individually with me as the “bad guy.”  I teach simple yet effective ways for them to solve their problems.  In this case, it was a violent solution to a very big concern.  Each girl worked it out in their own time and used her own tools to fight be off while I was in the driver’s seat of my truck.  It was empowering and it worked with each of the girls.

I love to teach self-defense to anyone.  Girls are fun to teach and really need the training.  It is my goal to train as many kids as possible within the next year.  My goal is to train 5000 individuals in 2011.

About the Author:

Robb Hamic is the managing principal of Summit Security & Investigation® and  Summit Self Defense™.  These companies provide services for self-defense, survival Israeli Krav Maga and education.   In fact, Robb Hamic is one of the only people who combine his skill sets to provide women with holistic solutions to their safety in anti-abduction situations.  Mr. Hamic is written a book about keeping safe and is available for sale on Amazon.com:“Karma’s Helpers”

I first noticed the use of the term stalking when I was a police officer in the 1990’s.  Stalking is an anomaly that seems to be derived from a person’s will to control another.  It has become a serious safety concern for people, especially women and seems to becoming a more serious threat that people recognize.  I have been approached by many stalking victims for help, both in the way of self-defense skill development, recognition/ awareness, vulnerability assessments, investigative services, counter/ anti- stalking activities or plain old protection from the people who would stalk my clients.

Stalking is a term commonly used to refer to unwanted, obsessive attention by individuals (and sometimes groups of people) to others. Stalking behaviors are related to harassment and intimidation. The word “stalking” is used, with some differing meanings, in psychology and psychiatry and also in some legal jurisdictions as a term for a criminal offense. It may also be used to refer to criminal offences or civil wrongs that include conduct which some people consider to be stalking, such as those described in law as “harassment” or similar terms.

In the United States last year, approximately 3.4 million victims reported being stalked.  These are some quick statistics on stalking:

• 3.4 million people over the age of 18 are stalked each year in the United States.
• 3 in 4 stalking victims are stalked by someone they know.
• 30% of stalking victims are stalked by a current or former intimate partner.
• 10% of stalking victims are stalked by a stranger.
• Persons aged 18-24 years experience the highest rate of stalking.
• 11% of stalking victims have been stalked for 5 years or more.
• 46% of stalking victims experience at least one unwanted contact per week.
• 1 in 4 victims report being stalked through the use of some form of technology (such as e-mail or instant messaging).
• 10% of victims report being monitored with global positioning systems (GPS), and 8% report being monitored through video or digital cameras, or listening devices.

Many victims of stalking have many negative ramifications of being stalked including loss of their employment.  Last year, 130,000 victims of stalking reported that they lost their jobs or were asked to leave their employment because of being stalked.  Of course, there are many other negative impacts of stalking for victims.

I have noticed a rise in women who file for divorce being stalked.  This can present many problems for the victims on an ongoing basis.  Children are involved in many of the circumstances and women often resist their reactions to protect themselves in hopes of keeping a “normal” existence for their children.  The man often perpetrates certain actions and the woman acts like nothing is happening around her kids and when the man is present for custody exchange.  These situations present unique problems and require different solutions.

Generally, I recommend certain tactics to deal with stalking and turning the tables on the stalker to stop the criminal’s actions.  Safety of the victim is the first order of business.  The victim might know of actions that are being taken against her while in many cases she won’t know what is being done, based on the man’s attempts to hide the behavior and or using devices to track a victim’s patterns, actions or even recording them in their own home.

Recognition is the first step.   Man women write off their natural survival instincts as “being over cautious or being crazy.”  I like to say that a women’s intuition is perfect and they should always react when they feel something physically as opposed to think it.  If they have a physical reaction to a situation this is not normally a cognitive function that can be explained.  In the end, survival is a primal function and a women’s body is always sensing its environment to survive.  Certain situations or vulnerabilities will cause different responses or thoughts that I recommend that women turn into actual responses.

This is the first of a series of writings on stalking, recognition, prevention, countermeasures, safety, self-defense, survival and re-building of one’s life after the crime of stalking.

About the Author:

Robb Hamic is the managing principal of Summit Security & Investigation® and  Summit Self Defense™.  These companies provide services for anti-stalking, prevention, awareness, self-defense, survival and education.   In fact, Robb Hamic is one of the only people who combine his skill sets to provide women with holistic solutions to their safety in stalking situations.  Mr. Hamic is written a book about this topic and it is available for sale on Amazon.com: “Karma’s Helpers.  Hamic’s guide for getting even.”

September 28, 2010- Austin, TX-  Instructor Robb Hamic was interviewed by several news stations and newspapers in the wake of the University of Texas active shooter situation today.  Hamic instructs advanced gun deployment, tactics and immediate active shooter response for law enforcement, military and executive protection professionals.

Robb Hamic was intervewed as an subject matter expert by CBS and FOX news.  Unfortunately, this tragic incident ended in the loss of life.  Fortunately, the shooter was the only casualty.  98% of active shooter incidents occur with only one shooter but 70% of them have three weapons according to the US Department of Justice.

“Active shooter situations are the worst possible scenario for all involved and the incident just gets worse with time.  An active shooter kills until he chooses to stop or is stopped by law enforcment, military, protection or an individual.  As a first responder, it is my job to use speed to find the signs of the shooter and eliminate him before he kills more innocent victims,” says Robb Hamic.  ”I have a methodical way to train agencies and units to help them save lives faster that is updated to the most recent tactical standards,” he says.

Local and national news contacted Instructor Robb Hamic because he trains the Austin Police Department in advanced tactics, shooting and Israeli Krav Maga.  Hamic is an instructor in Israeli Krav Maga- Gidon System and he trains in Israel.  He trains himself consumately and delivers cutting edge training to law enforcement, military and individuals internationally.  Feel free to contact him for media or training inquiries:

Robb Hamic- robb@summitselfdefense.com

Summit Self Defense™/ Israeli Krav Maga™

(512)-284-0087- cell phone

Active Shooter Training

Published : Wednesday, 29 Sep 2010, 9:50 AM CDT

By Tim Eaton and Patrick George

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Published: 10:28 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2010

Recent training in advanced techniques for dealing with rogue gunmen helped officers quickly find and corner the shooting suspect on the University of Texas campus Tuesday, officials said.

Austin police Assistant Chief David Carter, the department’s chief of staff, said his officers have completed at least three exercises with UT police in the past two years that helped them prepare for Tuesday’s events.

Carter said officers learn tactical-type maneuvers that are similar to what SWAT teams study. For example, they learned how to enter a hostile environment and move about in it, how to clear a room and how to eliminate a threat.

“This is a skill set we believe all police officers must have,” Carter said. “We believe it’s absolutely vital.”

Another skill that is essential, he said, is speed. “We recognize that time is not on our side,” he said.

Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo said at a news conference Tuesday that the department was able to apply what officials learned from the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. Police officers understand that they need to move quickly in situations with an “active shooter,” or a gunman who targets large areas and often doesn’t make demands but simply starts shooting.

“People knew what they were doing and were able to secure the campus very quickly,” he said. “In the past, we would have waited for SWAT teams, and we would have been here forever.”

Robb Hamic, an Austin-based law enforcement trainer with expertise in active shooter response, said Austin has “a real forward-thinking department, and they’re always seeking the most advanced tactics and techniques to deliver to their officers and trainers.” Hamic, who has worked with the Austin Police Department, added: “They’ve been in the cusp of the latest active shooter training and techniques.”

The Israeli military-inspired techniques that Hamic teaches focus on the same quick response that Acevedo touted Tuesday.

“Rather than set up a perimeter and hide behind your car,” he said, the first officer or officers on the scene should race into the chaos.

Some local departments, including Austin police, also have turned to a Texas State University program, called Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training, for further education in active shooter situations. There, instructors teach law enforcement officers how to engage active shooters and mass killers.

Additionally, Don Montague, executive director of the so-called ALERRT program and a former Hays County sheriff, said that some of the UT Police Department’s officers also have undergone training with ALERRT, including a segment that taught officers how to go toward the gunfire and stop the shooter as safely as possible.

“Once you get on the scene, you deal with it,” Montague said. “From what I saw, they responded exactly as we teach.”

We have all heard the same old arguments about shooting stances and methods for a very long time. Do we teach weaver, isosceles, point shooting versus sight alignment and sight picture.If we consider all of the latest information available regarding the physiology of stress and how it relates to our bodies during a dynamic critical incident, it seems that we must also evaluate how we teach today’s warriors as it relates to stress under fire.  Many studies have shown that when placed under an extreme amount of stress, our bodies will react in a somewhat predictable way to protect itself. Some examples of these reactions are; the startle flinch, tunnel vision (the rise of visual acuity), auditory exclusion, lowering of center of gravity, facing the stimulus (indexing the threat), eyes opening wide (both eyes) to focus on the threat. It has been since the mid seventies and the beginnings of the dash cam videos that we have been able to see actual shootings and the chaotic way that they play out. It is unrealistic that we see anyone involved actually stand in a perfect weaver stance, focus on the front sights, squinting one eye, and squeeze off a controlled pair. It is shown repeatedly, assailants and officers, shooting seemingly uncontrollably with poor grip on their guns while running backwards towards some sort of cover or at least away from their opponent.We know that when confronted with a threat, our body is naturally going to lower its center of gravity, orient towards the threat, hands will move up to protect our head, and eyes will both open wide and focus on the threat (the startle flinch). Why then would we train students to blade off thirty degrees from the target and close one eye to focus on the sights. We as Professional Firearm Instructors have a duty to be the most informed people on the training range. We carry such an important load of responsibility when it comes to training people to win an encounter involving firearms.

Albuquerque, New Mexico October 4, 2010.

Albuquerque Police Department is reporting three armed robberies this past weekend. The first was a purse snatching at gun-point in the northeast area of the city. The second incident was reported to be a armed robbery at a popular fast food establishment in the central part of the city. The third incident, and most bizarre, was reported as an armed robbery of a armed security guard at an apartment complex on the west side of the city. Citizens need to be aware of the wide-spread, apparently random escalation of crime in the area. There have been no arrests in these reported crimes and police warn of more to come. The state fair recently ended, the Balloon Fiesta is in town and many visitors remain in the Albuquerque area. Unfortunately, this makes for easy pickings for the would-be criminals.

Learn how to protect yourself and be aware of your surroundings. Don’t be an easy target. Criminals are opportunists, they want the easy way out otherwise they would have a real job. Don’t give them the chance. Pay attention to others around you. Make eye contact, stay alert, and be a good witness if you in contact or see a crime. We must all be proactive in our own self-defense.

Summit Self Defense specializes in training people to defend themselves in a violent lethal confrontation, We train men, women, military and law enforcement in the areas of hand-to-hand tactics, firearms, CHL/CCW, OC spray, and Tasers. Contacts us for details.

http://www.summitselfdefense.com