Defending yourself from multiple attackers
Filed under
Self Defense, Urban
The world has gone crazy!
Turn on the evening news and you will be bombarded with stories of innocent people being attacked, robbed, and killed on a daily basis. Now throw in an emergency situation or natural disaster and the lunatics of the world will swarm the streets like roaches looking for innocent victims to target.
One of the biggest dangers that you will face in an urban survival situation is an attack from multiple people. Anyone who is serious about survival needs to be able to defend themselves and their loved ones from a violent attack.
So what can you do when attacked by multiple people?
Access the situation
Do you have an escape route? This isn’t about looking cool and it’s not time to be Mr. Tough Guy.
Survival does not mean fighting, if you have an escape route take it now.
Can you talk your way out of the situation? Talking your way out of an attack is more art than science and takes a considerable amount of street smarts to pull off. But there are a couple of things that you should keep in mind.
- Telling a group that’s ready to attack to F off does nothing to diffuse the situation.
- Remember you are probably dealing with people that are borderline insane and have nothing to lose. Stay calm & don’t show any fear.
- Apologize – Sometimes these morons are just trying to look cool in front of the group. Apologizing will allow them to look like the big tough guy without having to pound in your skull.
If you must fight then here are some tips that may help.
If you have no other options and your life is in jeopardy then you need to know how to protect yourself. *Remember your best option is to try to avoid the fight, the following actions should only be taken if your life in in immediate danger.
Watch the groups body language - Watching the groups body language will give you a clue to when they are ready to attack. The following actions may be a signs of an attack.
- Watch for the assailant to do something like removing a hat or shirt.
- Your attacker may start to make erratic movements such as rubbing his nose, pushing his hair back or clenching his teeth.
- Watch the groups eyes, they may start to glance at each other for cues on when to attack.
- Watch the attackers fists, often times they will tighten them right before they are ready to attack you.
Weapons - Quickly scan your surroundings. Beer bottles, tree branches, garbage cans, bricks, and even the pen in your pocket can used as improvised weapons in an emergency situation.
Psychology - Fighting a group does not always mean having to fight the whole group, in fact your goal is to fight as few of them as possible. Instead of defeating each of their bodies, you must instead destroy their minds.
Your first strike must be spectacular and very visible to the group. The more visible the injury is, the greater physiological effect it will have on the rest of the group. The first few seconds of the fight are critical, if you can physiologically defeat the group now many of them will scatter without ever throwing a punch.
Identify the leader – Who is the strongest link? This person is your main threat and must be taken out first. Taking out the leader can destroy the groups willingness to fight and is the first step to surviving an attack. Remember, you want to create a strong visible injury that will make the group rethink it’s attack.
Where to Attack – In a life or death situation there are no rules. Take out their eyes, break their kneecaps jab them in the throat….. your goal is to immobilize the attackers by any means available.
Good advice. Taking out that leader is certainly a game-changer in many situations.
I agree love the advice on creating a devastating injury to the leader
I have first hand knowledge of this working, I was attacked by a group of people once luckily I busted the main aggressors nose which caused the other 3 to take off running.
Thank you for pointing out that it is always best to try to get out of the fight, way to many people let their ego’s get the best of them.
How about a big kick to the sackaronis!!!
Great tips on body language everyone of these signs is what I teach my students to look for
No offense but why not mention a gun?
No question that a Gun in this situation would be the best method of self defense. The article was meant for those that would be caught in this situation without a gun or weapons
Robert is correct being a legally armed and properly trained citizen is your best bet in this situation, unless of course you are Chuck Norris.
Awesome Tips, its really hard to fight even 2 bodies (especially if they think like convicts). but aiming to attack their minds highly increase your chance of survival other than focusing on bodies.
Another great self defense post
This is all accurate, if you happen to run into a textbook scenario. In my line of work Ive dealt with fighting people en masse and there is usually no order, leader, or time for discussion. It usually becomes a flurry of thrown projectiles, fists, and feet. As far as emergency situations go, the worst I was involved in was Katrina. First as a citizen and then returned to work armed security after. Count on the worst. There will be NO order. Best advice: Be invisible. Beyond that? Legal possession/carry of firearms and training.
Keep in mind that you are outnumbered. They know they outnumber you. A “spectacular and visible first strike” is not going to intimidate any but the most timid group of attackers.
any advice/weapon(other than gun) for a med frame 125 lb 5’6″ female?
Very accurate almost text book if I say so myself, but Robert is right to I don’t leave home unless I’m armed with something but if I had a side arm I would have evened the odds with that it’s like this double tap the leader and the rest of the street punks would be very shaken and either die with him or run. But that would only happen if the world turned on it’s ear anyway.
Well, Fawn, I believe a handgun is your best bet. But if youre either unwilling or unable to carry a gun that just depends on what youre most comfortable with. Id recommend a knife or striker that cant be easily taken from your hand. A good example of this would be a “cats-eye” striker. These are usually made of metal and shaped like a cats head. The first two fingers of the hand go through the “eyes” and would be pretty tough to take from somebody’s hand. My personal favorite and one of my everyday carry knives is called the Hideaway knife. Its available from hideawayknife.com and its a great tool. Its a small knife, around 2″ (so legal) that fits around the first two fingers of the hand. This allows you to use your knife hand for carrying keys, lights, or mace as well as striking. All while having a knife immediately available. They are also extremely concealable with tons of very sneaky concealment options. Check out the website. These are custom made knives so Id recommend checking the section of the site that lists knives that were never paid for(measure your fingers according to websites directions). The knife I bought usually costs $169 but I got it for $69. The knife was only 1/32″ larger than my measurement. Sorry for the long-winded answer, but there you go! Stay safe!
the mindset is the most important and lethal weapon human beings have at their disposal. we are taught from youth to adult to avoid violence at any cost but when the day comes and either your life or the life of someone you hold dear is on the line you had better have done some mental prep work for what lies ahead. even the best weapon in the hands of an ill prepared person is no defense. and when i say ill prepared i mean mentally and physically because if the mind is sharp and you do not possese the knowledge to wield whatever weapon at hand you will be just as dead.
I just wanted to share a personal experience I had in 2009. While on my 3rd tour in Afghanistan my platoon conducted what we called a Humanitarian Aid drop (food, rice& beans some warm clothes)in one of the poorest villages in our sector. While this was going on we got mobbed like we always do kids and the village elders. While I was overseeing the distribution of food some of the older men became very unruly and a fight broke out. My dumb ass jumped in the middle of the mess and broke it up. When it was all said and done what I got from the whole thing was the older man was upset he got less food than he and his family should have and others received more. So in turn he attacked one of my Soldiers who was about 6ft 3in and about 250, armed with a M-4, body armor, helmet ect. This old man was about 5ft 7in and was lucky to weigh 140(I picked him up and restrained him with ease.) the whole point I am getting at is if people are desperate enough they WILL DO ANYTHING TO TAKE CARE OF THEIR FAMILY. Even attack a well armed, better trained and much larger person. In retrospect I would do the same if my family was staving to. I hope it never comes to that, bet your ass I am ready for it.
IF YOU CAN AVOID THE FIGHT, TAKE THE FLIGHT INSTEAD OF PICKING THE FIGHT. IF FIGHTING IS UNAVOIDABLE, REMAIN CALM AND DO NOT PANIC. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, YOU MUST HAVE THE WILL TO SURVIVE AND DO NOT LOSE IT! ONCE YOU LOSE THAT WILL, YOU ARE DEAD.
Good short article on the basics, but you forgot to mention the effectiveness of taking a hostage, preferably the leader. If your able to put your finger to the anyones eye and voice the threat, very few people would continue.
Mahalo for the info, most people dont think about these types of situations
until its to late.
2 on 1 fighting is really all about circles & lining them up, keep yourself mobile and position them so that ur only fighting them one at a time
My uncle was attacked by 4 guys and took them down thanks 2 u. One in the eye then throaght. one kneekap, eyes. another neck, groin, and another neck, kneecap, eyes. Thanks.
I’d like to add that the group’s ‘leader’ can change from moment to moment; pay attention to how they behave as a group.
Also ‘cues’ is not spelt ques.
That picture is from Gran Torino….
The Bizzerker when excuted properly is unstoppable to defend against. It is the ULTIMATE fyght move of our time and when used with duel blades, can be bloody deadly.