Sadly, according to Maine’s Public Safety Commissioner, overall crime in the State of Maine was up 3.6% in 2010. This number was led by crimes against property – robberies (4.3%), burglaries (8.6%) and thefts (2.4%). Officials speculate that this rise may be due to Maine’s drug addiction problem – particularly with prescription painkillers.

The rise is disproportionately high in the traditionally crime free areas of rural Maine.

The state is responding by increasing funding to the State Police and Maine DEA. Even state officials agree that policing alone isn’t enough to stop this problem.

So let me ask you this – when is a good tame to take your safety seriously and get yourself some self-defense training? Are you going to lock your doors all the time, and become more aware of your surroundings when outside? Are you going to get that alarm system?

I believe that you can become safer without growing paranoid, and live a more relaxed life because of it.

Watching the news in Maine this week, you may wonder what the heck is happening. Three separate stabbing incidents in less than a week have been reported in Maine.

First, was a report of a double stabbing in Auburn. Police report that Mohamed Abdulkarim, 26, of Portland and Mohamed Ali Bile, 26 of Lewsiton were transported to CMMC suffering from  stab wounds after a reported fight.

Next, was this report of 38 year old Whitney Anderson of Belfast allegedly attacking her boyfriend Tracy Roadarmel with a knife. Roadarmel is being treated at Eastern Maine Medical Center, while Anderson has been charged with aggravated assault.

Finally a fatal stabbing in Westbrook. Police are reporting that 40 year old Robert Stubbs was killed and a woman he was living with was wonded in a knife attack which may have been drug-related.

All of this after several recent knife-attacks – including a lethal knife on knife fight in Lewsiston.

It’s unclear whether assaults with edged weapons in the state of Maine are actually on the rise, but it certainly seems so. Not wanting to be alarmist, in most of these cases the victims knew their attackers.

In nearly every single self defense class we train with the knife, and we train to defend against the knife. We feel that it’s extremely important to know how to use a knife, so that you can understand how to defend against it.

Many other systems take the approach that knife defense against a determined and skilled attacker is impossible. First, nothing is impossible. Second, you’re not always facing an attacker who has trained in knife fighting for decades.

Attacks with guns,and knives are always potentially lethal. It is better to try to neutralize an attack, or at least lessen it’s impact if you can’t immediately flee.

Here are some tips to defend against a weapon attack:

1. Get some training in a system that is focused on self defense. Some training is going to be better than no training.
2. Flee. Your #1 tactic will be to run away as fast as you possibly can. Moving targets are extremely difficult to hit, even with a handgun. Don’t bother trying to zigzag. Run for hard cover – something solid that you can get behind, but keep moving.
3. If you can’t flee, put anything you can between you and the weapon.  A bag or a jacket isn’t going to deflect bullets, but it might distract an opponent, keep them from closing, or can be used as a weapon.
4. If it is a simple robbery – comply and give your property to the person with the weapon. There is nothing you own worth your life.
5. If the person wants to take you captive, indicates they will harm you, or wants to tie you up and you can’t flee – fight back immediately and as ferociously as possible. Attack the eyes and throat if possible. Scream as loud as you can, scratch, hit, poke, pull, tear. An enraged yet untrained person can do a heck of a lot of damage.
6. Do not see an opponent as an unstoppable juggernaut, that type of sociopath only exists in horror movies. The toughest guy in the world isn’t going to stand up well to having a bezerker scratching his eyes out.

Right now on Facebook and Youtube there’s a video of a young boy from Australia fighting back against a bully. That video has gone quite viral. Apparently there is even a Facebook page with over 75,000 members supporting the young man names Casey Haynes.

In case you haven’t seen it, here’s a copy of the video…

In full disclosure, I wasn’t there. I don’t know what happened before or after the fight. I don’t know the history, only what’s been reported. Here’s what I’ve read:

• Casey Haynes has been bullied for a while and, according to his parents, this is the first time he’s lashed out. His parents also report that they have taught him to walk away from a fight. Haynes father is afraid of reprisals against his son.
• The parents of the bully, named Richard Gale, have demanded an apology from Haynes. Gale’s mother is upset over the video being posted everywhere despite the fact that it is apparently her son’s friend who recorded it.
• Gale was not injured seriously – he received a scrape on his ankle.
• Both boys were suspended from school for 4 days.
• The school system is considering pressing charges against Haynes, that’s right Haynes.

Let’s operate under the assumption that the reporting here is correct.

Haynes has his back to a wall, and is at the mercy of his younger smaller tormentor. This makes no difference as the younger boy lands a blow to Haynes’ face and several to his body. Haynes tries to deflect several of the blows with some success, and even tries to get away. When Gale charges him – Haynes grabs and body slams him like a WWE wrestler. Haynes does not strike the downed Gale, he get’s away. At this point one or more of Gale’s friends tries to pursue but is stopped by a taller girl.

Here’s the problem: Haynes is clearly acting in self defense. I would also argue that he is using reasonable force. I live in the U.S. and don’t know the legal system in Australia, but most jurisdictions allow self defense.

The problem is deeper though. The school is punishing the victim for standing up for himself. Psychology, economics, and history 101 all tell us that punishing victims increases victimization. Taking away the ability for people to defend themselves from violent crime ALWAYS increases violent crime. I can point to the UK, Washington DC, Chicago, and Boston as example where disarming citizens lead to double digit or higher increases in violent crime.

Wim Demeer, a blogger and martial artist I have a lot of respect for posts here about the incident. He includes a quote I like: “It’s no use for the sheep to pass peace resolutions if the wolves don’t adhere to them.”

We have often heard phrases like “violence solves nothing,” or “violence isn’t the answer.” This is a great sentiment, and I am a pacifist at heart. The only issue is that not everyone believes that. There are murderers, and rapists, and violent home invaders, and bullies who are not adverse to use violence. Sometimes, the only thing that will stop them is violence.

I am a big fan of Ghandi who took non-violence to the extreme. However, even Ghandi was upset by the bullying of Hindus by Muslim countrymen and thought that the Hindu’s should stand up to them even to the point of dieing. He said,”Where there are cowards, there will always be bullies.” And, “My non-violence does not admit of running away from danger and leaving dear ones unprotected.  Between violence and cowardly flight, I can only prefer violence to cowardice.” You can read the full account of what he said here.

Further, why has Haynes become a global cult hero even while his school system looks to prosecute him? Because as human beings we generally know right from wrong. No matter the culture or the country, we inherently understand that victimization and harassment are insidious. We can empathize that, as young students, we couldn’t look to adults (particularly who were part of the system) to solve our problems for us.

Even more than that, bullying is an epidemic. Most martial artists I know (including myself) were bullied at some point in their life. I’m guessing that most people were bullied at least once. Schools in the US are just now starting to address this issue (after several high profile bullying driven suicides).

Ultimately I believe that self-defense is a human right. Our founding fathers (notably John Locke) wrote that self-defense was a natural right. Natural rights are considered universal and inalienable – everybody has the right to self defense and nobody can take that away. This is why the right to self-defense is not clearly spelled out in the constitution. The founding fathers of the U.S. could not conceive of a society so stupid that it would attack people’s natural human right to defend themselves and their loved ones from harm.

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PORTLAND, Maine — Local police are reporting that two men were stabbed in unrelated incidents early Sunday evening.

Portland police report that both men are expected to recover.

Ar least one attack was on a security guard who was overwhelmed and then stabbed in the back multiple times.

Simply watching the news, it’s difficult to say whether edged weapon assaults are becoming more common in Southern, Maine, but certainly they remain common. From these and other attacks we can unequivocally recommend that citizens and police officers interested in their own safety need to undertake edged weapon self-defense training.

Maine Martial Arts is one of the only schools in the state that focuses on defense against armed and multiple opponents. We spend significant amount of our training time learning to defend against knife attacks. We also focus on gun, stick and empty hand attacks.

Ultimately we learn the principles of defense against any type of attack.

This story is a reminder of how edged weapons are everywhere and are very dangerous.

Interested on training to protect you and your loved ones? Contact us.

At the prompting of my sensei and others we’re starting a new email newsletter for martial arts and self defense pros.

I know that many of you probably receive a lot of email already so this is what I’ll promise you:

1. The newsletter is free and will be packed with good information you can use. If you don’t like it you can unsubscribe at any time.

2. I will probably only send them one or twice a month

3. I’ll never ever give away or sell your information or use the email to spam you with junk. I hate spam too.

You can sign up here: http://eepurl.com/cmKx5

For the most part, this blog talks about physical self-defense. One of the things we strongly believe in is preparation. Part of preparation is gaining a realistic understanding of the risks to you and your family.

One thing we’re all aware of is that the economy is really screwed up right now. Things are tough for many in the recession with people out of work. Could things get worse? Many people said yes.

I’m not a money guy, but I have a family to feed. I felt that the time was right to get myself a financial education that was geared towards protecting my future and that of my family. I’d like you to have the same opportunity.

Please click here to check out this free 90 minute video that completely opened my eyes about where our economy is going and what needs to be done. Do it now, I guarantee the video is an awakening you won’t forget.

In the interest of full-disclosure, after watching the video I was convinced to become a paying member of the Elevation Group, and I love what I’m learning. I also became an affiliate, which means if you follow the above link and decide to purchase anything, I’ll get a commission.

There’s been a lot of buzz about the TSA’s screening procedures, which include the backscatter x-ray (apparently known by some TSA personnel as the “porno scanner”) and enhanced pat downs. Complaints are that the scanners are invasive, and the pat-downs amount to sexual assault.

One of the best, and most detailed, takes on the entire situation comes from security expert Bruce Schneier. I urge you to read it and examine as many of his links as possible.

Here’s my take:

The TSA’s new security technology and enhanced pat downs do not make us safer.

One might argue that it’s OK to trade our 4th amendment rights for the right to safer air travel. Even if this were OK – the new security measures do not make us safer. Here are some of the reasons:

• Rafi Sela, former chief of Airline Security for Israel stated, “”I don’t know why everybody is running to buy these expensive and useless machines. I can overcome the body scanners with enough explosives to bring down a Boeing 747.”  (more on the Israelis in a bit)
• The TSA has never caught a single terrorist, every enhanced security precaution is a response to the last attack. The body scanners and enhanced pat-downs are a response to the underwear bomber. X-raying shoes is a response to the shoe bomber. Most recently, terrorists tried to mail bombs to blow up planes. The mailed bombs were not detected by current technology – human intelligence stopped them.
• The Israelis use behavioral profiling and have, arguably, the safest airline in the world. No pat-downs, no body scanners. They have even caught people who had bombs but didn’t know it (the two thought they were smuggling drugs).

The TSA screening is likely to kill more people than terrorists do

Bruce Schneier breaks down the numbers, but given radiation dosages alone, we can expect more people to die from backscatter x-rays this year than from terrorists. However, these new x-rays focus all of the ionizing radiation on the surface of the skin – rather than having it pass through the body. This may mean higher incidents of melanoma  from these scanning machines.

Additionally,  Nate Silver on the Cites a Cornell Study that

“roughly 130 inconvenienced travelers died every three months as a result of additional traffic-fatalities brought on by substituting ground transit for air transit. That’s the equivalent of four fully-loaded Boeing 737s crashing each year.”

Personally, I know of many people who are not traveling by air specifically to avoid the TSA searches.

The searches are invasive and most likely unconstitutional

Certain government officials are going around stating that the American public is in favor of the body scanning x-rays. This is a blatant misuse of statistics and essentially a lie. The question people responded to, back in 2008 was something like, “there is a new technology that may help officials spot weapons people are trying to carry on planes, should airports deploy such new technology.” Of course people said yes – there was no downside.

What if we asked the question this way:

According to research your chances of dying from a terrorist attack are lower than the following: dying in a car accident, by walking across the street, by drowning, in a fire, by falling, or by being murdered. We would like to use technology to slightly mitigate that risk by some unmeasurable amount but we would suspend your fourth amendment rights, take naked pictures of you and your children and show them to strangers, and allow strangers to sexually assault you and your children. Oh yeah, if you don’t want us to violate you or your children, you’ll be fined $10,000. Would you be in favor of such measures?

How many people would agree to that?

Reports of abuses by the TSA abound. IANAL (I am not a lawyer), but I believe that the searches are unconstitutional. Don’t take my word for it: here’s video of a former TSA official admitting they violate the 4th amendment.

The TSA’s screening technology and enhanced pat-downs are expensive “security theater”

So, if the body scanners and pat downs violate our rights, and don’t really make us safer whats the deal? One issue is that we have former director of homeland security, Michael Chertoff, who has a financial stake, through the Chertoff group, in the companies that manufacture the naked body scanners. there is a monetary incentive for us to rely on technology like this, and there are well-paid influential lobbyists whose sole job is to sell this malarkey to our political officials.

Beyond that, we like to make a good show of security, make the public think we’re keeping them safe. This time, the TSA may have gone too far. The backlash against their procedures and technology is building. Congressman Ron Paul has introduced legislature to disband them (although I’m guessing it won’t go far). There are airports that don’t use the TSA, and I’m hoping that more airports will stop using them.

Schneier argues that the money spent on these machines is better spent on intelligence, screening baggage, and screening airport employees. I agree. I’d love to see the US learn how the Israelis keep their planes safe and have done so for 30 years. They had secure cockpits and armed pilots decades before 9/11.  Responding to the last terrorist attack will never make us safer from the next one.

Ultimately, if we agree to give up our constitutional rights to an ineffective bureaucracy, we have lost so much of what it means to be American.

After a recent fatal knife duel in Lewiston, police in Portland are reporting that two men are in the hospital after a knife fight in an apartment on Congress street. I still believe that knife on knife fights like this are fairly rare. They rarely come up in self defense situations – usually it is an escalation of a verbal / physical confrontation.

Some things that are important to realize:

• Knives are everywhere. You don’t need a tactical folding knife to kill someone. A kitchen knife from a dollar store will do the trick. One of the knives in the Lewiston incident was a kitchen knife. However, quality folders are sold everywhere from Home Depot to Amazon.com. In any incident always assume the other person is armed.
• Stab-wounds kill. Sometimes they do not kill instantly – in fact most of the time this is the case.  Run the hell away from a knife if you can.
• If you carry and are prepared to use a knife for self defense, be prepared for your opponent not to die immediately. After you’ve sliced him up, or during the process, he may be trying to kill you with what he’s carrying. Again, run the hell away if you can.

Personally, I believe that incidents involving knives in Maine will rise as time goes on. Contact us to get the type of training you need to stay safe.

In the U.S, a violent crime occurs every 35 seconds. We in Maine tend to enjoy a very low crime rate, however there seem to be a very recent string of random attacks in Portland.

The Portland Press Herald is reporting today that two suspects have been arrested in a string of seemingly random violent attacks and robberies. Reports to police are that a group of three men attacked at least four different people, apparently going after targets of opportunity and seeking to rob them.

Random violence in the Portland area has been all too commonplace lately. There’s  a report of someone suffering head injuries from another person playing the game “knockout”. Just last week someone threw a brick at the window of John Rowley’s RV and, when he pulled over, five men brutally beat him with bricks and boards taking his wallet and phone.

Whether random attacks are on the increase in Maine, or they just seem that way, it’s a good idea to take precautions:

1. Always be aware of your surroundings.
2. Keep your personal space, if someone you don’t know enters your personal space look to escape, or at least make more space.
3. Look at people’s hands, are they holding weapons, balling them up in fists, bringing them up in a boxer position. No need to stare, just make a quick note when your around other people.
4. There’s safety in numbers, if going out – be social and bring friends when you can.
5. If you’re in your car and it’s struck with an object or by another car, it’s safer to pull over somewhere safe, stay in your car with it running, and call the police.
6. Learn some self-defense

Police in Portland, Maine arrested Arien Litalien on Monday after  he allegedly robbed a watch shop in downtown Portland using a brick as a weapon. He is accused of using the brick to smash a glass case and grab a number of expensive watches. An employee apparently chased and tackled Litalien in a parking lot where police later arrested him. There’s no word whether the brick was used to threaten a person, or just used to smash the case.

This story can provide us with a few important lessons on self defense:

1. Anything can be used as a weapon.
   I had an uncle that fought a home invader by smashing the invader’s nose with a glass ashtray. Almost anything you can hold in your hands, and many things you can’t, can be used as a weapon. Training in improvised weapons will not only help you understand how to use every day items to defend yourself, but help you defend against improvised weapons.
2. You can’t disarm criminals
   One thing we know about most criminals is that they don’t want to get hurt and they don’t want to get caught. Most violent criminals will arm themselves with something. Criminals who have been incarcerated have most likely learned how to access, or fashion improvised weapons if they can’t get their hands on a “real designated” weapon.
3. Weapons are tools
   A tool is merely something which helps people do work. Tools focus or convert energy into a more usable form. A gun converts chemical to kinetic energy, a bullet focuses that energy into a small area. A stick, when swung, provides  leverage. A knife edge is a force concentrator. Thinking about how weapons work at a fundamental level gives you an edge.
4. The mind is the real weapon
   The September 11th attackers real weapons weren’t planes or boxcutters, but their planning and ‘gaming our security’. They knew that airlines had standing orders to comply with hijackers, they knew that they could carry small blades on a plane, they knew how to create fear and chaos. Training your mind is even more important than training your body (but both are important).

In the end, using a brick as a weapon is nothing special. You don’t hear about it every day, because we have more sophisticated weapons. However, a brick is essentially a man-made stone, and humans have been whacking each other with rocks since the beginning of time.

Does your training include extensive use of improvised weapons? Ours does. Do you train to defeat specific attacks from specific weapons, or do you train to defeat any attack from any weapon? We do.