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Comment by Sifu on October 29, 2010 at 2:43pm

Excellent advice Matt

Comment by Matt Brubaker on October 29, 2010 at 5:45am

Ric,
As a police officer in the local community, maybe I can shed a little light on your situation and provide some answers to your question. Martial artists and boxers are not required to be registered as "lethal weapons" as popular legend states. I assume you are training for the self-defense aspect, and also the sport aspect. If you were to consider all of the people that have some type of martial arts training, whatever style that may be, and take a look at the people that do get in fights and ultimately arrested you might be surprised to discover that the majority of those people are not trained or are not trained sufficiently. Most of them are simply "fans" and not actually practitioners. As a citizen, if you were to find yourself in any type of an encounter with somebody else, you have a duty to retreat; meaning that if you have the opportunity to walk away and leave the situation, then do it. As a police officer, I have the same laws to abide by, only to a different standard. I do not have the duty to retreat. If you stay with the MMA training, or any other type of martial arts, you will soon discover that the self-confidence you develop will help you to better handle any situation you might find yourself in. It should also teach you the self-discipline to know your limits, and to avoid putting yourself in any situation that might get you in trouble. You might actually discover that you likely will not ever need the skills learned through MMA, however, should you ever need to use those skills, do so wisely. The bottom line is this: If you ever find yourself in a situation that you absolutely cannot walk away from, you need to be able to articulate or explain that you were acting in self-defense and you were in fear for your immediate personal and physical safety; not simply because somebody pissed you off and called you names. That holds true for anybody, trained or un-trained. I hope I was of some help to you. Good luck in your continued MMA training.

Comment by David Gee on October 27, 2010 at 12:00am

I have to agree with all the previous comments. The amount of self defense used (if necessary) depends entirely on the situation. I've studied Criminal Justice for four years now, and have a copy of New York's Penal Law at my house. The only way you should even consider using what you've been taught is if you cannot walk away from the situation. If they back you into a corner and start swinging at you, you should obviously fight back, but if you get an opportunity to leave the situation then you should or they could press charges on you. If you can find a copy (I know that most college stores have it), grab the Penal Law book. You'll find out a bunch of interesting things about this state, and how it interprets the law.

Comment by Sifu on October 25, 2010 at 9:15am

To Ric and members of CNY MMA,
The New York State Penal Code article 35 (look it up and read it) has no mention of distinguishing between trained and untrained individuals, except Police Officers in cases of deadly force felony.

The urban legend about registering your hands is BS. What isn't BS is proper use of force as defined by the penal code, and how a defense or prosecuting attorney can, and will use the information to try to make you appear more capable. I have taught self defense in relation to and pertaining to Use Of Force to law enforcement, Secret Service, US Marshals and Police Academy training (yes, they all are subject to the law as well) for over two decades. I've also been used as a professional witness in trials where legal use of force were in question. Everyone should understand the law and how it will affect you, if you are involved a self defense event. Ignorance does not protect us.
Learn it, it will empower you as to what your legal rights are.
SIFU

Comment by Amanda Reed on October 24, 2010 at 6:58pm

I have heard of instances where people had to register their hands as deadly weapons but I think that's only for Navy Seals and stuff. I don't think it applies to martial arts. I know of a guy who did get in a lot of trouble with the courts for fighting with knowledge of martial arts but this guy was going around starting the fights himself. I don't think you have to worry about anything like that if you're defending yourself and you're innocent in the situation. It's perfectly legal and natural to protect yourself, which is the whole reason you're taking mma right? The law allows people to learn all of these fighting styles and they're perfectly aware that there may be a situation where they may need to apply it for self preservation. I don't think anybody expects you to sit and take a beating from someone to avoid putting your hands on them. Besides, your natural instincts would never allow it, whether you wanted to or not you would fight back. Plus, you don't need to worry about beng very dangerous to someone for a long time, you said you've only been doing this for a few months right? You're not going to be that skilled or that instinctive with it yet, you won't be able to think on your feet using this stuff for a little while longer anyway.

Comment by Rafael Heller on October 24, 2010 at 12:18pm

Simple. There's no need to fight. This thing of training to be a weapon started a Long time ago and is honestly a pile of poo. No one is going to lock you away and throw away the key because you are a menace to society and yourself.
The "fighting" training is only a small part of the big circle. The mental is the largest part of the martial arts game. Just because you CAN beat the heck out of someone doesn't mean that you should , and once you can beat someone you will realize it's not worth the time or energy.
Hopefully this sheds a little light on your question.