On September 2, Argentina’s vice president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was exiting her car outside her home in Buenos Aires. A crowd had gathered in support of the former president, who is in the middle of a corruption trial.
Suddenly, with no warning, a man standing among a crowd of her supporters raised a Bersa Thunder 32, a small, lightweight, .32 caliber handgun, loaded with five bullets. When the pistol was just inches from her face, he pulled the trigger twice.
The firearm jammed and the man was overpowered within moments. The gun was recovered and determined to be functional. The 69-year-old vice president suffered no physical injury, although the psychic toll of a murder attempt that close to being successful must be momentous.
The suspect is 35-year-old Brazilian national resident of Argentina Fernando Andre Sabag Montiel. He has expressed support for far-right organizations and occult beliefs on his social network, and has nazi tattoos on his arms. The vice president can be loosely characterized as a left-wing populist.
In response to the pointed handgun, de Kirchner appears to shield her face with her hand, and duck. However, she later reported that she never saw the gun, and potentially was stooping over to pick up something off the ground.
The incident provides a window to consider self-defense vs. a firearm.
Many defenses against a handgun begin with the firearm held close to the head, and critics argue that that is an unrealistic scenario. However, experts who study attacks with handguns say it does indeed occur; the attempt on the vice president’s life is an illustration of it.
If you are interested in defending yourself against a handgun, in determining an instructor, choose wisely. For example, Krav Maga is seemingly an ideal choice, and some Krav Maga instruction is world class; and some of it is LARPing. Much of what is taught is comically pathetic.
Among the very best is Tim Kennedy, who teaches through his Sheep Dog Response. He’s an active Special Forces master sergeant and sniper, with combat deployments throughout the Middle East, as part of the most elite counter-terrorism and hostage rescue unit within the U.S. Army Green Berets. He holds numerous black belts including in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and U.S. Army Combatives. A professional MMA fighter from 2001-2016, he twice fought for the Strikeforce middleweight title, was for years near the top of the UFC rankings; his 18 career wins include the likes of Robbie Lawler, Roger Gracie, and Michael Bisping.
In short, Tim Kennedy is a bad man, and you can trust him.
What would you do if faced with a handgun?