Why take the time to learn the martial arts for self-defense?
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It’s a well known fact that size and strength matter significantly when engaging in unarmed combat. So why bother learning the martial arts for self-defense at all? Why not get a gun (legally: Country and State permitted), where size and strength are much less relevant with firearms?
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For the same time and effort of training, it is more cost effective to learn how to use the gun. While marksmanship is by no means easy, it is easier to become moderately skillful with a firearm than unarmed combat.
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Firearms have ‘standoff’, while unarmed fighting requires you to let your assailant get close enough to touch you, and if you are smaller and weaker, you will be at a significant disadvantage.
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Buying a handgun and putting a few thousand rounds downrange with a qualified instructor is a lot simpler than becoming skilled in martial arts to a level of competence that rivals the stopping power of a handgun in most circumstances.
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That being said, a gun is only reliably useful if you train on how to use and maintain it. And this isn’t as easy as just going to the range a few times a month. Tactical pistol shooting for self-defense sometimes isn’t enough. For instance, in surprise, close range armed encounters that require one to defend against injury, and then draw your weapon.
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Guns also jam and run out of ammunition. If you aren’t training to clear jams and reload quickly while preserving your life, with either or both hands, you can bet that your dominant hand becomes incapacitated early in the fight. Good luck trying to figure out how to clear jams and reload with your non—dominant hand in a highly stressful situation.
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Another big problem is the law. In many places, from businesses and institutions, to Cities, States, and Countries, carrying a handgun on one’s person is illegal, whether out in the open, or concealed upon one’s person.
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Many States here in the US permit the issuance of concealed-carry permits, and some States even allow the open-carry of a firearm. Here in Illinois, it can be very challenging to obtain a Firearms License and then a Concealed-Carry Permit. The criminal of course needn’t worry.
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Therefore should we just ‘get a gun’ (legally) to use for self-defense when all else fails?
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Learning both unarmed, armed, and firearms based combat skills, being able to utilize multiple means of self-defense is much more useful than just one. A sense of security comes down to training with the gun as a martial arts weapon, along with carrying it responsibly and lawfully.
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But competent, pragmatic, unarmed martial art skills are always with you, take a mere split second to apply, and usually have the element of surprise….. You also don’t run out of ammunition, or experience a jam or misfire.
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Finally however, David didn’t beat Goliath with his fists, but he did with a rock. 
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“Whenever you are attacked by more than one it behooves you to have some thing that is a force multiplier. I wish more Americans that did carry [firearms] focused some of their time on some ‘hand-to-hand’ aspects of self-defense, but I absolutely believe, in this day and time the only way to adequately prepare for a violent encounter is to be armed.” – Bill McMahan 30+ years in Martial Arts, Police Captain and Law Enforcement
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