Cue the famous scene from "Raiders of the Lost Ark" in which Indiana Jones just shrugs and shoots the guy who's threatening him with a big sword.
That's what "martial arts" really amount to, in the real world. Empty gestures. When so many people are carrying guns, anything less is just liable to get you killed.
I'm going to take the high road her and just say that comment sounds to me like somebody who doesn't have a significant amount of martial arts experience.
Firstly, as someone who has both military training and several martial arts decorations, stuff like this is why so many people don't take firearms enthusiasts seriously. Having a firearm and knowing how to use it is great, but it's actually pretty easy to take that weapon off of someone or knock it out of their hand in a fraction of a second -- especially if they're untrained or scared. This is why infantry soldiers have their hair cut short and still learn martial arts techniques in basic. In fact, police academies still teach that someone can easily clear 10 feet and close in on someone by the time a trained officer can draw their weapon and effectively engage the target. I can only imagine what that number is for a civilian with a CCW that isn't in shape or who isn't actively training as part of their profession. Seeing as most shootings happen within 15 feet, a lot of gun enthusiasts either do not realize or are not aware that having a firearm is not really an advantage at that distance. I know it's a firearms forum and I'm kind of new to be throwing around unpopular opinions, but I've seen too many proud keyboard warrior military fetishist types get their tushies beaten in real life and their firearms not saving them. Avoiding conflict is the best thing, but anyone can have their car break down in a seedy area.
Secondly, you can't just use lethal force whenever you want. If someone aggressively approaches you outside of Chuck E. Cheese and you think they want to fight or rob you, the truth is that's likely not enough to protect you in court if you draw out your handgun and go to town. You have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that you were in fear for your life or serious bodily injury, and even police officers are having a hard time in the modern era illustrating proportional force in textbook justifiable circumstances that are objectively recorded on video. Maybe if you're an elderly or disabled person this might work, but most likely an impending
potential fistfight doesn't justify a shooting in court of law. In fact, most of the time I've seen muggings or fights, the danger isn't obvious until someone throws a sucker punch or a wild haymaker out of nowhere. So if your defense is "anything less than using a gun is just liable to get you killed," your options are most likely hard time in prison, getting shot with your own weapon, or getting beaten to death.
Thirdly, people grossly overestimate their hand to hand combat skills, their fitness, and their gross motor skills. The latter is the most important because the process of drawing really quickly on the range and hitting a stationary target
is nowhere close to how your hand moves when you have significant cortisol and adrenaline in your body. I've seen a karate instructor have trained individuals pull a handgun out within arms length and knock it out of their hand one after another. I've seen police officers have their weapons wrestled out of their hands. When things get stressful or scary, stuff happens really fast. So many overweight, out of shape, poorly coordinated, downright unhealthy people are completely out of touch with reality as to how they would react in a real altercation. When most people are hit hard for the first time in the head, they freeze up. It's very common, and taking martial arts will get you past this point so that you know how to react naturally without thinking about it. Hard sparring will prepare you for this, and the idea that this isn't "the real world" is not something I've seen play out in real life.
Fourth and perhaps most importantly, you might simply find yourself in a situation where you don't have immediate access to a firearm or you don't have a safe shot. If someone approaches you with intent to cause serious bodily injury but there's a crowd behind them, the truth is you're not going to realistically be able to shoot them. If you want to retreat or move such that your backstop is better, that's groovy, but that martial arts training is going to be part of the fitness and agility you're going to need to do that.
This is the reason I am interested (plus fitness). Things happen fast, i'm a small dude, draw speed is never going to be instant, etc.
I just found the comment lacking... experience/wisdom/familiarity? I don't know the exact word for it.
As far as the comment made by that instructor, the notion of a "walking holster" is a bit presumptuous about your abilities, but I respectfully say it's most likely not inaccurate for the average CCW. You don't know when someone is necessarily going to be a threat, and you can't draw you're weapon until you're ready to use it. In many cases, that's way too late. Taking Basic Muay Thai or BJJ will be great for your overall fitness and combat skills. As someone who has had both, I highly recommend it and did not realize what I was missing until I took those classes.
I know this comment was long and I honestly expect to get a lot of hate on here for this, but I really hope it helps someone. Please don't become a statistic.