Calling Bruce Lee: Will more police acquire nunchucks? (with related video)

A Northern California town has decided to equip its 20 officers with nunchaku sticks, a martial arts weapon. Police in Anderson, in California’s Shasta County, believe that the device, sometimes referred to as nunchucks or nunchucku, will help officers take down suspects. With the product, trained officers can quickly hobble wrists and/or ankles; the device can help control a suspect without brute force.

The Chinese Kung Fu weapon features double sectional sticks often connected by a nylon cord. It was made famous in Bruce Lee movies from the 1970s.

Manny DeCastro, president of Buki Yuushuu LLC, tells GPN that in the hands of a talented practitioner, the Nunchaku is an extremely useful weapon. “The weapon can simply be used to block and lock an assailant, striking, all the way to the actual use of deadly force.” He adds:  “Yes, the Nunchaku can do it all.” DeCastro’s firm, based in Stonington, Conn., custom-manufactures the product in different lengths, weights and sizes.

Police have an abundance of weapons, says DeCastro. “The police utility or duty belt is already filled with weapons they don’t know how to use. Why add another one?” He notes that police already carry guns, Tasers, PR-24 (batons), pepper sprays, slap-jacks and similar devices.

DeCastro says it’s not about giving police nunchucks so they can carry more weapons. “It’s about police having the ability and training to use them. Our police departments, in my opinion, need more training in use of force and the proper weapon for this use. We need to help these people to do the difficult job that they do.”

DeCastro says that police need to define the outcome they want when the weapon is used. He says that the length, weight and size of the nunchuck will produce different outcomes in the hands of an officer.

The manufacturing executive says training is crucial, and should be included in the purchsse of a nunchuck. “As with any other weapon, training is always required. With the Nunchaku it is absolutely required as the weapon is so fast, in the hands of the untrained, they could easily get hurt themselves.”

In the video, an Anderson, Calif. officer tells how nunchucks are used to subdue unruly suspects.

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