Steve Tarani
is a police officer for the Del Rey Oaks Police Department (California) where he serves as a senior
defensive tactics and a firearms instructor. An internationally respected contact
weapons and personal safety expert, Steve Tarani is a defensive tactics instructor and author who provide high-profile operational
skills consultation and training for various law enforcement and military agencies worldwide. His training courses have been
accepted as standard curriculum for a number of federal and state-accredited programs within the criminal justice training
community.
Steven
Tarani is the Director of Training for Operational Skills Group, LLC / Contact Defense Division), on staff at the US DOE Nonproliferation
and National Security Institute, Security Force Training Department at Kirtland Air Force Base and on staff at the Gunsite
Academy. Steve Tarani is the author of four books: Bringing a Gun to a Knife Fight; Folding Knives: Carry and Deployment; The
Naked Edge: The Complete Guide to Edged Weapons Defense; and, Karambit: Exotic Weapon of the Indonesian Archipelago.
According
to Lawrence Kane, the author of Surviving Armed Assaults, “Karambits, curved fighting knives primarily from the Indonesia
Archipelago, are becoming more and more popular albeit controversially so. Folks either love 'em or hate 'em with not much
in-between. On the pro-side, they are nearly impossible to disarm and can perform multiple cuts in a single pass as practitioners
can flip them mid cut. On the con side, they require very close quarters and are nearly impossible to stab with. This book
clearly advocates the benefits of this unique weapon, providing an excellent historical overview along with practical tips
and tricks for using one effectively. I think it oversimplifies in some places (kinda like I just did) but not to a large
enough extent to warn folks away from it.
I do feel
obliged to mention that these weapons are really, really expensive (at least for anything of quality anyway) and very challenging
to master without competent instruction. If you want to use one, I suggest picking up a non-edged trainer first. They can
also be used as control devices in their own right. While no martial art can be taught solely from a manual, this one covers
all the basics in a fair amount of depth. It is easy to read and understand.
The author,
Steve Tarani, is a Filipino Escrima and Indonesian Silat practitioner as well as a world renowned edged weapons combat instructor.
In that capacity he has passed his skills along to thousands of law enforcement professionals and civilian practitioners.
He is certainly knows his stuff and communicates it pretty effectively in this book.”