
“Gunslinger’s gait”: a new cause of unilaterally reduced arm swing - mmastrac
http://www.bmj.com/content/351/bmj.h6141
======
slr555
This is not a new phenomenon. In the law enforcement community it has been
well recognized for many years that people who carried concealed weapons will
often exhibit reduced arm swing on the gun side. The habit is driven by two
issues. The first is training and a desire to keep the strong side arm indexed
to the weapon for faster unholstering. The second is a reaction to the first
and involves trying to unlearn the reduced arm swing, which more recently has
been seen as a "tell" which may give warning to potential adversaries that one
is armed and may be a potential threat. As a corollary people are now taught
to be aware of reduced arm swing in others.

~~~
nickbauman
Wonder what they're packing? KGB assassins and recon agents are known to carry
the PSS, with an almost completely silent report.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSS_silent_pistol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSS_silent_pistol)

~~~
DanielBMarkham
Thanks for this link. A fascinating weapon. Would love to see a teardown and
some range action. I didn't think such a thing would be possible. Sounds like
something along the lines of a gunpowder-powered air gun -- the gunpowder
contains the force, but it's the cylinder that ejects the round -- all the
gases are captured. Very interesting!

~~~
moron4hire
That's pretty much exactly how it worked, with the piston internal to the
cartridge, rather than the weapon
[http://worldweapon.info/patron-762x415-sp-4](http://worldweapon.info/patron-762x415-sp-4)

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adaml_623
That article reads like a William Gibson story. It's not relevant to my life
but I'm happier for having read it.

10/10 - would laugh about in the pub.

~~~
trm42
Same here. The title could also be "This is how you detect Parkinson's decease
OR KGB-agent" :)

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AndrewOMartin
"Moving forward should be done with one side, usually the left, turned
somewhat in the direction of movement."

This strategy is known as straferunning, and was previously thought to be
effective only in 90's era first-person shooters, particularly Goldeneye.
Maybe Putin is also a 00 Agent?

------
compbio
I think this kind of research is rather unethical and farcical. Like the
previous research, where they came to the conclusion that Putin was an autist,
based solely on Youtube video's.

[http://www.theguardian.com/science/head-
quarters/2015/feb/07...](http://www.theguardian.com/science/head-
quarters/2015/feb/07/putin-aspergers-story-stupidity-of-psychological-
diagnosis-from-a-distance)

    
    
      it seems like a clumsy attempt to discredit Putin, so
      that people don’t take him seriously.
    
      we’re just being given pure conjecture, dressed up as 
      convincing scientific knowledge. This sort of practice
      doesn’t offer any useful scientific insight into, well,
      anything, and it misrepresents how science works, and
      what good quality scientific research looks like.
    

I do understand that as a public figure one attracts more scrutiny. But I also
thought that medical professionals, like neurologists, fall under Hippocratic
Oath:

    
    
      Whatever, in the course of my practice, I may see or 
      hear (even when not invited), whatever I may happen to
      obtain knowledge of, if it be not proper to repeat it,
      I will keep sacred and secret within my own breast.
    

If a neurologist is allowed to dig up old KGB manuals to classify heads of
state as gunslingers, I am allowed to say this has nothing to do with fast gun
access, but everything with signalling stature through body language: People
will pass you by at your swinging arm and not bump into you when you employ
this gate. Either that or old habits really do die hard, and Putin carries a
gun to summits.

~~~
Tharkun
I assumed the article was intended as being tongue-in-cheek. Calling it
unethical and farcical is, well, farcical.

------
67726e
So you have spies trained to telegraph their identity because of their gait.
Brilliant!

~~~
arethuza
I read a book recently written by a former member of the UK SBS ("Black Water:
By Strength and By Guile" \- Don Camsell) and at one point he goes to work for
an undercover intelligence unit and one of the important parts of their
training for undercover work was learning how _not_ to look like a
soldier/marine - which is quite difficult if you have had as much training as
someone in the SBS.

~~~
dweekly
For anyone who has seen played "spot the Fed" at DEFCON, blending in is
clearly a challenge. (E.g. Most of the hackers there don't have neck muscles
that indicate their owners can bench 300+ pounds)

~~~
chippy
It's a bit of a myth really that of the muscular military spy (even James Bond
would fit that role) - most intelligence officers tend to be small and wiry,
lacking bulky muscles, trained for speed and agility. They would be fit, but
not noticeably so. So they of course be lacking beer bellies and man boobs,
but they wouldn't have big muscles.

Now someone at DEFCON is not going to be a field agent - they will work in an
office behind a computer which leads me to the next myth from DEFCON: that
spooks are not geeks. They are exactly that. They are us, like us, have the
same interests. They just work against us whilst believing they are working
for us.

~~~
arethuza
Not that I really know - but my stereotype for UK SF personnel is someone that
looks more like an Olympic long distance runner than a weightlifter.

~~~
OJFord
UKSF are not equivalent to what the American (if I may be so presumptuous)
above termed a "Fed" though.

I still largely agree, it's just hard to draw comparisons, although I imagine
CID (resp. FBI) personnel even without sidearms may be more naturally inclined
to spend time at the gym than the average HN reader.

------
empiricus
The article is missing the control group; how often does this gait appear in
other countries high officials?

~~~
Tharkun
I read about this yesterday, and spent last evening people watching. Either
there are a lot of KGB-trained spies in my neighbourhood, a very high rate of
Parkinsons, or there are other possible causes.

~~~
thesz
[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/308/308-h/308-h.htm](http://www.gutenberg.org/files/308/308-h/308-h.htm)

 _I sat for awhile, frozen with horror; and then, in the listlessness of
despair, I again turned over the pages. I came to typhoid fever—read the
symptoms—discovered that I had typhoid fever, must have had it for months
without knowing it—wondered what else I had got; turned up St. Vitus’s
Dance—found, as I expected, that I had that too,—began to get interested in my
case, and determined to sift it to the bottom, and so started
alphabetically—read up ague, and learnt that I was sickening for it, and that
the acute stage would commence in about another fortnight. Bright’s disease, I
was relieved to find, I had only in a modified form, and, so far as that was
concerned, I might live for years. Cholera I had, with severe complications;
and diphtheria I seemed to have been born with. I plodded conscientiously
through the twenty-six letters, and the only malady I could conclude I had not
got was housemaid’s knee._

~~~
benten10
I realize this is getting off-topic, but that's by far the funniest book I've
ever read. I don't remember laughing out loud so consistently (or even, at
all) at any other book. If anyone's interested, "Three men in a boat" is
HIGHLY recommended. "Three men on a bummel(?)" was OK, but this book hurt my
ribs because I laughed so much so hard. : )

Ah, to be able to write like that. Was that his only more-popular book, anyone
know (wiki's not helpful)?

------
jstanley
My left arm swings a lot more than my right, and I've never had any weapons
training, and never carried a gun anywhere.

~~~
kbart
Same here. Especially after spending 8h clicking mouse on not very ergonomic
office table. I also notice a lot of people (especially younger males) have
one shoulder a bit higher/lower than the other. I can only speculate it's for
the same reason.

~~~
benologist
Earlier this year I swapped mouse hands to spread the workload out more evenly
with my weaker arm, was a fun experiment with I think pretty good results.

~~~
kbart
I switched to ergonomic mouse[0] at home. It takes some time to get used to
it, but I've never look backed after I did.

0\. [http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Vertical-Ergonomic-
Optical-16...](http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Vertical-Ergonomic-
Optical-1600DPI/dp/B00BIFNTMC)

------
DiabloD3
I need more stuff like this. Everything about this was exactly perfect. The
subject material, the pace, the tone of voice, the length. Just perfect.

------
Paul_S
Now it's caused by walking whilst holding your phone.

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grandalf
My right shoulder hangs a bit lower, due to the years I spent carrying a heavy
bag full of newspapers as a kid doing a paper route.

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joonoro
This is actually _amazing_. I will now forever see Putin as being ready 24/7
to whip out his PB[0] at a moments notice wherever he goes.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PB_%28pistol%29](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PB_%28pistol%29)

------
moron4hire
I've noticed in previous years that I have such a gait, and I have never had
any sort of combat training. I always just assumed it was a result of wearing
my wallet in my back, right pocket while I sat at work, which generally causes
other imbalances in the spinal column.

