Christopher Titus is supposed to be funny. I’ve never particularly found him to be, but a lot of people did and that’s just how it goes. I mean, some people don’t find Dave Chappelle to be funny, so what can you do?

However, unlike Chappelle, I don’t think Titus really tries to be funny anymore. At least, he doesn’t seem to do try to on Twitter. Instead, he tries to get political, particularly with regard to things like gun control.

Three families lost their children because we don’t have the balls to deal with guns. Heart is broken, again. Rinse and Repeat pic.twitter.com/4uO853dwi3

— Titus (@TitusNation) December 1, 2021

Now, in fairness, this isn’t much. Had he left it here, I doubt I’d bother talking about him at all. What happened in Oxford, Michigan wasn’t a failure of gun control but a failure of an individual to respect human life to any appreciable degree, but people are upset and while I might spare a tweet for it, I wouldn’t be writing anything more than that.

But it seems that Titus, in addition to being a comedian who went from having a primetime television show to pretty much slipping completely under the radar, he’s also apparently an expert in self-defense.

No, really.

Just want to point out that Bruce Lee was never holding a gun. Maybe learn something and you won't be so scared shitless you have to take an AR-15 into a taco bell. Coward.

— Titus (@TitusNation) December 1, 2021

Yep, he’s got me. He’s got me completely and totally figured out.

I am not, in fact, Bruce Lee.

Of course, Bruce Lee wasn’t necessarily even Bruce Lee.

Much of Lee’s legend stems from stories about him that often have conflicting accounts as well as his movie roles. However, movie fights are carefully choreographed so as to make them both look good yet keep everyone safe. For an actor like Lee, he’s going to look like a badass no matter how skilled he is.

We should also remember that Lee died in 1973. Violent crime at the time was relatively low, especially in comparison to the 1990s and even more recent years. The fact that Bruce Lee never appeared to carry a gun, either in life or in his movies, may well have been a reflection of his time.

But let’s say that Lee wouldn’t have carried a gun even today because he was just so awesome as a martial artist. So what?

Bruce Lee began training relatively early in his life, learning Wing Chun from his father. He went on to also learn boxing as well, making martial arts a massive part of his life. He dedicated years upon years of his life to being a great martial artist.

If you’re an adult, guess what? It’s too late to become Bruce Lee.

Sorry, but it’s true.

Sure, you can learn martial arts. I think you probably should, actually, since not every threat warrants lethal force. However, you’re never going to reach the legendary status of someone like Bruce Lee.

As a result, even if someone like Lee would refuse to carry a gun, believing he could handle problems without it, you’re not likely to reach that level of prowess.

But again, Lee was from a different era. Things were different. We really don’t know what Lee would recommend for self-defense in the modern world.

What about a life-long martial artist of today?

Well, Renzo Gracie is part of the legendary Gracie Jiu-Jitsu family, and he feels very different from Titus about carrying a firearm.

SI: What makes someone who is so skilled in unarmed self-defense feel the need to own firearms?

Royce Gracie: What if there’s more than one person? What if the adversary is armed? If it’s just one guy who’s not armed, yeah, I can take care of him. But what if he pulls a gun? What if there’s more than one attacker and they have knives? What happens if there’s a terrorist attack? I’ve got a mentality that I’m going to try to stop an attack no matter what, but if he’s got a gun, that’s suicidal if I’m not armed. Also, if a criminal is attacking other people, it’s not always feasible for even someone with my skills to stop that attack without a firearm.

Attackers aren’t going to make it a fair fight. They launch surprise assaults; they try to take you out to get to your family or your property. It’s not the octagon. There’s no referee. And if he pulls a weapon, he’s not just trying to fight me—he’s trying to kill me. At that point, you’d be crazy to try to go hand to hand. I have a gun to defend myself if the situation escalates like that.

Now, when it comes to the capability of a martial artist to defend themselves from any assault, who do you want to listen to, a washed-up comedian like Christopher Titus or an actual martial artist from a legendary martial arts family like Renzo Gracie?

I know who I’m listening to, and it ain’t the guy who likely has never been in a real scrape in his life.