Well that was gory. Still, I don’t suppose one should be overly squeamish when fighting for your life. That’s when you should go all-in, no-holds-barred, hoping that the resulting blood spatter belongs to your opponent. To that end, most gun guys carry a knife as well as a gun. I don’t now about you, but my knife-fighting skills are just this side of non-existent. Ninja juggling one of my way cool survival knives (which I use for kitchen prep), JWT told me there are two schools of thought . . .

You can stab, slice and dice your opponent’s center mass or “defang the snake” – cut the control cables to the arms and leg. And then go, as Jon puts it, “all stabby.”

Psychologically, I’m ready to do whatever needs to be done to return home after my shift. Practically, I’ve got a razor-sharp Emerson Wave that I carry exclusively for life-threatening emergencies. I carry a second knife for recalcitrant steak and obstinate packages.) But I ain’t got game.

What about you? Do you have a clue what to do when the bad boys come for you and it ain’t no fun ’cause your gun don’t run?

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

118 COMMENTS

  1. Final shot was interesting. After all that she stands up and not a drop of red on her anywhere!

    • The CGI artists didn’t add any blood on her for some reason.

      BTW, i know the girl in the video. She’s a good stunt fighter. The choreography was fun, too. I may steal some of it the next time I stage a knife and/or gun fight.

      As to Farago’s question: Yes, I carry at least one knife almost everywhere I go, especially in areas of the country where I can’t carry my gun. And, yes, I know how to use them.

    • That was a pretty stupid clip. The guy with the subgun was especially chivalrous trying to put all his ammo through one bullet hole through the door.

    • Exactly. I’m really tired of Hollywood portraying women as being capable of fighting like that.

    • Lighten up, Francis’s. It was a fantasy. You know, like Tony Stark and Iron Man. Not to be taken seriously. Unknot your panties and just enjoy the show. Or not.

      Just don’t tell me grown ass men like yourself are really threatened by her mad combat skillz.

  4. Love fight scenes with perfect choreography, like distance between combatants can be regulated that cleanly by any / either party.

    Violence of action was nice though, and people ran out of ammunition. so, B

  5. Being in Canada, the option of concealed (or open for that matter) Carry is a non-starter; if I want to be armed in any way, it HAS to be with a knife. Thankfully, there are MANY places in the U.S. that would prohibit me from carrying the knife that’s in my pocket all the time (another Emerson; a non-waved Persian…think folding saber). Our knife laws are virtually wide open; if you can fit it in your pocket, it’s good to go, and preferable over an unsightly sheath knife, although with very few exceptions those are OK too. Butterfly, spring assist automatics are prohibited, but pretty much anything else is fine.

    I’ve adopted a very similar attitude to knives as many responsible firearms owners in the U.S. have to their pistols; if I have to defend my life with it, I’d better know how to use it. I’ve taken a number of courses in defensive/offensive knife work. I’d never consider myself a “knife fighter”, but I’m confident enough in my abilities that I would be able to defend myself against a thug with all his training coming from watching movies like the one above.

    A karambit is an interesting choice. In the right hands it’s a devastating weapon; one that requires a LOT of training just to get you past the point of doing more harm to yourself than a bad guy should you have to deploy it. I know personally that my choice of weapon against a trained karambit user would be 30 feet in distance and a 12ga. with 00buck.

    • Guessing that in Canada you, the legal defender, will be using something like a knife and the Bad Guy(s) may well have a gun or two. Your chances of survival in a situation like that would be close to zero, is my guess. Just because guns are illegal does not mean that the BGs will not have them. Just keeps the legal defenders from owning or using them. This is the fatal flaw in almost any gun control scheme. But, the lawmakers tend to conveniently leave that detail out when pressing for more and more gun control laws. Which is why it is up to the rest of us to keep fighting and let the public know the gun control laws are a travesty that is potentially fatal to legal, law abiding citizens.

    • A hockey stick is a pretty damn effective weapon, and I have it on good authority that any Canadian can carry one anywhere. It’s patriotic!

  6. I was taught that if you’re using a knife that you have to expect to get injured in the process. I took from my training that when using a blade naked aggression is your ally. Don’t dance or try to be tricky. Go straight in and use the “sewing machine”. Stab straight in as fast and as often as possible.

    • Good advice. You cannot defensively block with a knife as you can with a long blade, so the probability is that you will indeed be cut, hopefully in a noncritical area. Do not reach for your opponents blade to try to block it; instead use your non weapons arm curled back against the shoulder as a shield, and block from there. You thus protect the inside areas of the arm, your rib cage, and a portion of your abdomen.

      If you have a short (3 or 3.5″) blade, your best targets are the throat, inside of the wrists,elbows and behind the knees, where major blood vessels are close the the surface and/or damage to a tendon group may cause debilitating injury that prevents further assault with that limb.

  7. Knives don’t jam or run out of ammo. The fear of being cut is almost elemental in people. I like a 3″ fixed for edc, might have to look into a karambit though.

  8. My knife is a last resort. It also marks one as a punk/thug criminal in the mind of officer unfriendly. Gun,pepper gun and my own waning strength first- being willing to maim or kill someone is the bottom line…

  9. Chances are if your using a knife your CCL got jammed up, dropped, taken or ran out of pebbles. Best not to carry a folder, just try to open that in a hurry with someone on top of you, and likely with your non dominant hand. Small fixed blade accessible with you r weak hand. What are the laws regarding knife carry?

    • ” What are the laws regarding knife carry?”

      They differ state by state. Remember ignorance of the law is only excusable if you are an enforcer of the law.

      • In Washington State there are all sorts of restrictions on carrying certain types of knives. Even if you have a CPL which makes absolutely NO sense at all. If you can be trusted to carry a firearm then you should be able to be trusted with any kind of knife or even a sword IMO. Laws often make NO sense.

        • It’s true in PA, as well, especially Philadelphia and its suburbs. Knife laws are very unclear in Philly, vague otherwise, and knife carry is frowned upon by LE. A concealed pistol or two with a licence to carry? Fine.

          Dealing with knife-bearing hoods in PA means protecting your space, learning how to kick while drawing, block while drawing one-handed, how to retreat while drawing. It means learning why carrying chambered matters. It means choosing your weapon(s) utterly for reliability and effectiveness, not for beauty or historical shimmer.

    • Here’s one state for you. California strictly forbids the concealed carry of a fixed bladed knife, although open (belt) carry of such a knife is legal. Technically, you can legally open carry a sword. Except in LA. AFAIK, LA bans any knife with a blade in excess of 3″. Except on stage sets. Of course. I’ve always thought that the perfect self defense knife is a kukri or a short sword(20″) carried vertically under the dominant hand, Roman style.

    • Not true—if you cannot open your folder with either hand at least as fast as you can draw a fixed blade or open a fully automatic knife, you have not practiced enough. I carry a folder in either pocket and can draw either and get the first blood before you can open a switchblade. I have carried knives in parts of the world and parts of this country where the carry of a firearm will put you in prison for a long time. Since I work in secure areas of military bases around the world (having put my time in the army during the Vietnam thing) on a regular basis, my truck and my person get searched on a regular basis. I cannot always carry a firearm and often do not even take one on the trip due to the laws of other states and the risk of having it stolen while leaving it in the hotel. Therefore, my knife becomes not only my primary means of defense, it is my only means of defense (other than years of training and awareness) most of the time. This is not to say that I am some kind of superhero at 61 years of age, but do not corner me; I am quite proficient. Even when I was a police officer, I carried two guns and two knives (as well a a hidden handcuff key) at all time when on duty (no, it was not a throwdown!!!) because I was aware of many situations in which officers had been killed by not having a backup weapon and ammunition.

    • Another great property of the 1911: if I’m out of bullets it makes a pretty good bludgeon.

  10. Knives are great. I love all of mine and train with them alongside my firearms.

    The often over looked part of the knife game is that which you carry you have to retain.

    Ground fighting is often left out of handgun and edged weapons training. I’ve seen plenty of blue guns and training knives go flying from pockets and holsters when things hit the ground in a training environment and on the street.

    Buy a training analog for your gun that fits in your holster and a trainer for your general type of knife (folder or fixed),* find a friend who knows what “half speed grappling” means and roll on a surface that won’t make you miserable.

    See what happens.

    The costs are worth the experience. Don’t listen to what anyone preaches until you’ve tried it yourself in conditions matching your daily life.

    I love Sayoc Kali, but I don’t carry three fixed blade karambits at FBI cant angles in OTW sheaths.

    Carry what you’re comfortable with, train with what you actually use EDC and be safe. All other training is fun as all hell but reality should take precedence.

    This has been my opinion, worth what you paid for it.

    *Knife training analogs are much more limited than firearms, go with what’s closest.

  11. Knives being prone to causing surface wounds but not reach vital organs seem like a much worse option for self defense. The point isn’t to torture the bad guy or bleed them to death, it’s to stop the threat.

    With that said I think it’s a good deterrent against a criminal with a bladed weapon (you can attack me but you’re gonna be bleeding too) and it’s a lot better than fists should the time come for defense.

    • “Knives being prone to causing surface wounds but not reach vital organs seem like a much worse option for self defense. The point isn’t to torture the bad guy or bleed them to death, it’s to stop the threat.”

      The first person I ever saw get killed in front of me was killed instantly, with one insert of a knife into their frontal chest cavity.

      I learned about never off body carrying a firearm that day and the importance of having a knife for the meat tray at a card game. The door was kicked in, and before I could get my gun out of my back pack my friend cleared the table and rushed the first guy into a closet. By that time I had my gun aimed at the next guys face and placed them on their knees. My friend stood up with not much blood on him and the savage was cold.

      If ambushed from behind stab forcefully over your shoulder aiming for the attackers face, or you could cut their brachial artery at the elbow. It is called insert and twist.

      Fast and repeated strikes are the definition of violence of action. Why do you think when a sentry is silenced, their head is almost decapitated in the process. 7-8th rib will cause them to release their bowels and bladder immediately, which means they are dead.

      • Remember panic control, and never forget that your brain is your primary weapon. I open carry a gun on my hip and a 4in fixed blade knife on the other. If somebody touches my gun I would let them keep their attention focused there, while I insert a knife into their skull or throat.

        Imagine when you first turn your shower on, and how you react to the cold water. The gasp or physical reaction you get, is what happens when you are stabbed.

        • I was pre law in college, at a fraternity card game, in an off campus apartment. The evil bastards thought we were yuppies they were dead wrong.

    • if i had the option of bringing a louisville slugger or a knife to fight someone with a knife, i’d take the slugger anyday.

      all you have to do is land one solid power swing anywhere on the hand or arm holding the knife and you have a very good chance of escaping unharmed.

      BTW, don’t stop swinging until the threat is neutralized!

      • Agreed, reach is more important.

        Most people don’t go about daily life with a baseball bat though.

        • “Agreed, reach is more important.”

          Precisely why a 4 oz. can of ‘Bear-be-Gone’ with a 30 foot reach is in my EDC.

      • The best way to defend from a bat?

        Let them hit you… In the hand. Palm open…

        Of just shoot them before they get that close…

        • I got hit in the hand playing ball when I was twelve. Even though it was at the end of the batter’s backswing, 55 years later it still hurts just thinking about it. But nothing broke.

        • nonsense. the best way to defebd against a bat is most certainly NOT to let them hit you in the hand with palm open, or anywhere else. that sounds like it came straight from a lame strip-mall kung-fu sifu.

          let me hit you with a bat in your open palm and then tell me if you still hold that asinine opinion.

          in fact, hold a knife in your hand and let me hit you anywhere on that arm and see if you still have the knife.

        • I call shenanigans. the best way to defend against a bat is to step inside the arc of the swing, trap the swinging arm. Then you could, for example, drive their head up and back with the forearm to the throat and carefully choose from a selection of debilitating blows about the face and throat, ending with disarming them of the bat. if they accidentally get hit 4 or 5 times with the bat on the way to the ground, try to look apologetic.

        • Coffee Addict, being old and weak, is it OK if I shoot him a little, before I start all that?

      • And no where in the article did it say you had to pick between the two. What is is about this blog that if anyone brings up anything else rather than a gun (knife, empty hand techniques) someone thinks you can only use them in absence of a gun. Have your cake and eat it too. Heck, I’ve easily carried two pistols, 2 fixed blades and and 2 folders at times with striking and grappling training to boot. Not a big deal to acquire some skills in the dark arts if you’re truly inclined.

    • 9/11 should have revealed to you that even a blade of less than 1″ is deadly—that is all the terrorists had with them, box cutters! Do you still think that is superficial?
      Personally, I am more of a slasher than a stabber. A slash of the muscles controlling the gripping hand renders it useless—it takes full muscle control to hold onto a weapon. A good folder with a 3-4″ blade is more than enough to get the job done. There is nothing in the human body that is out of range of a knife. You take out the controlling muscles and the threat pretty much goes away. If the threat continues, there are plenty of targets that will end it quickly.

  13. That was some pretty cool choreography.
    I would want to knife someone even less than I would want to shoot someone.

      • Well, he did say “choreography”…Somehow that kind of stuff invariably just annoys me.

        • True. I kinda liked LOTR, the Bourne trilogy – but they ain’t documentaries and they ain’t training videos.

          it’s kinda funny reading people extrapolating what type of knife to carry based on a phony movie.

          maybe i’ll start carrying a plasma pulse rifle in the 40watt range for my CCW.

        • Careful Aaron. That 40 watt unit can melt your @$$ off if you have a negligent discharge!

        • to “oneofthegoodguys”, as long as ny @$$ is all it melts off in a ND. definitely don’t wanna so mexican appendix carry with one of those.

  14. My martial arts instructor gave a young boy a black marker and said come at him like it was a knife. Sensei wore a white t shirt. It was a very short confrontation but in the end the white shirt was all marked up. Lesson learned? You are going to get cut the if you get in a knife fight.

    • I remember a case many years ago in which a 62 year old knife weilding Filipino was on trial for killing his attacker who was armed with a gun. The prosecution kept telling the jury that the man had intentionally attacked and killed the gunman without cause since no one with a knife stood a chance against an armed gunman. The defense attorney was quite good. He had the old man stand up in the courtroom, gave him a rubber knife, and had a “gunman” reenact the crime. As soon as the gun became visible, the knife-man drew his knife and proceeded to slice and dice. He put 62 marks on the gunman before the gunman could get off a shot. Knife-man was acquitted!

      This is one of the reasons why you are now taught that a knife within 21 feet justifies the use of deadly force with a gun.

  15. It helps a knifefighter a lot to be fighting actors with fake guns.

    that clip was typical hollywood cruft. bad guys never aim straight, and then they courtiously stand still for a second so the good guy/gal can kick/punch/stab/legsweep etc.

  16. Nobody gets out of a knife fight un-cut. The reason you bring a gun to a knife fight is that very fact.

    • My first encounter was against a man wanting money; he had a switchblade—I had my skills. Bottom line: I did not get cut and I lost no money that night. BTW, it is really hard for the bad guy to chase you when his leg is broken.

  18. I Open Carry an obnoxious Fantasy Blade and sometimes a Karambit. Because it Prevents. If the passive-aggressive betas want to call me names and whisper to each other about how tiny my penis is, I’m fine with that.

    Yes, I can use them well even though they are cheapies that don’t hold an edge well. A Karambit’s application doesn’t require it to be very sharp… It’s meant to gouge and rip.

  19. I’ve carried a knife for years, whereas I’ve only carried a gun for a fraction of a year so far. My stepfather is a former Army Ranger and a retired Fed–he taught me the essentials for, let’s say, the fastest ways to end a violent encounter using a knife. Despite all of my practice with carrying a firearm so far, I have much more practice with a knife, and would so far probably react more effectively–in terms of acting automatically without having to fight past any hesitation–with a knife than with a gun.

  20. and here I thought Shannon had dyed her hair black and was acting out a Bloomberg gun-control scene to show what a bad-ass she thinks she is.

  21. In True Detective Season 2, Bezzerides runs out of ammo during a gunfight. She was already outgunned with her pistol against the bad guy’s AK. She pulls out her boot knife and looks terrified.

    The next episode shows her training:
    http://youtu.be/psYHK_F1zls

    Won’t spoil the rest, in case you haven’t seen it.

    • True!
      Therefore @Robert Farago, even if your “knife-fighting skills are just this side of non-existent” this is all you need to know.
      We are conditioned to use knifes since we invented cutting edges, and this is a long, long time ago…

    • Another good knife scene courtesy of Starship Troopers:

      Recruit-“Why do we have to learn how to throw knives? We just have to push a button from orbit.”
      Sarge-“Hold out your hand!”
      Sarge throws knife pinning recruits hand to the wall.
      Sarge-“Your enemy can’t push a button if you disable his hand.”
      Plucks knife out of recruits hand.
      Sarge-“Medic!”

  23. Martial artist for 30 years. For street fighting, check out Tim Larkin’s Target Focus Training.
    I also own a knife store. Lots of people think they can defend themselves with knives. Almost no one trains. I don’t think a knife in your pocket/on your belt is going to do much good without training. Serious training.
    I don’t try to discourage any customer from buying a knife, but when a woman talks about a knife for “protection,” I always ask if she has considered pepper spray.

    I agree with the comment above–I’d prefer a bat or club to a knife.

    Nice video, but 9 times out of 10, with 3 gun-toting assailants, the girl would be dead.

  24. Nothing like the topic of knife fighting to bring out all the mall ninjas and keyboard warriors.

  26. I really don’t want to be in a knife fight, but I will if I have to. I brought a knife to a gun fight at work, and I can definitely say that a handgun was a better weapon. Bonus: I didn’t get cut!

  27. I carry a Pro-Tech Godfather switchblade all the time. I can’t carry a firearm at work (illegal) so most days it’s my primary weapon.

    I have no illusions about knife work. If the other guy has a gun I’m at a real disadvantage. If he has a knife I can expect to be badly hurt even if I ‘win’.

    All that said, it beats bare hands.

  28. Yup–I carry a BUG as well as a good quality tactical 3.5″ blade (legal) spring-assisted knife. IMO, anyone that doesn’t is simply unprepared…

    • When I do carry a firearm it is usually a 5 shot .38. Slow to reload but fits in a pocket nicely. I also have a .22 NAA mini and I think I’m going to start carrying it as a backup. Not much punch but beats a knife.

      I will still carry a knife too.

  29. I edc a Spiderco Civilian as the popo here in SF won’t give me a CCW. I have no illusions that if I ever have to use it I will be pretty messed up when it’s all over. But hopefully still alive.

  30. I am having a hard time imagining a situation where a knife would be superior to a backup gun.

    • Not hard to imagine at all—Washington, D.C., Maryland, New Jersey, Chicago, New York, military bases, countries outside of the USA, etc. Places I have to work but cannot carry for fear of prison time and the loss of my clearance.

      If you think a gun is the end all of end alls, you have never been in a really bad place without a gun. Yeah, I know, “I don’t care what the law says, I am going to carry!” Good luck with that; your new name will be “inmate”! If you cannot carry a gun, what are you going to use?

      BTW, I am not a fan of the hook blade knife the girl carries in the video—it is cool looking on camera but not nearly as practical as a straight blade folder with a clip point such as the Recon 1 by Cold Steel.

      • When my crew and I flew to Saudi for Desert Storm, I wasn’t allowed (of course) to take my Python with me, so I took a 9″ Cold Steel Tanto, and a 5″ as well, just because I had one. I open carried the 9″ every day, strapped to my flight suit, and at one time we were downtown in a crowd of thousands of foreign employees of the Saudis (Saudis don’t work), having some manner of a rally, including my Navigator, who was a fine-looking woman. Another crewmember and I had our hands inside his backpack for about 5 minutes, each of us holding one of them. Nothing at all happened, but we sure felt better.

  32. Any knife fight that is a fight and not an assassination turns into this vid @ the 10 sec mark. It’s grappling and the only stab I trust is to the neck and eyes. No torso shots or slicing unless you got a sword. I also would like beta blockers, morphine, and meth if things go to blade.

    RF – don’t defang the snake stick the pokey thing in his eye.

    “war to the knife knife to the hilt”

  33. My primary EDC is a Sig P290 (OWB or IWB) with 2 spare mags. My knife is a S&W 638 (LH pocket) and my pepper spray is a Ruger LCP (ankle) with spare mag.

    Should have it covered…

  34. If blade length and conventional construction are what you trust in knives for self defense, step back and ask why short bladed push daggers have been consistently outlawed for over a hundred years. Especially before guns were reliable and Bowie’s were considered illegal.

    It’s much the same as The Salvo Project, history shows that a short push dagger is just as good getting someone off you as carbine cartridges defeat the enemy under 100m. You dont’ have to kill them DRT, you can seriously reduce their “combat power” by interfering with their ability to see, and introduce fear of their mortality. Eyes and arteries are the focus.

    How and what you carry, tho, is still seriously impacted by nearly ancient laws – in the case of MO, a dagger can only be carried openly, by a CCW permit holder. A push dagger, maybe not. The convoluted laws of the state and municipality can get so bad you simply have to decide at some point what the consequences might be and what you are willing to accept. Of course, being alive is the key item.

    Hence the evolution of the Minimag flashlight – originally designed as an alrline legal kubotan – into an much more aggressive self defense weapon with scalloped, nearly razor sharp machining around the lens. Same point as the cross checkered and sharpened muzzle devices sold for AR15 for CQB use.

    Point being if a knife can’t be legally used, there are alternatives which can create just as much pain – and actually more, simply because more of the damage is done near the surface where the nerve endings are more abundant. Which leads to the unsharpened and non metallic push tools that have been sold for decades – it’s not always about cutting. It’s about convincing the other guy to back off and that meets your goal, to create distance and separation. Once you have that, then getting to a weapon which offers reach becomes the next step – along with asking yourself how the other guy got so close in the first place.

    Some of the earliest concealed weapons were simple gimlets or picks – a wire bent to form a handle, sharpened into a drill on the end. It doesn’t have to be a Gerber Uppercut or a HAK. It just has to be on you and effective.

    • The inventor of the mini-mag, Don Keller, is a friend of mine. He came out with the very first modern flashlight, the Kell Light, back in the 60s (he was a sheriffs deputy in Orange County) because he could not find a reliable flashlight on the open market. He has told me the story of the mini-mag——airlines refused to allow officers on the plane armed with a gun and then later armed with the Kubuton. The inventor of the Kubuton came to Don to see if he could make a flashlight with the same properties as the baton. The airlines did not prohibit flashlights so it was an instant success for prisoner transport via commercial airlines. I told Don that he should write a book on the development of the modern flashlight but he just laughed and said no one would believe it.

  36. I’ve always heard that in a knife fight the question isn’t whether or not your are going to get cut, only how badly.

    • It is not good to think that way; that is like saying that in a gunfight you are going to get shot! If you think like that, you are going to get cut and you will most likely die. Is that the mentality you want to carry around with you? My confidence tells me that someone is going to get cut but it is not going to be me! I will defend against strikes and counter with my own. Knife on knife, I will cut first, deep and often while moving quickly to avoid being cut myself. Knife on gun, I am not going to get cut at all. You do not ever go into a situation with the attitude that you are going to get cut. Train like it is real, not like it is a movie.

  38. Seems the site has been completely taken over by “Writers” or especially intelligent, well educated know everything commentators. Everyone has something extra to say, make a unique point, know more, be better, smarter or just more right. Almost nothing useful, just blow on how they have it figured out. How many comments to this article about knife defense have anything to do with the article?

    Benchmade 583 Barrage.

  39. If you find yourself in the middle of a knife fight, you’ve already failed to defend yourself to some degree, whether it was due to a lack of situational awareness or a lack of geographical understanding. The self defense knife is a last ditch, desperate attempt to survive. Remember, no matter how skilled and strong you are, if you’re in a knife fight, you will be cut at some point. Both of you will end up in the hospital, upstairs or downstairs.

  40. Yes I have carried a knife, locking blade/one hand opening, for years. But I”m old and slow now so knife fighting is out. Good knife fighters are like any other athletes in that anyone can dabble but training won’t help you much against someone with natural skills and experience. Put a pro football player in his prime against a washed up boxer and watch the football player crumble as the boxer easily delivers multiple blows. Try to get a hit off a good high school pitcher who doesn’t qualify for the minors. Now make the aggressor 40 years younger than the defender.
    Don’t get me wrong. I still carry a knife because it beats scratching and pulling hair but guns were invented by an old man!

  41. I read all the mouth chair Generals giving advice of all kinds, seems the article in question poses the problem of no ammo and what your reaction will be when you carry a knife for back up and asks if you are truly prepared to use it, if so have you practiced using said backup, my mouth piece! Always be ready too go to a backup plan no matter what secondary weapon system you employ, practice those plans until it is second nature, calling time out does not work well!

  43. I carry a little Gerber folder every where I go. It is a beast against Amazon packaging. Also the scourge of any splinter I may get.

    In the unlikely event that I need to defend myself I carry a Springfield 1911.

  44. FWIW taking classes on defending yourself with a knife is a good idea. If you would or have taken a defensive pistol class, why not a defensive knife course?

  45. The video is a poor simulation of knife fighting. You might as well take self-defense pointers from Kill Bill and old westerns where the victim shot with a handgun immediately clutches his bloodless chest and keels over for good.

    I claim no expertise or real-world experience, these are just my impression from my personal research into the reality of fighting with a blade. Expect more gore than most people are used to, and expect to be seriously injured. You should expect to be shot in a gunfight as well, but you have a much lower chance of emerging victorious and unscathed in a knife fight even though in close quarters the right blade in the right hands can easily deliver more damage more quickly than a handgun and is more lethal. Dumping a few rounds into someone has a different effect. People don’t necessarily immediately release they’ve been stabbed, but the noise of a gunshot aimed at you from a few feet away is impossible to ignore. Psychological stops are common. People run away, drop, or give up, often assuming they’ve lost the fight already due to conditioning. But when you’re grappling with a man and stabbing one another, they’re forced to engage you and keep fighting. It’s motivating. Without medical help afterward, you’ll probably both be fatally wounded.

    I can’t carry a gun or taser in the tyrannical corner of America where I live (likely moving to the mountain states next year), so I carry a knife and pepper spray. The pepper spray is a niche item, not much use for self defense. In a defensive situation I’d be more likely to use my hands. It’s more for doing things like breaking up fights between two other people. Like instead of slamming a chair over the head of the assailant pummeling my friend, I spray pepper in his face to sap his will to engage or make him easier to fight. The knife is what I’d use if I encountered lethal force, while cursing gun control. I purposefully chose a rather “tactical looking” concealable knife to be more intimidating to make it less likely I’ll have to use it against human. However that does make more careful about pulling it out. If I used my EDC knife every day for daily tasks I’d consider carrying an Opinel in addition, but where I live I assume everyone is a pussy who will be uncomfortable and wary at the sight someone holding any knife outside of a kitchen or not being engaged in food preparation.

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