Hello all, here is today's article posted on TheArmoryLife.com. It is titled When Your Gun Can’t Beat a Knife and can be found at https://www.thearmorylife.com/when-your-gun-cant-beat-a-knife/.
When Your Gun Can’t Beat a Knife
- Thread starter Mike H.
- Start date
HansGruber
Ronin
Tueller Drill...been around a long time.
Another reason to carry chambered...
Another reason to carry chambered...
Keystone19250
SAINT
Situational awareness and using that; the ability to retreat to an acceptable distance to avoid the close contact situation of a knife wielding attacker.
Good article Mike thanks for sharing.
Good article Mike thanks for sharing.
KillerFord1977
SAINT
Talyn
SAINT
Article should have mentioned that. The article describes the threat but doesn't really identify a counter-measure, other than the obvious.
My .02
Talyn
SAINT
wmg1299
Professional
The article is spot-on when it mentions situational awareness and distance. What I will never understand is why all these articles seem to mention the abilities of "expertly trained martial artists" with edged weapons. In almost 20 years as an LEO in Dallas County, TX I experienced more cases of people being struck by lightning than innocent people being killed or even injured by a martial arts expert armed with a knife. That number was 1.
Knives are often the weapon of choice for people suffering from mental illness, and are commonly used by people involved in violent domestic assaults inside a residence. The overwhelming majority of knife-assaults occur as a "blitz" attack by a person experiencing extreme emotional distress, and are not precision attacks by trained martial artists. Being aware of your surroundings, creating distance, and maneuvering in a way that puts solid objects between you and the attacker are the best tactics for defending yourself against a knife.
As always, I am willing to learn from the experiences of others, and am perfectly fine with being proven wrong. Are any forum members aware of any credible reports of martial arts masters ever attacking innocent civilians in public with a bladed weapon?
Knives are often the weapon of choice for people suffering from mental illness, and are commonly used by people involved in violent domestic assaults inside a residence. The overwhelming majority of knife-assaults occur as a "blitz" attack by a person experiencing extreme emotional distress, and are not precision attacks by trained martial artists. Being aware of your surroundings, creating distance, and maneuvering in a way that puts solid objects between you and the attacker are the best tactics for defending yourself against a knife.
As always, I am willing to learn from the experiences of others, and am perfectly fine with being proven wrong. Are any forum members aware of any credible reports of martial arts masters ever attacking innocent civilians in public with a bladed weapon?
Spoken from experience. Thank you, Sir.
Speaking from my experience:
I once had to place myself between the day camp kids I was in charge of, who were being shuffled away from the scene by fellow camp counselors, and a crazy person wielding a butcher’s knife. The only things I had with me were my then-six years of martial arts training (I was 21 at the time), my leather belt with a huge, heavy, metal belt buckle (this was back in 1977) and my “you shall not pass, motherf@cker” attitude. Laced into that ‘tide was a healthy dose of “I’m taking you with me, b!tch.”
All of that made the crazy person decide that it wasn’t worth the hassle.
So, no. That person wasn’t a martial arts master. Neither was I, being a relative noob. But my training and attitude stopped that person in his tracks.
wmg1299
Professional
Just to clarify, I am a huge proponent of self-defense training. I don't have a traditional martial arts background, but I am a BJJ Black Belt and trained extensively in Muay Thai for about 5 years during my professional MMA career. I know of many cases where boxers/wrestlers/martial artists have successfully defended themselves, but I have never seen or even heard of any martial arts experts using bladed weapons to attack innocent strangers. The situations I encountered where a knife-wielding individual approached strangers in public involved mentally unstable subjects, exactly as you described.
I just wanted to make sure that people didn't think I was discouraging self-defense training. I simply get tired of every article about knife defense stating that a trained martial artist with a knife can do a lot of damage. All of the proven defensive tactics that are effective against bladed weapons are the same, regardless of the attacker's skill level. Due to the fact that situational awareness, time, distance, and obstacles work against anyone with a knife, I find the constant references to martial arts masters to be unnecessary and distracting. You fight based on your skill level, not your opponent's.