Defending Against A Knife Attack

Hat-tip to Cam Edwards from NRA News http://nranews.com for bringing up an interesting topic on his radio show last night. For those who missed the show, during the last half-hour of the show he basically replayed a "Man In The Street" segment where some lady said no-one needed guns to defend themselves against a knife-wielding wacko. (Well, that was one of many amazingly stupid things she said, but the one focused on for the most part.)She also states that brass knuckles are all one needs to carry to protect themselves from an attacker. Listeners then called in or IM'ed in with their responses to her insanely stupid reasoning.

In several, if not most, states it's illegal to carry brass knuckles. It doesn't matter if you're the good guy or the bad guy, if you have brass knuckles on you in public then you are committing a crime whether you use them or not.

I personally don't want to have to get close enough to a knife-wielding wacko to get cut and stabbed trying to punch the guy out with a set of brass knuckles. Getting hacked up with a knife is one the last things I'd want to happen to me, and a gun will most assuredly allow me to neutralize the threat without risking getting seriously wounded or even killed.

So that leaves brass knuckles out of the reasonable defense against a knife category.

How about another knife? Let's cut to the chase here (pun intended). Any weapon or instrument that doesn't shoot a potentially lethal high velocity projectile, whether it be a knife, baton, club, brass knuckles, lead-glove, etc., will require you to get into the personal zone of the assailant. This puts you, the defender in serious jeopardy.

Anyone who's ever seen the results of a knife fight or knife attack knows just how serious and gruesome knife wounds are. They aren't like the little cuts you get when accidentally nick yourself in the kitchen slicing an onion. Knife wounds from an attacker are generally very deep, long slices or stabs that will open you up like nothing you can imagine, and there's a great chance it'll sever a major artery or otherwise slice open internal organs. You will bleed, and you will bleed out fast, and chances are you will die before help ever gets to you, that is if you even get the chance to call for it. And that's if you're the winner, folks.

No thanks, I choose life and walking away a healthy, living person. Thanks to right to carry laws in most states, we get the chance to defend ourselves with guns that can put the attacker down quickly and from a safe distance.

But just carrying a gun is not enough if you drop your guard. You've got to constantly be aware of your surroundings. You've got to quickly formulate defensive plans on the spur of the moment and adjust your plan as the environment changes around you. You need to be able to recognize potentially hostile persons and dangerous areas. Never walk into an area unless you have a quick escape route, avoid blind corners, dark alleys, and the like. Don't play the tough guy and try and walk right through the middle of a gang, swallow your pride and cross the street, or turn around and find another less hostile route. The list of do's and don't go on and on and there is a never ending list of variables being thrown into the mix.

Get some self-defense training, obtain your concealed carry license, and teach yourself to stay on alert whenever you venture out. Don't be a victim if you don't have to be, and before the crap hits the fan, remember that it's better to have and not need than to need and not have. Your life, health, and safety is your own responsibility, and no one else's, not even the government's.