[hillbilly]

I have recently gotten myself a carry knife, and have used it to cut open numerous boxes, trim my cuticles, slice open thick envelopes, all the normal, mundane uses for a knife.

I do, however, keep visualizing what would happen if I needed my knife as a last ditch weapon. I've also practiced opening it with my off hand, opening it after punching a bag for 10 seconds and getting worked up and out of breath, etc. etc.

I have never had formal "knife fighting" training.

I have taken only the initial part of Kuk Sool Wan at the college where I work.

Based on the few joint locks, striking techniques, etc, I practiced in Kuk Sool Wan, I can see how formal "knife fighting" training might give one some useful knowledge.

However, I also think about all the people I read about in the news who wind up very dead at the hands of bad guys using knives, hammers, broken glass bottles, ropes, screwdrivers, baseball bats, sticks of firewood, hatchets, etc.........And none of those bad guys have ever had any formal training in the use of such implements as weapons.

While I do not teach "knife fighting" I do teach CCW. Typically, knives don't have triggers or safeties and can't be fired and injure or kill people 25 yards or more downrange.

And I think that mindset and willingness to resist is more vital than mastering any sort of complex sequence of moves.

A person armed with a length of log chain, who is determined to not lose a fight would be a very formidable opponent.

Same goes for a determined, untrained person with a long stick, or a tire tool, or screwdriver, or claw hammer.

Has anyone else seen the video on Fox of the untrained middle aged women armed with glass bottles inside the liquore store? They defended themselves very effectively against an idiot who attempted to rob their business with the old "finger in the pocket" technique?

Not once did those women stop and think to themselves, "Oh my....you know, I 've never had a class in how to use a glass bottle as a self defense weapon. I suppose I should put these down before I hurt myself."

My opinion is seek out knife training if you want. It certainly wouldn't hurt.

But it is also my opinion that having the attitude of "Gee, I haven't had several gazillion hours of training with a knife, so I guess I can't really defend myself with a knife because I'll only hurt myself" is exactly the wrong mindset to have.

That mindset will, in my opinion, get you killed in a fight.....especially if all you have handy is your pocket knife.

In my opinion, mindset is much more of a weapon than any actual physical weapon. Mindset is your primary weapon. And if you think that "Gee, I have never been trained how to use a claw hammer as a weapon, so I guess I can't really use it" and all you have handy is a claw hammer when the situation goes south, then you are going to die.

hillbilly

[Standing Wolf]

Mindset is your primary weapon.

Yep.

Guns and knives don't save people's lives. People save people's lives.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

I sorta stumbled upon some of the best knife fighting instruction available in my state. I had no real interest or desire to learn knife fighting (at first), but I figured it would be a shame to let such an opportunity slip by.

It was truly an eye opener.

Ther real value of it wasn't what I learned to do to someone with a knife. The important thing was to learn what someone else could (and couldn't) do to me with a knife.

- How much distance do you need to place between yourself and a knife-wielding attacker in order to be safe?
- How much (or little) time does it take for an otherwise innocent looking attacker to pull a knife from concealment and deliver a fatal blow?
- How lethal is a properly delivered knife wound? (Hint: It's more dangerous than a typical handgun wound)


Even if you don't carry a knife for defense, what you stand to learn from proper instruction would be a valuable asset to your CCH teaching.

Best of all, it's terribly fun. These days I find that I'd rather do a little sparring with a skilled partner than go down to the range.



- Roland

[hillbilly]

The "safe" distance from someone with a knife is at least 21 feet.

All my CCW students run a version of the Tueller Drill. After doing the drill, I have a tire tool, a shovel, and a stick of firewood handy as visual aids.

Knives can be produced instantly. Large rocks can also be picked up off the ground instantly.

I've heard of one "big name" handgun instructor who uses autopsy photos of people who were killed with all kinds of every day tools and items, from baseball bats to screwdrivers.

I don't have any said photos available, but I do stress to all my students that anything can be used to kill.......I keep a hammer, a carpet knife, a prybar, etc in my classroom as visual aids. I have newspaper stories about killings done with such implements.

Training is good. I'm a big advocate of training. I am a trainer.

However. I think the mindset that if one has not had many hours of expensive training with some master of some dark art, then one cannot really defend himself is very, very wrong.

Not only do I see that mindset in the untrained from time to time, I also see that mindset spread and reinforced by some folks have had hours of expensive training with some master of some dark art.........

It's sort of a version of self-defense snobbery.

For example, I once heard a graduate of "Prestigious Handgun School" call up Gun Talk and sneer that arming airline pilots was a horrible idea because the airline pilots would only get sub-standard government handgun training, and not super expensive tutleage from Big Name Master.

As a result, one of those untrained idiots would inevitably shoot himself or someone else or the airplane, and that would just be more fodder for the anti-gunners to use.

Apparently, in that caller's mind, the right of self-defense applies to only graduates of "Prestigious Handgun School" like himself. Everyone else is merely a prey animal, some sort of lower life form.

So yes, get some training if you can find it.

But don't ever think or say, "Oh well, I guess I'm just not qualified to use tool X to defend myself because I haven't had hours of training in it."

When the day comes that the local meth lab chemists jump you in your toolshed and all you have handy is tool X, thinking that way will get you dead.

hillbilly