JShirley, and I would heartily agree. And there's more to the story.
For example, when we look at the global aspects of the historic improvements in firearms, we see dramatic dividing lines. Like matchlock to musket to rifle to percussion caps to cartridges to scopes to lasers. (Granted, that's very, very general in nature.)
Being a blade nut, I see imporovements in knives in that same fashion.
At present we now have alloys that allow razor performance, we have reasonable pricing due to CAD and CNC machining, we have defensive videos, we have McDojos even kids can afford, we TK style magazines, Escrima, Keating, the Graham brothers...the list goes on.
For 75 dollars, access to a tinker and a DVD, I can now obtain a cutting tool rivaling a 1300 AD samurai tanto. Fully, it surpasses any Bowie of the 1840's.
And any idiot can obtain this tool, legally with the money his mom gives him for lunch.
We are no longer in the "switchblade--Mack the Knife" era of edged tools. As you know I have a Konjo here that easily outdoes a pistol at contact distances. You can obtain its use by reading any knife rag or googling the 21-foot rule.
I feel this way because I have polished the edges of these newer knives.