Blades for home defense?

[JohnKSa]

I find a 4" folder easier to carry than a pistol.

These days, I carry a 4" folder everywhere I go, unless I'm carrying a larger knife. I wouldn't hesitate to use it for self-defense if it was all I had, but I would never PLAN for it to be my primary self-defense weapon.

I agree that a 4" folder is easier to carry than a gun. But I don't consider a 4" folder to be a "large fighting knife". Any knife I would consider using as a primary self-defense weapon would be much larger than a 4" folder and harder to carry than a full-sized duty pistol.

Yes, firearms are loud. I have pretty bad hearing damage in my left ear as a result of firing a .357Mag inside without hearing protection. It was a bad experience and every day, I regret the damage it did, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat rather than choose to face an assailant with a medium-sized folder as my primary defensive weapon.

I seriously hope that there aren't many people out there who could carry a pistol for self-defense and are instead relying on a medium-sized folding knife as a primary self-defense weapon.

 

[Mn Fats]

I'd only use a sword if I couldn't find a gun.

 

[jmorris]

I concur.

 

[lemaymiami]

I also carry a four inch (or close to it...) folder on my person during waking hours (and it's for safety purposes when I'm working on the water as a fishing guide - among other things...). I would never consider it a primary defensive weapon - but at bad breath ranges your opponent will never know you have it until they're badly injured -if that's all you have available.... My routine (one I actually practiced when I was a cop all those years ago) would be to attack the hand and arm holding the weapon - if it was a last ditch proposition.

Like my Dad told me when I was a lot younger, though, -the trouble with knives is that you have to get entirely too close to someone who really really intends to hurt you.. and that hasn't changed one bit since we first started making primitive tools...

On the other side of the coin anyone armed with a gun for defensive purposes needs to remember that distance is your friend in a confrontation. Allowing anyone that's a possible opponent to get close to you (close enough to reach you) might just turn your advantage into a disadvantage... If an opponent with a knife can reach your gun hand you're in very bad trouble....

 

[theotherwaldo]

-If the attacker is already too close then a knife can be your friend.
Just remember, an attacker can travel twenty feet or more in the time it takes most people to draw a gun... or a knife, for that matter.

 

[entropy]

Can anybody say, "Elizabethan Rapier?" (yeah, possibly my favorite of all time)

I think the accompanying Main Gauche would be a better home defense weapon, handier in hallways, and be sure to get one with a detachable pommel, to end your foe rightly.
(Skallagrim will never live that video down!)

 

[theotherwaldo]

In tight quarters an empty, grasping left hand is usually better than any weapon other than a belly gun - unless you're left-handed. It takes some pretty intense training to successfully use two weapons at the same time under normal circumstances, much less in tight quarters.

 

[entropy]

In tight quarters an empty, grasping left hand is usually better than any weapon other than a belly gun - unless you're left-handed. It takes some pretty intense training to successfully use two weapons at the same time under normal circumstances, much less in tight quarters.

Right.(Or right-left. ) I meant instead of the rapier. Handier in tight quarters.

 

[lemaymiami]

As noted in post #105 an opponent can cover 20 feet in the time it takes to draw a sidearm (and that's the essence of the Tueller drill - to demonstrate clearly just what you'll need to do to actually survive a knife attack in one piece without needing a whole box of bandaids (or a well equipped emergency room).. Inside your house in a confrontation you'll rarely have that much distance between you and trouble (get your tape measure and figure out just how far it is from any room to the point where you can actually see one ( or all of your possible points of entry...). Looking at the results will just reinforce how important distance between you and bad news is...

Spend much time thinking about this sort of stuff and you'll have trouble sleeping at night... Fortunately, we're all more likely to be hit by a lightning strike than have to confront an armed intruder into our personal spaces. Amen....

 

[theotherwaldo]

Spend much time thinking about this sort of stuff and you'll have trouble sleeping at night... Fortunately, we're all more likely to be hit by a lightning strike than have to confront an armed intruder into our personal spaces. Amen....

I've survived two "home invasions" by people and one by a bear. Yes, I've spent some time thinking about this subject. Luckily, two of the "invasions" were pretty comical - one ended when the "invader" grabbed our full coffee pot and ran back out the door, another ended when the bear finished eating the salmon, smashed all of the cabbage, then crawled back out of the window.

The third one was much more serious.
Let's leave it at that.