Knives the bad guys carry part II

[Trebor]

Someone was seriously carrying that little safety box cutter as a weapon? the metallic one on the bottom? I used those at a job once. Those have only 1/4" of blade available and would be completely useless for anything but cutting tape to open boxes?

Obviously you haven't heard that it's believed the 9/11 hijackers used box cutters to take over the planes.

Btw, how did you take that picture?

 

[FourTeeFive]

Surprised that the butterfly knife is legal in Maryland. Can't carry one here in Washington state anymore.

 

[mljdeckard]

I carry a small Spyderco needlepoint on my keychain. People scoffed at me when I told them I absolutely could ruin someone's whole day with it. No one scoffs anymore.

 

[ericyp]

Same rule as with the .25...do you want to be cut with one? Palpate the carotid artery in your neck. How far down does that major artery feel? Guess what happens if it gets nicked?

There are a number of major arteries that are accessible with this blade. If you don't know where they are, you should. There are also a number of tendons which can be severed with this blade.

Actually I'd be concerned if confronted with this blade. I'd be concerned that the wielder knew exactly where those vulnerable arteries and tendons were located and how best to access them with that teeny weensy blade.

Back in the 1950's a relative was defeated in a beer joint close to here. When he said uncle, the other guy kept kicking him around the floor. My relative took out his pocket knife. Small pocketknife and the blade he managed to open was the smallest. Little more than an inch long. He caught the guy by the leg as he got kicked. Guy dragged him back to the other leg which he also grabbed. Then he started cutting the guy behind the legs just above the knee. That guy has never walked since that day.

Beware the guy with the little blade. He probably knows how to use it.

Well.. I actually have a cadaver lab at university and have dissected corpses to see, and the both the common carotids and the externals are a good ways down. You wouldn't be able to reach it with 1/4" penetration. I think it just feels close because of the carotid sinuses where the internal and external carotids meet, is pretty large.. If there were any artery that was remotely close to the body surface, I'd think it was the superficial temporal but that's very small.

The 9/11 guys didnt use the safety box cutters, I think. They used the standard kind that lets you extend the blade as far as you like. Those safety box cutters have a very limited surface at which you can reach. I think the analogy is a modern safety razor vs the old straight razors.

 

[Hoplophile]

I hope you've got training with a knife and practice with a knife on a darn regular basis. I've got knife training and against a knife the last thing I'm going to try to do is close with the opponent. All kinds of things take precedence. Picking up any kind of improvised distance weapon that might be in the vicinity-a pipe, a rake, garbage can lid. You don't want to get into knife on knife even if the other guy doesn't really know what he's doing. If he does know what he's doing...

I do, darn regularly

I am taught to immediately close the distance, to be all over them before they knew what was going on, and it should be over the moment I'm on them.

Of course, training doesn't necessarily reflect reality (though we might try to make it), and I'm certainly going to avoid knife fights.

 

[mercop]

Why is it when I teach a class and we break for lunch I see the guys who say "I don't let anyone that close" standing in line at 7-11 like everyone else?

Knives are contact distance weapons thus if you are being assaulted you need to be in contact to control the weapon.

 

[astrolite]

You Call That a Knife? THIS is a Knife!




(Sorry! I had to!)

 

[mercop]

Yesterday I did a briefing at a prison that is looking to host an Edged Weapons Survival course for their officers. While there I got the change to look at their toy boxes filled with confiscated improvised weapons over the last 100 yrs. Although I had no camera so you will have to take my word for it, I would say that even this nasties were an average length of 3-4 inches and were either suited to just stabbing or just cutting.

To me this means that bad guys like good guys carry what is comfortable and concealable and even when they are on the outside they favor the same type of weapons. I guess that like anyone with good mindset they plan to make up with mindset and aggression what is lacking in the size and utility in their tools of choice.