I don't recommend a melee weapon to anyone who haven't been involved in a real fist fight or similar man-to-man combat. The reality is that 1) most melee weapons are not as effective as people think. It's rarely clean and quick. You better be prepared for someone screaming and spurting blood all over, and quite likely not dropping right away, but fighting for their life, grappling you and doing you injury.
The problem is that most people get their impressions about melee combat from movies. As someone who has seen a real knife fight at uncomfortably close range, it is not pretty and it is not quick. You better be the kind of ruthless ******* who can kick someone's head in with their boot if you are even thinking about using a melee weapon in a life or death fight. Who can keep fighting when covered in blood - yours and his - and can keep hitting when you hear the sound of bone cracking.
There's a reason that the gun is the preferred weapon of defense and attack. It is highly effective, it adds distance, and it is relatively antiseptic. Almost anyone can shoot someone. It's quite another matter for a civilized person to bash another human's skull in, hack off a limb, or plunge a blade repeatedly into the chest and belly of a foe.
Just my $0.02. YMMV.
