National Carry AcademyIf You Ever Face a Knife Fight
January 21, 2019
For those with a conceal carry weapon, a knife fight may seem unimportant. However, your handgun won’t always protect you from someone armed with a knife. Here are some things you should consider if you are threatened by someone holding a knife.
Knife fights are close quarters combat. Guns rarely are. If someone comes at you with a knife, they are usually so close so fast that you won’t have room to reach for your pistol.
Getting stabbed is not often immediately fatal. The knife has to strike a vital organ like your heart or your brain or it has to sever a major artery for it to be a fatal wound. This is not nearly as easily done as the movies make it look. If you adopt a guarded stance, you can often protect major organs against fatal knife wounds.
You’re likely to suffer knife wounds if you extend your body past your guarded stance. You’re also in danger of getting stabbed if you lash out at the knife-wielding person with a weapon. You’re also an easy target if you stand still. Take a lesson from boxers. Feint, weave, and bob. Make yourself a difficult target.
Those wielding knives have three basic moves. They will slice. A slice opens the opponent’s skin. It might also cut nerves, veins, muscles, arteries or even organs.
Another move is the stab. Just like it sounds, a stab is an offensive jabbing with the knife. It involves sticking the blade into the opponent’s body. They may succeed in hitting a vital organ. That is the goal here. But, it’s not as easy as the movies make it look either.
The third move is called a parry. This is not for inexperienced knife wielders. It’s like a sword fight. Few do this successfully unless they both are experienced at wielding knives. Parrying is better left to those movies like West Side Story or Pirates of the Caribbean.
If you find yourself forced to defend in a knife fight there are some important things to remember. Never rely on the fact that if you’ve stabbed or sliced your opponent and, thus, the fight is over. This is a faulty assumption borne of movie scenes.
Remember: Wounded animals and wounded people have been known to kill their opponent—particularly if that opponent thinks he has won because blood was drawn.
If knives are involved, expect things to get bloody. While most knife fights don’t end in death. They do often end in a bloodbath. Those with knife wounds bleed.
If you get involved in a knife fight, focus on avoiding injuries. Concentrate on outlasting your opponent. Don’t let movement or blood or outside noises take away your concentration. If your attention strays, it leaves you open to attack.
In the movies, the hero parries. He thrusts his blade deep and he kills his opponent. Your best move is to avoid going deep. Those moves leave you open to your attacker. Instead, don’t aim at things like the stomach, the chest, the throat, or the thigh. Usually, your opponent will be protecting those areas. Aim at unprotected areas.
At the same time, keep your body in a tight pose. Don’t flail your arms around. Guard critical areas like your stomach, your face, your neck, your groin and your chest.
While you’re doing that, take as many nicks out of your opponent as you can. If you’ve ever watched a matador, he brings that bull to his knees by wounding him as often as he can and eventually wearing him down. The trick is to slice at anything that is open to your knife.
Be defensive. Get yourself a weapon that blocks the knife of your opponent. This might be a steel bar, a stick, a broom handle, a shovel. Grab whatever is available to get distance and stop that knife.
Try to trick the knife-wielding opponent so he thinks you are moving in when you’re moving out, left when you’re going to go right. This is called a feint. Its purpose is to throw your opponent off balance.
It’s always wise not to get into a knife fight. But, sometimes, you have no alternative. Your concealed weapon may not be able to stop someone with a knife.
If You Ever Face a Knife Fight
January 21, 2019
For those with a conceal carry weapon, a knife fight may seem unimportant. However, your handgun won’t always protect you from someone armed with a knife. Here are some things you should consider if you are threatened by someone holding a knife.
Knife fights are close quarters combat. Guns rarely are. If someone comes at you with a knife, they are usually so close so fast that you won’t have room to reach for your pistol.
Getting stabbed is not often immediately fatal. The knife has to strike a vital organ like your heart or your brain or it has to sever a major artery for it to be a fatal wound. This is not nearly as easily done as the movies make it look. If you adopt a guarded stance, you can often protect major organs against fatal knife wounds.
You’re likely to suffer knife wounds if you extend your body past your guarded stance. You’re also in danger of getting stabbed if you lash out at the knife-wielding person with a weapon. You’re also an easy target if you stand still. Take a lesson from boxers. Feint, weave, and bob. Make yourself a difficult target.
Those wielding knives have three basic moves. They will slice. A slice opens the opponent’s skin. It might also cut nerves, veins, muscles, arteries or even organs.
Another move is the stab. Just like it sounds, a stab is an offensive jabbing with the knife. It involves sticking the blade into the opponent’s body. They may succeed in hitting a vital organ. That is the goal here. But, it’s not as easy as the movies make it look either.
The third move is called a parry. This is not for inexperienced knife wielders. It’s like a sword fight. Few do this successfully unless they both are experienced at wielding knives. Parrying is better left to those movies like West Side Story or Pirates of the Caribbean.
If you find yourself forced to defend in a knife fight there are some important things to remember. Never rely on the fact that if you’ve stabbed or sliced your opponent and, thus, the fight is over. This is a faulty assumption borne of movie scenes.
Remember: Wounded animals and wounded people have been known to kill their opponent—particularly if that opponent thinks he has won because blood was drawn.
If knives are involved, expect things to get bloody. While most knife fights don’t end in death. They do often end in a bloodbath. Those with knife wounds bleed.
If you get involved in a knife fight, focus on avoiding injuries. Concentrate on outlasting your opponent. Don’t let movement or blood or outside noises take away your concentration. If your attention strays, it leaves you open to attack.
In the movies, the hero parries. He thrusts his blade deep and he kills his opponent. Your best move is to avoid going deep. Those moves leave you open to your attacker. Instead, don’t aim at things like the stomach, the chest, the throat, or the thigh. Usually, your opponent will be protecting those areas. Aim at unprotected areas.
At the same time, keep your body in a tight pose. Don’t flail your arms around. Guard critical areas like your stomach, your face, your neck, your groin and your chest.
While you’re doing that, take as many nicks out of your opponent as you can. If you’ve ever watched a matador, he brings that bull to his knees by wounding him as often as he can and eventually wearing him down. The trick is to slice at anything that is open to your knife.
Be defensive. Get yourself a weapon that blocks the knife of your opponent. This might be a steel bar, a stick, a broom handle, a shovel. Grab whatever is available to get distance and stop that knife.
Try to trick the knife-wielding opponent so he thinks you are moving in when you’re moving out, left when you’re going to go right. This is called a feint. Its purpose is to throw your opponent off balance.
It’s always wise not to get into a knife fight. But, sometimes, you have no alternative. Your concealed weapon may not be able to stop someone with a knife.