One of the questions I get asked a lot, concerns carrying a knife for defensive purposes; something I have mixed feelings about. On the one hand I agree with the argument that you shouldn’t go into a confrontation putting yourself in a disadvantaged position, and as your assailant is probably carrying a weapon – such as a knife - you should too. At the same time though, I see many arguments, against carrying a knife, which I am going to present in this article – and hopefully present where knife carry for civilians might be appropriate. At the end of the day, personal safety and protection is personal, and whether to carry a knife or not is a question of individual/personal choice.   

Many people believe that pulling a weapon in an aggressive situation, is a show of force that acts as a deterrent, convincing an aggressor that it is in their best interests to back off. This may be true in some instances but it is certainly not universal. I have seen on more than one occasion, the sudden presence of a weapon, escalating the situation, and being the trigger that moved the dispute/argument/disagreement from a verbal confrontation into a physical one. We also know that many criminals have rushed police who were pointing firearms at them, so there are certainly those individuals out there who will take their chances against an individual who is better armed than them, however great the initial odds may seem stacked against them. The other thing to note about deterrents, is that your deterrent must be the “winning hand” to be truly effective e.g. if you pull a knife, and in response your aggressor draws a firearm, your upping the ante of the situation, didn’t give you the winning hand, and has in fact put you in a disadvantaged position.

If you do, or are thinking about, carrying a knife how are you intending to be effective with it? As discussed previously, presenting a weapon to an aggressor as a deterrent can’t be relied upon as a means of avoiding a physical confrontation, so how in a physical conflict are you intending to use the knife? A friend of mine who worked for the Metropolitan Police Forensics Department, told me many years ago, that from the Met’s findings the average number of stab and slash wounds that caused a fatality were 32. Obviously this is an average, and in some cases it only took 2 or 3 etc. but it helps demonstrates that stabbing somebody isn’t an immediate fight finisher. I have been with people who didn’t even realize they were stabbed till several moments after the fight/conflict had ended. Is your intention if attacked to keep stabbing the person till they back away, or till they are unconscious, or are you looking to try and use your weapon to help you escape and disengage? Having a realistic understanding of your weapon’s capabilities and limitations, should be one of your first considerations when choosing what to carry e.g. hitting somebody over the head forcibly with a blunt object (such as a flashlight) may stop a person faster than cutting or stabbing them.

One of the considerations to make when carrying any weapon is when to draw it; what are the triggers that will cause you to pull it? Is it a person’s actions or behaviors, is it down to situational components e.g. the presence of multiple assailants, or due to the position(s) you find yourself in, such as when you are on the ground, when your unarmed defenses are failing etc. Being decisive is a fundamental fighting/self-defense skill, and not knowing when to draw your weapon, could cause you to hesitate and fail. The situations when you envisage pulling your weapon, may also influence how you carry it e.g. if you are only going to use a knife when you are on the ground, and possibly on your back, carrying it in a rear pocket would be inadvisable – you may also have to adapt the way that you fight on the ground, so that you are able to access it. Your weapon should not be an abstract component, in your self-defense strategy but fit in with all the other pieces, such as your prevention and avoidance piece, your de-escalation piece, your unarmed piece etc. If you choose to carry a knife how and where will it fit in with all your other pieces?

I try not to think too much about the legal system when designing my self-defense strategies, as when the time to fight for survival comes, there should be no limits imposed, however when weighing up the effectiveness of a particular weapon, the situations when it would be appropriate to use etc. it is worth taking a moment to consider how society – as represented by the legal system – views the choices we make. If we consider OC/CS and other Sprays, the general opinion seems to be that these are primarily defensive tools, as there are rarely any long term consequences (the person affected is normally back to normal in 20-30 minutes etc.), and the outcome(s)/effect(s) of spraying someone are known. Sticks and Batons fall into a similar category – it is possible to choose targets, and affect them at range. There is of course the possibility to use a stick to cause serious trauma to the head, and inflict serious damage to the limbs and body. Both Sprays and Sticks can be used at range, and in a way to cause limited damage and trauma – this is why law enforcement uses them (if you are to use one of these tools you have a good point of reference from a legal perspective to have them viewed as non-lethal weapons). Knives are used differently, they are not used just to cause pain but to cut and destroy tissue, and cause blood loss regardless of the part of the body which is targeted – they are also generally used at close range, rather than at distance. This makes it hard to argue that they are by nature a defensive tool, in the same way that a spray, stick or flashlight could be represented as. This is not to say that a knife couldn’t be used in a defensive capacity or manner just that inherently it would be difficult to argue that it is anything but an offensive weapon.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe knives have a place in individual’s self-defense and personal protection strategies. I do believe they have their uses e.g. one of the quickest ways to get somebody to release you from a strangle or choke is to stab them repeatedly in the leg, and groin area etc. but their carry and use, need to be thought about clearly and sensibly. Simply carrying a knife because it gives you an “advantage” is not really a good reason, unless you know what that advantage is and where it can be leveraged.