Knife Defense
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Unarmed defense against a weapon is always very risky. Fight only to prevent death or certain serious injury to yourself or others. If the opponent has a knife, even if you also have one, avoid the fight or flee, if possible. If you must fight, you may use deadly force since you attacker has a deadly weapon and intent on attacking you. If you have a knife and the opponent does not, use it judiciously, since you now have a deadly weapon and may be legally or civilly liable for its use even when you attacker continues to attack.
- If the situation demands it, do as you are told, including giving up valuables.
- Comply if ordered to put your hands up. It is easier to make an initial move when your hands are up. They are out of the attacker's line of vision and you do not look aggressive.
- Divert attacker's attention away from your intentions by talking (pleading, crying, etc.). Practice starting your defense/attack while you are in the middle of a remark or phrase.
- Focus on controlling the hand holding the knife.
- Some may think that carrying a concealed firearm will protect them against a knife attacker. Tests have shown that a potential knife attacker that is under 21 feet away will be able to close the distance and slit the throat of an untrained shooter before he or she can draw and fire, every time.
- Either stay outside arc of the blade or move inside the arc of attacker's forearm, while controlling the knife.
- In a knife attack, be prepared to be cut or slashed. The secret is to avoid injury to vital areas or your hands.
- A knife attack is a very personal. A person may mean to threaten you with a gun and accidentally shoot you without trying, but to hurt you with a knife, a person has to make a purposeful action to harm you. You cannot accidentally attack someone with a knife. It is relatively easy to shoot someone from a distance, it is much more difficult to get close enough to a person to cut them, and then to purposefully use the knife to cut the person. A person who is trying to cut you is trying to kill you, not scare you. When you defend yourself against a knife, you must have the mindset that you are defending your life, and then act accordingly. Deadly force is authorized against a knife attacker.
- In a blade on blade confrontation, the key is to attack first and to take as many vitals as possible in one movement. In empty hand fighting, you reset after you strike. For example, the jab goes out and comes back and then the cross goes. In knife fighting, the blade is moving from one target to the next continuously, while the empty hand controls the opponent's weapon and shoots in for attacks when possible.