Nicki said:
Someone who has a knife and goes attacking someone with a gun obviously is mentally unbalanced or has an IQ in low single digits.
This is not true at all. I mostly carry a gun, but sometimes, by circumstance of where I am going, (beach, bars, posted no carry areas), I cannot. If there is no metal detector, I am always carrying at least one knife that makes the sheeple blanch.
Right now, that knife is a Benchmade 610 Rukus with the Axis lock.
I've drilled on drawing guns for years and am still way faster with the knife, especially when seated and especially with a rapid deployer like the typical AXIS lock or a smaller fixed blade.
If I am ever caught in a victim disarmament zone with only a knife, I will fully consider attacking a gun wielder depending how things are going and especially if the gun is seemingly being used as "all show" as an intimidation device.
It does help that I know many FMA traps that are very useful for knife work. If I am in range of grabbing a lethal perp's arm and get even partial or momentary control over it he's going to have continued trouble living.
Knives are tremendously lethal. The key is that the practitioner has to be close, not be brandishing and bluffing, and absolutely has to have the will to stab the threat to death not just slash him up. The best knife attack is one that the intended target only knows about when he feels it enter over and over.
Think of a venue like V-Tech. An admittedly ballsy knife wielder could have taken the maniac at the right ambush point of him coming through a door or during a reload. It'd be equal parts luck, courage, and tactics, but if one gets in contact distance, it can be done and frankly the advantage at contact shifts to the knife wielder presuming its owner knows how to use it to best effect and isn't at all squeamish about it. A pistol only has one axis of attack, and that is where it is pointed at a target. A well constructed knife has at least three between the tip, the edge, and a pointy pommel and doesn't require nearly the accuracy a bullet does to deal fearsome injuries. A handgun bullet, featuring no hydrostatic effects, is akin to being stabbed with a very long ice pick. A serious knife artist with a lot of anatomical knowledge can do better than that by having multiple targets mentally selected as they present themselves opportunistically during a struggle and no reloading problem.
Giving the coup de grace to and field dressing game animals is good practice for getting over how "messy" a knife can be.
If a perp brandishes a knife at me and I have the time and space, I'm shooting him without further analysis. I know what a skilled knife user is capable of, and I am not giving him the time for a demonstration of his edged weapon resume if I can help it.
He doesn't have to be nuts, just determined, and that level of determination can be rather unnerving to those who don't understand it, hence all of the training out there for cops and others who think that the mere presence of a sidearm is some talismanic ward against being stabbed.
