Reply To: THE PUZZLE OF MURDER-BY-GUN STATISTICS

[SteveInCO]

@Unseen

There’s no denying knives have an important role to play in self defense. (If I hadn’t realized this, I would not have bothered with that class. Unfortunately, they never offered a follow up class for that one. I still want to get that Chris Reeve knife the instructor recommended someday.) However I tend to think at bad-breath distance, the advantage probably depends more on the individual than the nature of the tool. (If, for example, you’re frail, or even just not as buff as the average recently-released prison convict, you’ll probably want a gun even at that distance. (Just precisely what the fvck are we doing providing strength building equipment to incarcerated thugs?))

Now one thing that’s just absolutely stupid is attacking a knife-wielder from behind.

Your cited instance of an open carrier having his gun taken away from him was noted in the gun community. It stood out, because it’s actually a rarity. (By the way there’s a huge argument there over the wisdom of open carry, and the anti crowd is starting to lose ground…I think.) I think the relevant difference that might make a gun different from a knife in regards to the wisdom of open versus concealed carry is, a knife can only be used at close range; if the guy is in range, he’s in range to disable it. A gun can still be used at a range far greater than “grab range.”