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

[SteveInCO]

What I was trying to reference when I talked about an attacker coming up behind you is the case where, say, someone comes up behind you while you’re at an ATM; if you have access to a knife it’s a simple matter to stab backwards. He’s making the mistake of assuming you’re defenseless. and, if you had either nothing or a gun in a side holster instead of the knife, he’d be correct. (There is one case, Arizona I think, where someone with a concealed shoulder holster (where the barrel points backwards) was robbed at gunpoint in this way; he “reached for his wallet” and pulled the trigger, one dead bad guy. But it’s the exception that proves the rule.)

If he comes up to you to backstab you rather than because he wants something he needs you alive for, (for the moment) you’re almost certainly dead meat.

I don’t disagree about the 21 foot rule. I make the point, myself, to demonstrate to people that they really need to stay alert and have their defensive weapon (whatever it is) readily available, not in a briefcase or buried under a bunch of junk in a backpack or purse.

There’s a much larger point. It’s a simple fact that the only reason any of us is alive is that no one has wanted to kill us badly enough to target us and plan ahead. It’s impossible to guard against all threats, hell, a rifle capable of accurately hitting a person from 200 yards, or more, away, either center of mass OR in the head is easily obtainable, and not just in the US, and how can you guard against that?