Anyone carry a pocket knife?

[Mr. Charles]

I usually carry a Spiderco Tenacious. Same quality blade as their knives that sell for 2x or 3x the price.

[Snake Doctor]

When I was a LEO, I carried either a Kershaw or a SOG folding knife clipped to my front pocket in addition to a fixed-blade Ka-Bar TDI fighting knife for last-ditch self-defense. Agree with those here who said that a folding knife is useless as a self-defense weapon. Unlikely you'd have both the time and motor skills in such a stressful situation to deploy and use it effectively.

Off-duty, I always had an Opinel No. 6 or No. 8 in my pocket. Extremely useful. Now that I'm an unarmed civilian working in a secure facility, however, I just lost the knife-carrying habit entirely except when camping/engaging in home improvement activities, etc.

[idvsego]

There's a reason no one says "don't bring a gun to a knife fight".

Lol, perfect

[Paddington]

I carry a Spyderco Squeak every day. https://www.spyderco.com/catalog/det...e-Titanium/936 . I use it pretty often. I clip it to my pocket for easy access.

[Tact]

I carry a Spyderco Squeak every day. https://www.spyderco.com/catalog/det...e-Titanium/936 . I use it pretty often. I clip it to my pocket for easy access.

Out of pure curiosity, what for?

[Shade]

There's a reason no one says "don't bring a gun to a knife fight".

Yeah, it's called a trite platitude. Ask any real martial arts instructor, not some McDojo one which they would rather defend against. A gun every time is preferred over a knife attack,

[Paddington]

Out of pure curiosity, what for?

Opening packages, cutting loose threads, picking at my fingernails, impromptu screwdriver (but careful not to dull the point), etc., etc. There isn't any single primary use; I just find myself in need of a knife at least once or twice a day for random things. I also find that co-workers or friends often require knives for the same random things; although a lot of men and some women in Texas carry a pocket knife for the same reasons as myself.

I bought the Squeak because it has a short, non-locking blade. Various states, counties, and cities have ridiculously inconsistent and nonsensical laws on locking blades and blade length. Texas recently passed a state-wide law that allows longer, locking blades across the entire state, but I travel to other states for work, so I wanted one that would be compliant pretty much anywhere I go.

I would never try to use this for self defense -- I have a CHL and several pistols I can choose between if I feel the need. I do carry it outdoors for quick, small jobs, but I also carry a Ka-Bar BK2 when I'm doing real backpacking or camping.

[Tact]

Yeah, it's called a trite platitude. Ask any real martial arts instructor, not some McDojo one which they would rather defend against. A gun every time is preferred over a knife attack,

Which is why real soldiers carry swords and leave to guns to the McWarriors, I suppose.

I don't actually care about this argument, but this statement struck me as particularly silly. In my city, guns are used to kill hundreds of people every year. Knives are used to kill dozens.

[Shade]

Which is why real soldiers carry swords and leave to guns to the McWarriors, I suppose.

I don't actually care about this argument, but this statement struck me as particularly silly. In my city, guns are used to kill hundreds of people every year. Knives are used to kill dozens.

Yeah, ranged warfare. BOMBS ARE BETTER THAN GUNZ DURRR. Go ask any martial arts instructor. You'll see I am right.

[LesserBlackDog]

TBH I'm not sure a martial arts instructor is an authority on whether guns or knives are more deadly or dangerous. I've done some martial arts classes and most of the instructors are kinda full of hot air in a lot of respects.

According to CDC statistics, in 2014 there were 129,350 assault-related cutting/piercing injuries in the US; there were 1,740 cutting/piercing homicides.

In the same year there were 60,470 firearm assault injuries and 11,008 firearm homicides.

So we're looking at a lethality rate of 1.3% for violent cutting/piercing-related incidents versus a lethality rate of 15.4% for violent firearm incidents.

You still sure you would rather get attacked with a gun than a knife, considering you are more than ten times more likely to die from a gunshot wound than from a cut/stab wound?

Sources:

https://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/nfirates2001.html

https://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate10_us.html

[Tact]

Like I said, there are ten times as many gun homicides as knife homicides in my city. Guns are very available, but knives more so, you would think.

In a one on one scenario, there are only a couple of reasons I can imagine preferring facing a gun to facing a knife.

If I were a martial arts expert, and my assailant were right next to me, I guess it might be easier to control the gun than the knife without injury. I'm not a martial arts expert, though, so this is completely irrelevant.

The other circumstance is a mugging, where the threat of the weapon is meant to achieve compliance on my part. To be clear, I'm handing over my wallet either way, but it might be less likely that the mugger actually use the gun, due to noise and perceived lethality. Or maybe not - I don't really know how muggers think.

In a situation where someone just wants to kill me, I'd rather they have a knife. I would prefer to try to outrun an assailant than his bullets.

Another real world example: in London, recently, a drunken football fan stood up to multiple terrorists armed with knives and lived. In Orlando....

To put it another: even if it's true that most martial arts experts would rather fight a guy with a gun than a guy with a knife, all that really shows is that a knife might better at dissuading trained martial artists from punching you.

[idvsego]

Chuck Morris couldn't fight a gun at 15 feet. If an someone is arm reach away and using gun, they is doing it wrong. The point is range. You can defend or attack without being in reaching distance. So yeah within a foot, maybe somebody would rather defend against a gun than a knife.

[thedrake]

Chuck Morris: "Chuck Morris is the branch manager of the Baton Rouge office of Raymond James Financial Services (RJFS). "


CHUCK MORRIS

[Deke]

You laugh, but little do you know that Chuck Morris is an expert in close quarter combat. You wouldn't believe what he could do with just the pen in his shirt pocket.

[Paddington]

I just realized there's a debate going on here about gun vs. knife for self defense. I thought this was settled 400 years ago.