What to do if someone tries to rob you with a knife?

[VashHash]

If someone threatened me with a knife, I'd bore them to death by explaining the ins and outs of edge geometry, how the steel they chose isn't the best choice for stabbing humans (along with an in-depth explanation on how carbides, chemistry, and heat treat affect those properties), and then use the finishing move of debating the place of sprint run/exclusive run flippers in the overall marketplace and how they drive up prices for everyone else. If that doesn't defeat their willpower, I'll use my secret weapon of arguing about users vs collectors and how each impacts the hobby.

This might save me from the mugger, but then who's going to save me from my wife? I bought her a hap40 Delica and 5 seconds into telling her about the steel she tried to stab me with it.

Should have given her your wallet.

[James Y]

Sometime back in the '90s, I remember speaking to a former prison guard who related how he had gotten stabbed on the street. I don't remember the city or the state where he had worked as a prison guard. He said that while he was walking on the sidewalk, another guy wearing a hoodie with his hands in his jacket pockets was walking briskly in the opposite direction, coming towards him. The former guard said that while his awareness was normally up, it was a cold night and he had been distracted in thought, so he hadn't really registered the other guy as unusual. As they were passing each other, without breaking stride, the other guy very suddenly "punched" him in the torso once with his left hand, like a left hook, and apparently just continued briskly walking past him and disappeared around a corner. It turned out he had been stabbed with some kind of small knife that had been concealed. He never did see the knife. Obviously, he fully recovered.

In this instance, robbery was clearly not the motive, but he wasn't sure if he'd been targeted by someone who had served time at the prison he was a guard at, or if it was just some random attack. He hadn't recognized the other guy, not that he'd been paying too much attention just prior to the attack, anyway.

My point in posting this is that, when it comes to the subject of knife SD, many people (I'm not saying anybody here, but many people in general) seem to picture two guys squaring off in a knife fight. Or in the case of a knife attack, someone pulling out a knife and flashing it around dramatically to intimidate you. Or attacking like the bumbling knife-wielding attackers that are easily dispatched in an old Chuck Norris or Steven Seagal movie. The reality is much more sudden, direct and brutal, especially when the person is determined and/or experienced; and if an actual attack is intended, most likely the knife will never even be seen.

Jim

[ZrowsN1s]

If someone threatened me with a knife, I'd bore them to death by explaining the ins and outs of edge geometry, how the steel they chose isn't the best choice for stabbing humans (along with an in-depth explanation on how carbides, chemistry, and heat treat affect those properties), and then use the finishing move of debating the place of sprint run/exclusive run flippers in the overall marketplace and how they drive up prices for everyone else. If that doesn't defeat their willpower, I'll use my secret weapon of arguing about users vs collectors and how each impacts the hobby.

This might save me from the mugger, but then who's going to save me from my wife? I bought her a hap40 Delica and 5 seconds into telling her about the steel she tried to stab me with it.

Should have given her your wallet.

[Extra330SC]

A bum was trying to reach into my son's truck to steal his phone at a gas station a few years back. He came out of the station with a bag of chips and Redbull after paying and yelled at the pile to move away . The degenerate turned towards him (without moving away from the window ) and pulled out a boot knife . My boy grabbed a wet squeegee and Cracked the toad across his face /neck and dropped him. Kicked the knife away and waited for the PD.....who arrived quickly being very close after call came in. Don't know how serious the bum was...but he learned a lesson in this particular instance.

I've always tried to teach him to stand up for what's right...but also run away when weapons or superior numbers are present. There's usually no winners in a knife fight.

James

[bagsnatcher]

Sometime back in the '90s, I remember speaking to a former prison guard who related how he had gotten stabbed on the street. I don't remember the city or the state where he had worked as a prison guard. He said that while he was walking on the sidewalk, another guy wearing a hoodie with his hands in his jacket pockets was walking briskly in the opposite direction, coming towards him. The former guard said that while his awareness was normally up, it was a cold night and he had been distracted in thought, so he hadn't really registered the other guy as unusual. As they were passing each other, without breaking stride, the other guy very suddenly "punched" him in the torso once with his left hand, like a left hook, and apparently just continued briskly walking past him and disappeared around a corner. It turned out he had been stabbed with some kind of small knife that had been concealed. He never did see the knife. Obviously, he fully recovered.

In this instance, robbery was clearly not the motive, but he wasn't sure if he'd been targeted by someone who had served time at the prison he was a guard at, or if it was just some random attack. He hadn't recognized the other guy, not that he'd been paying too much attention just prior to the attack, anyway.

My point in posting this is that, when it comes to the subject of knife SD, many people (I'm not saying anybody here, but many people in general) seem to picture two guys squaring off in a knife fight. Or in the case of a knife attack, someone pulling out a knife and flashing it around dramatically to intimidate you. Or attacking like the bumbling knife-wielding attackers that are easily dispatched in an old Chuck Norris or Steven Seagal movie. The reality is much more sudden, direct and brutal, especially when the person is determined and/or experienced; and if an actual attack is intended, most likely the knife will never even be seen.

Jim

[Woodpuppy]

Sometime back in the '90s, I remember speaking to a former prison guard who related how he had gotten stabbed on the street. I don't remember the city or the state where he had worked as a prison guard. He said that while he was walking on the sidewalk, another guy wearing a hoodie with his hands in his jacket pockets was walking briskly in the opposite direction, coming towards him. The former guard said that while his awareness was normally up, it was a cold night and he had been distracted in thought, so he hadn't really registered the other guy as unusual. As they were passing each other, without breaking stride, the other guy very suddenly "punched" him in the torso once with his left hand, like a left hook, and apparently just continued briskly walking past him and disappeared around a corner. It turned out he had been stabbed with some kind of small knife that had been concealed. He never did see the knife. Obviously, he fully recovered.

In this instance, robbery was clearly not the motive, but he wasn't sure if he'd been targeted by someone who had served time at the prison he was a guard at, or if it was just some random attack. He hadn't recognized the other guy, not that he'd been paying too much attention just prior to the attack, anyway.

My point in posting this is that, when it comes to the subject of knife SD, many people (I'm not saying anybody here, but many people in general) seem to picture two guys squaring off in a knife fight. Or in the case of a knife attack, someone pulling out a knife and flashing it around dramatically to intimidate you. Or attacking like the bumbling knife-wielding attackers that are easily dispatched in an old Chuck Norris or Steven Seagal movie. The reality is much more sudden, direct and brutal, especially when the person is determined and/or experienced; and if an actual attack is intended, most likely the knife will never even be seen.

Jim

The only real way to guard against this sort of attack is to not be there. Don’t let anybody get close. It’s exhausting being on alert. Most folks walk around in condition white.

[Naperville]

Sometime back in the '90s, I remember speaking to a former prison guard who related how he had gotten stabbed on the street. I don't remember the city or the state where he had worked as a prison guard. He said that while he was walking on the sidewalk, another guy wearing a hoodie with his hands in his jacket pockets was walking briskly in the opposite direction, coming towards him. The former guard said that while his awareness was normally up, it was a cold night and he had been distracted in thought, so he hadn't really registered the other guy as unusual. As they were passing each other, without breaking stride, the other guy very suddenly "punched" him in the torso once with his left hand, like a left hook, and apparently just continued briskly walking past him and disappeared around a corner. It turned out he had been stabbed with some kind of small knife that had been concealed. He never did see the knife. Obviously, he fully recovered.

In this instance, robbery was clearly not the motive, but he wasn't sure if he'd been targeted by someone who had served time at the prison he was a guard at, or if it was just some random attack. He hadn't recognized the other guy, not that he'd been paying too much attention just prior to the attack, anyway.

My point in posting this is that, when it comes to the subject of knife SD, many people (I'm not saying anybody here, but many people in general) seem to picture two guys squaring off in a knife fight. Or in the case of a knife attack, someone pulling out a knife and flashing it around dramatically to intimidate you. Or attacking like the bumbling knife-wielding attackers that are easily dispatched in an old Chuck Norris or Steven Seagal movie. The reality is much more sudden, direct and brutal, especially when the person is determined and/or experienced; and if an actual attack is intended, most likely the knife will never even be seen.

Jim

The only real way to guard against this sort of attack is to not be there. Don’t let anybody get close. It’s exhausting being on alert. Most folks walk around in condition white.

When I replied earlier I was going to bring up the fact that most "knife fights" are not truly fights in the sense that anyone squares off against an opponent, they are assassinations. I simply did not want to bring it up. I know a few methods for taking people out that have been taught to me by very famous people...some who even took down videos revealing the techniques. It's just a fact.