The #1 Thing Most People Get Wrong About Knife Defense
- Kelly Mccann
- 18 minutes ago
- 4 min read
The knife and its use as a defensive tool are always contentious topics — not only with respect to if and when you should use one but also with respect to how.
When I wrote about knives in my book Combatives for Street Survival, I was a subject-matter expert for the defense in a homicide case in Virginia. Here are the facts:
A young man was horsing around with a much larger, older man who was known to be a violent, ill-tempered felon. The horseplay evolved into a far more serious confrontation, and the larger man began to severely beat the young man.
Having knocked the smaller man down, he grabbed a plastic lawn chair and started hitting him with it. The young man, in fear for his life — or, at least, a terrible beating — drew a folding knife and thrust it out repeatedly in an attempt to make the attacker back off.
The larger man continued to attack, however, and the knife eventually struck a lethal target. The young man was found guilty of manslaughter. He wound up serving time for doing what he believed was necessary to protect himself.