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[Joe Hubbard]

An open question to everybody: Have you ever had to defend yourself with a knife?  I have never been in that situation myself, however I have successfully defended against broken bottle attacks.  Please share your war stories with us, as I am sure everybody looking at this forum will learn from your experiences.  Look forward to hearing from you!

Ciao

Joe

[chfroehlich]

Hey Joe,

had to defend myself several times with the knife working as a bouncer in Frankfurt.

I never had to cut or stab somebody, presenting the knife was all I needed to end violence.

One time I got attacked from a guy with his keys between his fingers. I realised this early enough to present my knife which made the guy think again if it is a good idea to attak me.

Another evening a guy grabbed in his pocket and came out with an old Buck-Knife. Gladly I carried a folder in a Quickdraw-Sheat (custom-made from on old Biker-buddy), so my knife came out quicker and already open. I grabbed his wrist and shouted at him to drop his knife pointing the tip of the blade at his belly. He dropped it imediatelly.

The 3rd ocassion was on the streets when I was attacked by a guy. While I had him on the ground (today you would say in the Mount) beating the shit out of this guy, a cab came by and 4 drunk guys came in my direction shouting at me to let this guy go. Being outnumbered I decieded to draw my knife and present it to them telling them to leave me alone (which they did). Police was called by the Cabdriver (We were beating each other almost in Front of the Policestation). But everything worked out well for me.

So I think I can say the knife saved me several times.

Best to you

Christof

[Joe Hubbard]

Great story Chrisof!

What is the law in Germany on carrying a blade.  Are there length restrictions or locking folder bans?  I remember when we met a few years ago in Frankfurt, you showed me a machete that you carried in your car.  It's fascinating!  Let us know.

Ciao

Joe

P.S.  Send Wolfgang my regards!

[Alex]

Hello again Joe and Guten Morgan(here in Canada anyway!) Herr Froehlich!

Happened some years ago, when I never carried one.  Empty handed versus the knife 2 times; I was a bouncer in some local taverns; both attackers had buck folders, both times they got hit with a chair/ashtray/serving trays/tables and my favourite a good ol' fashioned money changer! 

Guy was nuts and swinging a samurai sword around at a local university....didn't even get close to that....guns work well here.

Interestingly this was done way before I had ever heard of SFC.  I've never had the horrifying experience of having to catch a weapon bearing limb.  In training its hard enough.

Knife Rules in Canada;  used to be a question of blade length years ago(couldn't be over 4 inches or something like that)  that no longer applies.  Now it's a question of concealment.  the concealment alone is enough to get you charged.  So in effect, just carrying a pocket knife is illegal.  Now, you could strap a samurai sword, 12" Bowie knife to your side, in plain view and there's not a thing (legally) that LE can do about it...you'll get asked what the heck you're doing walking around at 2am with samurai sword, but lawfully, if it is exposed it's OK.

[chfroehlich]

Guten Morgen Alex,

here are some details of the German KnifeLaw
(translated from the "Ratgeber Messer & Recht" from the German Blademagazine "MesserMagazin").

Forbidden:

Butterfly-Knives (Balisong)
Sword-Canes
Push-Daggers
Gravity-Knives
Out-of-the-Front-Knives
Impact- and Edged Weapons if they look like normal items
Automatic-Knives, if the Blade is longer than 8.5 cm AND the Blade is less than 20 % of the Bladelength wide AND the Blade is  2-edged.

It is legal to carry all kind of Knives in Public.
There are regulations for public Events (Carnival, Sportevents, Fairs, etc.)
At these public Events your are not allowed to carry Weapons, but a Knife is not declared as Weapon.
A Weapon is declared by the Use of the Knife.
If it's a Bayonett (Weapon of War, meant to be used against Humans) it's a Weapon,
a Machete is a Tool meant to be used to clear your Way in the Jungle or Forrest.
By definition it is legal to carry a machete at a public Event, but not a Bayonett.
But the host of the events can deny entry everytime.

A Weapon is not generally forbidden.
If not declared as forbidden you only have to be at least 18 to own one.
This is the case for 2edged Knives.

And, I think this is nearly everywhere the same, you are not allowed to take any kind of knife on board of a plane
(but you are allowed to put it in your luggage (not handluggage)).

The Way you carry your Knife is not regulated through Law.

Hope this helps

Christof

[Professor]

An open question to everybody: Have you ever had to defend yourself with a knife? 

Yes and No.   Cut someone - never had to do it.   Pull a knife, yes.  Display a knife, no.I was at a small park in Dallas and wasn't paying a lot of attention and needed to relieve myself in the public restroom.....in the middle of the day.  As the door of the bathroom closed behind me, I heard a noise in the one half opened stall at the end of the restroom (about 10-12 feet away) and I drew my knife and palmed it - it just didn't sound right.   About this time, a persons with a needle in their hand walked throught the stall door with a used needle in his hand (icepick grip) and an ugly look on his face and stated "What the f@#% do you want from me".   

I'm sure that I said something very polite and ask him about his feeling and how I could help him in life, but he all of a sudden stepped backwards into the stall of the restoom and closed the door.   No knife needed to be shown, but it was ready -- the needle in his hand allowed my to wait on the restroom a bit longer.   

It's amazing what a short Texas talk will do for a violent situation.   

Moral:  I got caught not being unaware.  Stupid.  I should have never happened.   

[Mr. Barnett]

Well,  It was soo exciting, but wasn't me.  I was the direct eye-witness to a multiple attack on a guy, and he pulls a kitchen knife out from his pants, and the rest of the chase put the brakes on seriously.....The knife holder pulls to an overhead point down pose.  12 oclock stab.  THe fear in his eyes, and the rush of adrenaline was amazing.  I was about 8-10 feet away.  The group of punks that were chasing him weren't ready for that.  They froze instantly,,,I mean Froze, like in a movie froze....The guy turns tail, and hauls ass, leaving those guys still in suspended animation.   it was over in a matter of seconds, but for an instant, i thought someone would be wearing a new piece of steel in the baseball cap position.  The guy would have stabbed if the attackers continued, he had no choice, and instinct would have dropped the point.  I imagined they would have football tackled him if he hadn't drawn. 

it was a rush watching it, but then some reality set in, and i evaluated my emotions, feelings, and situation, and came away feeling that what Hock says about being a hero is just too damn true.

Gerald.

[Heath]

  A few weeks ago, i was heading to the parking garage to get in my car and go home from a long day at the office. I was on the parking elevator with two taller guys around 45-55  and both around 6 ft. tall in business suites. They were joking around with each other and saying some odd comments about cultures/races..etc.. while commenting on the color system on the elevator buttons ( each floor has a letter/number and color so people can remember one out of the three choices)
   I didnt get a good vibe from them and for some reason i get a gut feeling its about to be my turn. I am behind both of them and they are between me and the door. So in the span of less than a minute one of them quickly turns on me with a hate look in his eyes and says, " Pink is for faggots!" and just stands there looking at me with my briefcase in hand ( I almost turned around to see who he was talking to) and i am thinking..oh $%^%^ who is going to move first..me or him...so i am closer to one than the other. It didnt register that i pulled my knife until one of the guys turned to look at the door that just opened on my floor.  my floor by the way was the 6th and pink and letters KL...hahha so i camly walked out ( and my heart beating like mad on the inside) and bumped/pushed past one of them. They did not follow.

The amazing thing is that i carry a cheap plasic serrated knife designed for a right hander. I put the knife on my left side because i am left handed. Somehow i pulled the knife and snapped the clip and had it in my left hand. I know that those two guys would have been suprised to find out how close they came to getting cut. CQC came naturally to me and that soothes alot of my nerves. Later, i told my wife about that and other co-workers about the situation and only one of my co-workers said that they wouldnt have done anything to protect themselves....but i guess that is another topic..

[Kevbo]

I didn"t use my personal knife in this situation.I did use a knife I took from drunken biker #1 to hold off biker#2 and biker #3. All ended well ,I went home and they went to the crossbar motel wearing matching shiny bracelets.

[Planetkillr]

About 6 months ago, I was getting off duty; I'm a Police officer in a small city in Georgia. A call came out to the on coming shift that I woman needed help "From the Police". I heard this call after I had shed most of my duty gear and was in my pick-up truck on my way home. I decided that I might get a laugh out of this call. So, I stopped by the residence that the two on duty officers were already at. I sat out in my truck waiting for them to come out, so I could ask "what all that was about". Then, I saw one of the officers waving me inside the house. As I approached the house I heard a woman crying & saying "It's not right.". Apparently, this woman had been accussed of threatening to shoot someone over a dispute with someones dog. Her problem with the police was that some officer asked her, two days prior to this call, what was going on between her & her neighbors. She believed the Police were now on a "stakeout" in the woods behind her house. As we tried to calm her & explain that we get calls all the time and that we did'nt know anything about a stakeout or any further investigation going on with the civil matter between her & her neighbor.

She then, began explaining that she took care of her dogs & they never hurt anyone. Just then, a large german shepard came out from under her kitchen table and began heading directly at me. The closer the dog got, the louder it growled and then it began shaking its head; as if getting really P.O.'d. I looked around for something to hit the dog with, if it attacked, and found nothing of substance. I then, pulled out my knife and began making mental plans for what I thought was going to be a ugly situation. I figured if being asked whats going on between her & her neighbor had set her off...stabbing her dog was going to blow her mind. As, the dog got within about 3 feet from me it stopped. Me & this dog had a mexican standoff while this lady cried about her being harrassed by the police....In the end, I never had to stab the dog. The lady did call the mayor the next morning and said how rude the other officers were, but that I was very nice & kind 

[Joe Hubbard]

Great post!  We often don’t think about being attacked by animals.  I guess we are all preoccupied by what our “fellow man” is plotting.  A good friend of mine who lives in the mountains of California, was attacked by a Doberman and nearly killed.  Unfortunately he had nothing to hand to defend himself.

Ciao

Joe

[SabreActual]

Yep.