"Gun and knife robberies are equally like to result in serious injury.
The fatality rate in gun robberies is three times that of knife
robberies.
(Cook, J of Criminal Law and Criminology 78:357-76)"
Personally, I am not willing to risk even serious damage from a knife for the sake of whatever valuables I am carrying in a situation where I may be robbed. I cannot imagine being in possesion of more than about $500 worth of stealable, uninsured equipment in any situation where someone with a knife can take me by surprise.
Yes, I've done various martial arts - I've even practiced with sharps - but it really does not make sense to tkae the extra risk. If you know that you will be attacked anyway, this is different.
> I think that your point about taking serious damage from a knife fight is wrong.
It's.... complex.
Part of my point is that if your trained and attacking it's hard for them to do serious injury without being skilled themselves.
small knives will do damage to your abdomen (it's hard to hit there anyway) but aren't likely to be fatal (unless of course you dont get help). A knife wound to the lower back doesn't have to be deep to kill you fast.
Slashes can be worse in some areas than others (e.g. belly slashes are worse than stabs if deep enough).
If your opponent has a carving knife you need to consider options. On on hand it is less wieldy and they are unlikely to be able to stab you. But it's also longer and the chances of getting knicked or catching a slash are higher.
With a short knife your reasonably ok if you can get their wrist.
If they have a machete or anything really long like that your made. :)
A very quic search throws up this page: http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~lambert/guns/archive/knives/msg0...
with this quote:
"Gun and knife robberies are equally like to result in serious injury. The fatality rate in gun robberies is three times that of knife robberies. (Cook, J of Criminal Law and Criminology 78:357-76)"
Personally, I am not willing to risk even serious damage from a knife for the sake of whatever valuables I am carrying in a situation where I may be robbed. I cannot imagine being in possesion of more than about $500 worth of stealable, uninsured equipment in any situation where someone with a knife can take me by surprise.
Yes, I've done various martial arts - I've even practiced with sharps - but it really does not make sense to tkae the extra risk. If you know that you will be attacked anyway, this is different.