Would you drop it?

Telfer

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Supposing you and a friend are confronted by unarmed gang members on the street and a fight breaks out. To your surprise, your friend pulls out a long knife and tosses it to you.

You instinctively catch it...but now WHAT???

Will you put aside all your hand to hand training and use it.

Or would you drop it?

"The man who pulls a knife on you is at a disadvantage and will clearly lose. Psychologically he only has one weapon and his thinking is therefore limited to the use of that single weapon. You, on the other hand, are thinking about all your weapons: hands, feet, elbows, knees, head. He's only got a lousy knife." -Bruce Lee.
 
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MJS

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Supposing you and a friend are confronted by unarmed gang members on the street and fight breaks out. To your surprise, your friend pulls out a long knife and tosses it to you.

You instinctively catch it...but now WHAT???

Will you put aside all your hand to hand training and use it.

Or would you drop it?

"The man who pulls a knife on you is at a disadvantage and will clearly lose. Psychologically he only has one weapon and his thinking is therefore limited to the use of that single weapon. You, on the other hand, are thinking about all your weapons: hands, feet, elbows, knees, head. He's only got a lousy knife." -Bruce Lee.

I look at this 2 ways:

1) Using any weapon against someone who's unarmed, is probably going to be frowned upon.

2) However, due to the fact that we're already faced with odds stacked against us, I'd rather take my chances, and use a weapon.

A knife is certainly a deadly weapon. In the hands of someone who really knows how to use the blade....personally, I wouldn't put my money on the unarmed man, unless he had some quality knife defenses.
 

masurai

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I'd use it. When it comes right down to it, it's better to be trialed by 12 than carried by 6.
 

Carol

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I would hope to the Lord above that I do not ever have a "friend" that sees fit to throw an edged weapon at me. My instinct would not be to catch it. It would be to keep my body as far away from that sharp thing coming at me.

In my system, there is a great deal of overlap with empty hand, stick, and knife. Is using a knife an option for me? Absolutely, and in my line of work I often have a sharp tool with me.

I will not use lethal force unless I am in fear of my life.

Before trivializing the effects of a knife, it might be wise to remember that a knife does not paralyze a person's body or brain. It does not stop them from outsmarting, grabbing, kicking, punching, elbowing, kneeing, etc A person with a knife may have a pronounced ability to transfer it from one hand to the other or have a retention ring such as a kerambit which could result in the knifeholder having an ability to do unexpected things with their hands.

I'd also suggest taking a clinical look at the mortal effects of a knife, such as in Tuhon Gaje's video "Surviving Edged Weapons". Googling around for pathology photos of the wounds of crime victims works too, especially the photos that show just how small a fatal knife wound can be.

Might offer a slightly different perspective on how much damage "a lousy knife" can do.
 

Tames D

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"The man who pulls a knife on you is at a disadvantage and will clearly lose. Psychologically he only has one weapon and his thinking is therefore limited to the use of that single weapon. You, on the other hand, are thinking about all your weapons: hands, feet, elbows, knees, head. He's only got a lousy knife." -Bruce Lee.

I don't think Bruce was thinking clearly the day he said this.
 

Rich Parsons

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Supposing you and a friend are confronted by unarmed gang members on the street and a fight breaks out. To your surprise, your friend pulls out a long knife and tosses it to you.

You instinctively catch it...but now WHAT???

Will you put aside all your hand to hand training and use it.

Or would you drop it?

"The man who pulls a knife on you is at a disadvantage and will clearly lose. Psychologically he only has one weapon and his thinking is therefore limited to the use of that single weapon. You, on the other hand, are thinking about all your weapons: hands, feet, elbows, knees, head. He's only got a lousy knife." -Bruce Lee.


Now What?

I turn to my friend and say, "DUDE, you got this clean from the last fight. What did you use?"
 
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Telfer

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I would hope to the Lord above that I do not ever have a "friend" that sees fit to throw an edged weapon at me.
Well it is entirely possible to toss a knife handle first.

I throw knives blade first at my foam target here at home...no spin!
 
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Hudson69

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Based off of my training and experience I will say that it depends on the situation (and I have heard and like the quote by Sifu Lee). By this I mean:
  • Is running a (better) option?
  • How many people are confronting you, how do you know they are gang members (play it safe if you dont know them and they are wearing colors or paint)?
  • What are their statements leading up to this?
At the very least I would not throw it away, waistband or pocket would be better so that it can be tool later if not immediately needed.

In a perfect world, if I felt the need to escalate to deadly force, the knife would get in the way of my duty/off-duty/back-up gun being drawn; deadly force being the use of a knife or a gun I will go with the gun....

Just my .02 based off of the information.
 
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Telfer

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Either way, I don't ever see this happening, wholly illogical for a person to throw a weapon to someone else to use.
Ok, ok...lets say he hands it off.
 

Carol

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Well it is entirely possible to toss an knife handle first.

I throw knives blade first at my foam target here at home...no spin!

I don't doubt that there are folks that can throw a knife accurately. :)

However, I don't see my reaction changing. Fine motor coordination goes out the window in an adrenaline rush. Someone thows an edged weapon at me, my reaction is not going to be catching it, it is going to be to get the hell away from it. Someone throwing an edged weapon at me in a live situation probably isn't going to be seen as a friend of mine, and may even be seen as a bigger risk than abusive unarmed gang members.

Just my opinion, that's all. Don't throw knives at me please. :lol:
 

Omar B

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If the situation were reversed would you give up a weapon when confronted? Though that's not the most preposterous part of the whole scenario.

The West Side Story-esque rumble with a dozen unarmed gang members even more-so preposterous.
 

geezer

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Ok, ok...lets say he hands it off.

Hands it, or or throws it to me at lightning speed and I instinctively catch it in my teeth... it doesn't matter. If there are less than fifty gang members facing me, I'd hand them the knife, just to give them a sporting chance...


Oh, you want a serious answer? Ok. Seriously, I'd never be in that situation to begin with!

Actually, something sorta like that did happen to me when I was a teenager. Me and a couple of my buddies were confronted by three much larger guys looking for trouble. I had a set of 'chuks in my back pocket under my shirt and one of my buddies had a long switchblade. I was all set to try and crack the skull of the biggest guy. But my friend with a knife was shaking visibly and later admitted that he almost soiled himself. Fortunately, another of our guys happened along and the other guys backed off. Good thing too, because If I'd killed or seriously hurt the guy I'd squared-off with, my life would be really different, and not for the better. And if we hadn't pulled it off, they sure as sheist would have used our own weapons on us. As for my bud... he had no business carrying a knife. No point in having a weapon you're not prepared to use. Honestly, that's why I don't carry.
 
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Mider1985

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Supposing you and a friend are confronted by unarmed gang members on the street and a fight breaks out. To your surprise, your friend pulls out a long knife and tosses it to you.

You instinctively catch it...but now WHAT???

Will you put aside all your hand to hand training and use it.

Or would you drop it?

"The man who pulls a knife on you is at a disadvantage and will clearly lose. Psychologically he only has one weapon and his thinking is therefore limited to the use of that single weapon. You, on the other hand, are thinking about all your weapons: hands, feet, elbows, knees, head. He's only got a lousy knife." -Bruce Lee.

I once heard from a judge that if you bring a knife or other object into a hand to hand fight your basically commiting assault.........its total ******** stupidity but thats the system 80 percent of poeple got out of prison cause of DNA evidence heh.
 

Andy Moynihan

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Why would they throw or hand a knife to me? I'm the one WITH the knife. AND the spray. AND the sidearm. And if I'm outnumbered it's the SIDEARM, not the knife, that's coming out.More than one attacker is *by definition* a disparity of force.

If I have any time or any choice about it, I would prefer to spray and run, which will look much better for me in court afterward should these guys be in the "other 50%" of thugs that spray doesn't affect because it shows physical evidence I tried to run and tried to use less lethal means before resorting to the firearm( again, that's *IF* the situation happens to afford me the luxury of that kind of time to choose), but let us not **** ourselves. I don't care if you're Batman with your unarmed skills, more than one attacker *is* deadly force.
 

morph4me

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First, I'd wonder why my friend was handing me the knife. Am I supposed to protect him? We'd be talking about that if we survive.

Second, I'm going to see if I can't get away without having to fight.

Third, if I can't get away. I'm outnumbered and someone hands me a weapon, I'm going to make sure those threatening me know I'll use it.

Like Andy said, disparity of force. There's alot of them, there's one of me, I have to start doing some subtraction to even the odds.
 

SahBumNimRush

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Partly it depends on your skill with the knife. Anytime you have a weapon, there is always a risk of it being taken from you and then used against you. If your knife skills are poor, then you have a greater risk of it being turned against you.

Furthermore, as was mentioned above, using a weapon in an unarmed confrontation opens up a whole other set of legal/ethical worms.. .
 

MJS

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Partly it depends on your skill with the knife. Anytime you have a weapon, there is always a risk of it being taken from you and then used against you. If your knife skills are poor, then you have a greater risk of it being turned against you.

Agreed. Weapon retention is certainly important. Of course, I feel the same way....if you're going to take the time to carry something, then I think it'd be a wise idea to make sure that you know how to use it effectively. :)

Furthermore, as was mentioned above, using a weapon in an unarmed confrontation opens up a whole other set of legal/ethical worms.. .

I mentioned that in my post. Of course, you may stand a chance of not looking so bad due to the nature of the situation and odds. I know the word knife probably would send chills down the spine of the jury, and right off the bat, its going to be a black mark on us, but playing devils advocate for a moment...would it look any worse were I to take off my belt and use that as a weapon? A bottle or ashtray?
 

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