Non-lethal knives?

[Jeremy Reynolds]

OK, this has probably been talked about in the past before, but it is a subject tht has been bothering me and I wanted to express my views on this.

The use of the knife as a non-lethal weapon. To me, the teaching of this seems careless. Do you have to kill with a knife if you use it? Not at all. Should you ever pull a knife without being prepared to use it in a lethal manner? NEVER.

As Mr MacYoung stated in another thread, a knife is a "deadly" weapon in ALL jurisdictions. To teach and suggest people use them as a non-lethal self defense tool is silly and can lead to legal nightmares in the court system. If lethal force is not justified or necessary, keep the knife (or firearm even) holsters or pocketed and search out other alternatives.

I see teaching the knife as a non-lethal weapon to be equal to teaching people to shoot an attacker in the leg so you don't kill him. Using either a knife or a gun as a non-lethal alternative is ignorant extremely careless/dangerous. It just bothers me to see people teaching students that it is acceptable to pull a knife out to use as a non-lethal alternative. I guess they don't tell the student that upping the level of force in the attack turns them from victim to attacker.

Anyways, just something that has been bugging me and wanted to rant a little. Any comments or constructive criticism is appreciated.

JR

 

[ChuteTheMall]

You made it quite clear that one should never pull a deadly weapon unless lethal force is justified, and I fully agree. I also would never shoot to wound. But once the knife is drawn, I might not have to thrust repeatedly into vital organs, I might merely have to fend off a grab by slashing at the hand. Defanging the snake can be a non-lethal move in an otherwise lethal situation.

 

[Parker]

...And defanging, if properly done, will create what will look like a "classical defensive wound" again opening a can of worms.


In any case you have injured your opponent with what is classified as a deadly weapon. Any explanation cannot mitigate that fact. If it looks like defensive wound you may be the agressor without friendly witnesses.

Slashing at a grab has you escalating the force level of the encounter unless there is another weapon or set of circumstances present which may then elevate your conduct in the court's view beyond the level of thug or assassin. I admit a large bias towards edged weapons, but I am trying to overcome the easy confidence they impart, as defense against the grab may look like slice and dice premeditated if the other guy(s) have no weapon(s) present.

Devil's advocate to be sure, but we have to maintain the constant conversation in order to maintain the edge (sorry)

Parker