So you know Karate right!
Hey you’re safe then, all those hours, weeks, months and years of practising against a partner means you can block and take away the attackers knife. You’re invincible, you’re a superhero, you might even be a Shaolin Monk, if you’ve work hard enough.
Just like this.
http://youtu.be/FmWypsoSnlI
Think again!
Have a look at this video, and see how fast a situation can go bad and how many times trained law enforcement professionals can get cut in mere seconds.
http://youtu.be/9igSoJHEdUo
Knife fighting isn’t precise, it’s frantic, it’s messy and it’s dangerous as hell. The difference between the two clips is obvious, the first shows knife defence in a clinic manner where the ‘nice’ attacker only attacks once and then lets the defender ‘duff him up.’ The second shows a much more realistic approach from a knife fighter with multiple unrehearsed attacks ‘killing’ a resisting partner.
Use distance for safety. American Law Enforcement Officers tested distance needed for a LEO to be able to draw a gun and shoot a knife wielding attacker. Generally they found that the officer with the gun needed 21 feet of distance to be able to draw and shoot. Note the use of the word generally, some people are faster and some are slower. In many respects, it’s semantic, the key message is, whatever you think of as being a safe distance, probably isn’t.
Key messages
Therefore in order to reduce the chances of being cut or stabbed: