Defend Against a Knife Attack, 2/WARSKYL Conference

You can use a handgun to defend against a knife attack, but it takes more training than hitting a target at the range. A competent level of performance in the Tueller Drill is the very minimum you need for a knife attack from a distance. If you carry a knife rather than a firearm, you can practice a modified Tueller Drill to draw your blade and get it into action.

But that's minimum, because an orc doesn't normally stand 21 ft. away, wave his knife and holler, "Yoo-hoo! Here I come." He will try to get close. Weapon concealed, he smiles as he approaches and says something distracting like, "Hey, buddy. Can you tell me how to get to the movie theater?"

You need to be as wary of strangers approaching you at the fringes of activity as prison guards are wary of approaching inmates. Unofficially, prisons offer inmates university and graduate level training in mayhem, and no corrections officer wants to become some orc's field project in Shanking 101. When convicts approach, guards typically demand, "Give me five feet."

Five to six feet gives a trained person the minimum reaction time needed to react to a knife attack. Prison guards routinely enforce a personal a five-foot buffer zone around themselves. You need to do the same.

As you yell, "Give me five feet," you keep your weak hand in front, ready to fend while your strong hand reaches back to grip your knife. At this point, whether the attack continues or the attacker breaks it off will depend on his state of mind and level of desperation & determination.

These are very basic considerations for facing an assailant who has an edged weapon. I hope to have time to address the following topics at the WARSKYL Conference:

• How to tell when someone with a knife is just posturing;
• How to tell, when a stranger approaches, if he intends to knife you;
• Stranger approach drills;
• Knife attack reaction drill.

We have set the date for the conference: October 11, 2008 in the vicinity of Peoria Illinois. I sincerely hope to meet you there.