There has been a lot of discussion lately in the self-defense training community about the actual use of knives in a defensive context. The current trend with a number of people is to essentially  conclude “we are not seeing it happen very much on video” with the follow on strong implication that it is fairly useless to a) carry a knife for self-defense, and b) it is a waste of time to train it. This is a case of misplaced critical thinking.  Let’s take a deeper look at the missed points.

Before we go too far though, let’s look at some actual documented incidents of defensive knife use to show that, yes, Virginia, people use knives to protect themselves.

A female jogger:

https://nypost.com/2017/11/15/female-jogger-fights-off-groper-then-chases-him

And another jogger story:

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2016/10/jogger_uses_knife_to_fend_off.html

A police officer’s story:

http://knifenews.com/cop-reaches-for-knife-in-fight-for-his-life/

And another private citizen uses a knife:

http://www.kptv.com/story/35482301/police-man-uses-utility-knife-to-defend-himself-against-intruder

And on, and on, and on. These were all found with a simple google search. So for all the folks crying that we never see it happen, I really have to wonder if they are truly ignorant, or willfully so?

So let’s get to the meat of the matter.

First of all, there is the underlying statement that if we don’t see it on video, then it is not happening. While there are many video clips of incidents of criminal and defensive fight activity (whether empty handed or with weapons) is captured on video, many more are not. How do we know? Take a look at the numbers we know. In a study by the Violence Policy center in 2013, using FBI statistics over a five year period, the estimate is that there are over 67,000 (which is probably on the low ball end of things since the VPC is strongly anti-gun) defensive uses of a gun in a given year. Compare that to how many videos we see. And that is just the US. Add in other countries, and the number will go up considerably. So if we are going by what we “see”, we are missing a ton of actual and factual information. Now, let’s take this further. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that in a given year, firearms are used in 40% of violent crimes, meaning that 60% of the time, a gun is NOT present. So we are literally seeing the tiniest tip of the iceberg when it comes to what we see or what is commonly reported when we overly focus on firearms being involved. While we can learn an awful lot of things from real world videos of violence, we need to be very careful in coming away with hard conclusions in all aspects of self-defense.

Second, there are valid reasons why the use of knives in self-defense may be vastly underreported. There is not a good organized large body of proponents of knife self-defense that has the money behind them that the gun industry has, so there are few places that have taken the time to do what people like Professor John Lott, or the National Sports Shooting Foundation or the NRA has done to promote the idea of good guys using guns legally to protect themselves. The money is not there in the knife world like it is in the gun community, and what there is basically goes to promoting either hunting knives  or high end custom blades. There is no NRA equivalent for knives, so no one has funded real research. It is a hit or miss affair. And what we tend to forget is that up until the 1980’s, there was no real good documented study or compilation of defensive gun use. This whole aspect is a recent trend, so it is not that much of a surprise to anyone who pays attention that knife use may not be as deeply understood as we would like.

Another point to consider in why defensive knife use  is under reported is that many people who arm themselves with knives for defense do so because they cannot afford a gun, and lower socio-economic level people have a tendency to operate outside paperwork. As a glaring example, take a look at statistics on how underreported the population in that community is by the census. People who exist in those communities tend to view all “authorities” with suspicion, and prefer to not interact with officials anymore than they absolutely have to.  And any experienced police officer will tell you that a lot of crime and violence in poorer areas are handled amongst themselves and never get reported. So it is not a stretch at all to conclude that the same people who hide from census takers are also not going out of their way to let the po-po know that they had to stab someone who was trying to rape them.

Another obvious area where knife use will go overlooked is in a Non-Permissive Environment (NPE). If you are carrying a knife because it is easier to hide than a firearm in such an environment, you may not want to report it if you end up using it. It may be a case of using it enough for the attacker to break off his attack and the knife user makes an escape. Calling authorities at that point may not be the smartest thing, especially if you are in a locale particularly hostile to self-defense such as NYC, LA, San Francisco, or Washington DC, or even more worrisome, in a foreign country. A case in point is a place like Singapore. While it is a “democratic” country, it is a stunning example of the mommy state that is in charge of every moment of its citizen’s lives. If you throw chewing gum on the sidewalk you go to jail. I felt like it was an Epcot Center designed by Hitler when I spent a week there a few years ago. Can you imagine using a small folding knife to defend yourself as a tourist? At a minimum, you are spending a few days in a jail that is not known for being a welcoming place. I have been to Rio as well and have no interest in testing my survival skills in a Brazilian prison. So it is not hard to imagine that saying knife use in a self-defense context is under reported in places like that is a major understatement.

Now, all those above points are, in my opinion, good and reasonable justifications to suggest that there are far more instances of knife use than we currently are aware of. However, I think there are two more incredibly huge reasons we don’t see more defensive knife use, especially in the US. These two overwhelming issues are 1) that people don’t train to access and deploy a knife under stress and 2) they carry a sub-optimal blade in a bad location.

Now before we get deeper into this, let me give you a bit of background for my reasoning and to show you that I am not making this stuff up out of thin air. I have been training fighting systems that heavily emphasize the knife since 1984. Not just dabbling, but deeply diving into them, to include instructor certifications in multiple Filipino, Indonesian, and modern eclectic methods. I have also been carrying a knife on a daily basis since ’84 when I bought my first Spyderco (a Police model), and have had one on me pretty much everyday since then. I have trained under some of the most famous knife instructors of the last 30 years, and I have devoted quite literally tens of thousands of hours to working and developing knife skills. What is perhaps even more pertinent is that I have been teaching these skills to thousands of people since 1987. So the following is based on a bit of breadth and depth in the subject matter.

Let’s address the first point from above about people not training the knife in an appropriate manner. What I have seen over the past 30 years is tons of people and lots of methodologies working knife fighting, but absolutely ZERO working accessing and deploying the blade under real world conditions. Everyone loves to work the fun bit- using the knife when it is out and ready to go and you are mentally and physically prepared to fight. No one, outside of a very tiny group, works getting a knife into play when they have to deal with the adrenal dump of a sudden and startling threat, and then has to integrate the knife draw with maintaining distance and trying to deploy it effectively. It does not seem like it would be too hard until you actually try to do it, and then everything falls apart, as anyone who has done the work will tell you. Those of us who spend a lot of time here see it over and over again. Run someone through a very basic deployment drill against an attacker standing less than 7 or 8 yards away who can try to grab you as soon as you move, and what will inevitably happen is the knife is jammed up. Even those with a some athleticism, and a bit of training, as well as having the advantage of knowing what is coming in the drill, and you see failure far more often than you see success. So it is no surprise at all that the person on the street who has given zero thought to these issues, and just as likely has not taken any time to develop or practice good situational awareness skills will not get a knife out and into play, even if it is knife they carry all day long.

To exacerbate this problem, we come to problem number two – the EDC knife is invariably carried in a suboptimal position, and is a suboptimal blade at that. It is an exceedingly rare person who carries a fixed blade knife. The “tactical” folder is far more common. So to get the blade into play, you do not just have to get it out, you then have to get it into the locked position so it does not collapse on you. This is the blade equivalent of carrying a pistol with an empty chamber! And even worse, the folder is almost always, with very little exception, is carried in the pocket. How many people think it is a good idea to carry a pistol in the pocket as your primary and preferred mode of carry? I would venture to say almost no one would believe that, but yet we are supposed to conclude that somehow carrying a folder there is much easier for access and deployment? It just does not make sense. How many of you would voluntarily carry a small pistol like a Smith and Wesson Shield with an empty chamber and in your pocket, and expect to be as good at using it as a Glock 19 in a belt holster with a Gold Dot in the chamber? So don’t be surprised if the incidents of defensive knife use are perceptually low. Until more people train it correctly, and carry a better blade in a better location, it will most likely remain so.

I hope this helps people put things in better perspective. We certainly have much to learn from video footage, and actual documented combat reports. But we need to make sure we take a sound approach to looking at them, and put everything into the proper context.

I realize I have already covered the concept of simplicity of the manual of operations of a revolver being a major positive in the last installment of this series, but I am going to revisit it in a slightly different way. 

As I pointed out in the previous entry, the simplicity of working a wheelgun is a great advantage to the non-enthusiast. In the words of Daryl Bolke, it is much more forgiving of mistakes in handling. While we know as dedicated gun users and hobbyists the Cardinal Rules of Gun Safety, people new to this may not have them ingrained in their consciousness. And before someone out there gets on their sanctimonious horse and lectures others about knowing the rules, we all know someone who at some point who should know better violated one or more of them. And look in the mirror, there is a very good chance you did at some point as well. Even if it was only in a small way, and no one got hurt, you still violated them. So let’s not throw rocks in our glass house.

However, there is another aspect to this simplicity that is entirely overlooked, even at times by the pro-revolver crowd. Do you know when simplicity is the most important thing? Where the beauty of it is at it’s highest level? Under stress. 

Stress is when we are most likely to make mistakes. Stress is when the brain is shutting down and all the varied physical actions we need to take during it – steering a car safely when hydroplaning, making sure we are in a supported structure during a sudden earthquake, remembering to swim steadily when caught in a powerful riptide, etc. – and the more complex actions we have to take in those moments, the more likely they are to fail. Even heavy amounts of training in those physical actions. 

At this point in my 45+ year journey in the world of applied violence, I have been a participant in, an assistant instructor in, or the head instructor in over 10,000 hours of force-on-force training evolutions. I have also been a high level competitor in many different combat sports – from boxing smokers at Top Level Gym in Phoenix, to state level judo tournaments, and international level jiujitsu events – and won a decent share of them. I unfortunately also have been involved in some real world violence. I don’t talk about any of it publicly because it becomes a lot of “he said/she said”, and there is too much of the B.S. in the fighting world, so I choose to not add to it. Suffice it to say I am not an academic when it comes to fighting. 

I cannot begin to express how many times I have witnessed experienced and trained people fail miserably at basic physical actions under real or simulated life-and-death stress. Actions that you know for a fact they can do, and have done countless times in practice, then mysteriously disappears under stress. Pointing guns at people when there is no legal justification, touching their fingers to the trigger before there is any shooting cycle available, draw strokes becoming something that looks like casting a fishing pole, and on and on all occur again, and again, and again. 

Having seen this countless times, I have become a strong proponent of doing the simplest things possible. Sure, we need to practice them to where there is automaticity (thanks to John Hearne for that great term), but the less the complexity of the actions in the first place, the easier and the sooner we can build automaticity, and the less chance we fumble under stress. 

And what is a greater level of stress than trying to engage in a gunfight for your life? Is it not easy to imagine that under that level of pressure, the more complex and varied the actions needed to stay in the gunfight, the greater the risk that something fails? Is it not a good idea that we have as simple and as robust actions as possible? 

The best firearms instructors on the planet like Tom Givens will preach and teach endlessly about this very fact, and will do all that they can to impart the most direct process possible to fix stoppages, reload, change hands, draw, re-holster, etc. Every bit of smart instructorship is geared this way. 

And on that note, what is more simple than working a revolver? As I noted in the previous installment, the manual of operations of a wheelgun is as simple and as robust as it gets. Outside of a catastrophic mechanical failure or an epic ammo issue, opening the cylinder, dumping out rounds, loading fresh ones and then closing the cylinder takes care of every other issue. The very definition of simplicity. Which is a pretty good idea in a gunfight. 

It cannot be argued by anyone that one of the strongest features a revolver has going for it is the simplicity of its manual of operations. Here is the almost 100% totality of it for any modern double action revolver made in the last 70 years : 

1. Press release on side of frame and open cylinder
2. Put ammo in any open holes in cylinder
3. Close cylinder 
4. Fire
5. Repeat any time there is a click instead of a bang

That is it. That takes care of administrative loading, unloading for cleaning or storage, reloading under stress, or taking care of almost all stoppages. The only stoppage of fire these actions won’t fix for the most part are catastrophic mechanical failure or total ammo failure, either of which will put any modern semi-auto pistol out of action just as hard and for about as long. 

For the person new to firearms, or the person who understands and accepts the need for a gun for self-defense but is not going to go down the rabbit hole of the typical gun hobbyist, this is an extremely powerful plus in the wheelgun’s favor.

Some people will argue that the operations of a semi-auto pistol, while more complex than any DA revolver, is no more complex than many daily actions almost all of us will have to do in a modern information society. And that argument would be correct. Trying to write an email with multiple attachments, downloading a file from somewhere online and making sure it goes to the correct spot on your computer, or setting up a new tablet or e-book reader can involve more difficult and complex actions than running a Glock. 

Here is the fatal flaw in that logic train though: those other things that are more complex? We CHOOSE to devote the metal parking space and the effort to create the space. It is a conscious decision that we make wherein we know that it is worth the extra work to do so, and that we will gain much from it. So it is worthwhile. The person who looks at the gun as a necessary item, but does not want to become a dedicated hobbyist/enthusiast is not going to make that same decision. 

Now, I can hear all the gun community people. Who have made a concentrated decision to focus an inordinate amount of their time, life, money, and focus will say that if you don’t copy them, then you are not serious about self-preservation. 

This sounds awesome, and makes us feel super cool about our choice to go down the gun rabbit hole. It is also self-serving and massively hypocritical. 

Don’t agree with me? Let me present this logically. Anyone who is not a professional gunbearer is far more likely, on a huge order of magnitude, to face many more pressing needs than shooting in self-defense. You are massively more likely to need some kind of medical intervention like CPR, stop the bleed, using an AED machine, or knowing what to do in a drowning situation. Right now, be honest. How many of you can operate an AED machine without fail, cold, on demand? I know how few, because I have asked people. Do you know all the likely signs of a stroke? And how to react if you do recognize it in a loved one? Again, I know most gun people do not because I will ask in person such as at Conferences. 

And for those who will ignore this and bleat endlessly about how people should take their safety into their own hands, let me ask this. When was the last time you practiced using a fire extinguisher? Again, like medical, you are so much more likely to need to use a fire extinguisher than you will burn some bad guy down with your wonderblaster. 

Darryl Bolke from American Fighting Revolver, the noted instructor and the person who more than any other single person has driven the renewed interest in running a revolver for self-defense has made this point brilliantly about how we pay no attention to fire extinguishers. Who daily checks firefighter Facebook pages? Who constantly posts on Firefighter discussion forums? Who subscribes to multiple firefighter gear sites and buys the latest cool stuff? How many people post videos online showing the fire extinguisher Bill Drill times? 

We all know the answer to that with people in the gun community. ZERO. And yet, I can show with numbers and facts that those things are more useful than a subsecond draw. So please don’t trot out the tired line that if you don’t shoot 500 rounds a week, and stay up on the latest gun gear, and have thousands of hours of “gun school” that you are not serious about self-preservation. The majority of gunowners will treat their firearm the exact same way all gun people treat their fire extinguisher – as potentially life saving equipment that we want at hand but are not going to make their lives revolve around it. And there is nothing wrong with that. AS long as they have a basic handle on safety and use, they are on our side and should be celebrated as such. Not insulted. 

Revolvers are a godsend to the average Earth person – it allows them the ability to defend themselves without forcing them to go to abnormal lengths to do so. And isn’t that what is most important? The more people buying guns, having them for self-protection, and supporting our right to self-defense, the better. And if wheelguns make that more palatable, then it is a win for everyone. 

Over the past couple of decades revolver shooting has basically fallen out of favor with most in the mainstream self-preservation-oriented gun community. Since the mid-90s the polymer Striker Fired 9mm pistol has reigned supreme and most everyone who have started shooting after that has most likely had little to no experience with revolvers.

The problem arises when people newer to the community begin to comment on things they don’t have much firsthand experience with. Just as if someone who has only driven automatic transmission cars would be at a great loss if they suddenly were confronted with the manual transmission vehicle, so too is someone who only understands semi-auto pistols trying to wrap their head around the handling and operations of a wheel gun. When your entire training, experience, and knowledge of revolvers comes from a single half-day in a single training class, you really need to keep your thoughts to yourself about the efficacy of wheelguns. You quite literally don’t know what you don’t know. 

Too often people try to talk about the pros and cons of revolvers without really knowing what those pros and cons actually are, and the nuanced understanding that only comes from a depth and breadth of experience and knowledge.

A shining example of how little knowledge these people possess is their criticism they throw towards revolvers as firearms that are harder to shoot than a typical polymer Wondernine. That is actually not completely the case. There are ways to make revolvers easy to shoot with very little time, effort or money. Quite possibly the single biggest advantage to making a revolver easier to shoot, and one in which it is totally superior to all semi-auto pistols, is that in the grips.  

Many modern pistols have minor tweaks that can be made to the grip. For example, a lot of them come with interchangeable back straps and a very tiny few of them come with interchangeable grip panels. However even with that there is a very, very finite level of adjustability that the end user can do. Any more that’s needed to really fit the hand requires major work at the level of an experienced gunsmith which then requires a lot of time away from the owner, a great deal of money, and the inordinate hassle in sending it off.

Revolvers on the other hand can be easily adjusted to fit anyone’s hand, and that adjustment can be done by the end user essentially using a screwdriver and a few minutes worth of work. The revolver never has to be sent away, nor do they require a long period of time for the gunsmith to do the work.Most major revolvers have a huge aftermarket with an incredible number of options in which nearly any revolver can be made to fit anyone’s hand or for their particular context. Grip manufacturers like Hogue, Pachymar, Altamont, Badger, Etc. offer wood, G10, or rubber grips and almost any possible configuration that an end user could want. And all of them can be installed with a screwdriver and less than 5 minutes worth of work. Furthermore,  unless you desire a particularly rare wood almost all grips are under $100 with most of them being under $50.

 None of that is true for any semi-auto pistol on the market today. I as the end user can configure my revolver to fit me exactly how I need it in nearly the blink of an eye. So the next time you hear someone comment online or in an article how revolvers are tough to shoot, understand that they most likely have a limited knowledge base, probably don’t know the nuances of running or carrying a revolver, and are probably not the people to talk to about wheel guns. Instead take an extra minute or two to find the true subject matter experts like Wayne Dobbs, Chuck Haggard, Tom Givens and a small handful of others. Get their thoughts on running a revolver and follow their suggestions. And ignore the YouTube Influencers who have zero time in understanding the subject.

I am going to begin a multi-part series about the positives of using revolvers for self-preservation in the EveryDay Carry role. 

To start with, it WILL NOT be how revolvers are better than semi-autos! Firearms for Self-defense is not a zero-sum game. Just because I will point out areas and features that revolvers have that make them eminently useful for EDC, does not mean that semi-autos suck. Hopefully, the readers of my blog have a higher level of critical thinking than is exhibited by too many in the gun community and everyone will understand that I am just pointing out some unique things that may be nice for some people’s contexts. It does not mean at any time that I am saying everyone must slavishly copy me and carry like I do. Make informed and thoughtful choices and see what works best for you in your life. All I am doing is giving more information that many people have never heard of that may be helpful. This series in no way will ever say that revolvers trump semi-autos. Unlike far too many “YouTube Influencers”, I am more mature than that. 

Secondly, it won’t be all at once. If other things come up that I want to write or make videos about – such as my attempt to make every Wednesday book recommendation day. Once they are all done, I will collect them all together and make it easy to review down the road, but please bear with me as I go. There is a lot of nuance to cover and it does not lend itself to quick bites. 

Third, there are two separate roles for revolvers, and this needs to be understood before we get rolling. There is the standard EDC carry where any duty size gun can be used, and then there is the deeper carry where concealment must be maximized. This is the place where the snub revolver fits in. So let’s remember to keep the two areas apart in our heads as you read the series. 

I am hoping I can get the first part out on Friday. I hope you all tune in.

Those of us who teach Integrated H2H and weapons are used to certain tropes that keep getting trotted out to try to diminish or dismiss what we do.

Probably the dumbest is ”if you are rolling around on the ground grappling then things have gone wrong!” This is said in a way to suggest you don’t need grappling or that those of us who teach it are somehow teaching to always voluntarily go to the ground! Which, as anyone who has trained with us can tell you is as far away from the truth as possible.

But more importantly in regards to that moronic quote cited above is that it expresses the idea that grappling is always a choice. The reality is quite different. You know what is a far bigger indication that things have gone wrong? That you are fighting for your life in the first place! Regardless of on the ground, standing up, or at extended ranges, it sucks. And thinking that you can’t control being assaulted, but you can control where it goes is the height of stupidity.

Just think and don’t pass on idiot cliches.