If you have been reading Concealed Carry Magazine for the past couple issues, you will have noticed stories from Michael Janich about the role of the knife in self-defense.
Mike is the founder of and chief instructor at Martial Blade Concepts and a man I have known for many years. He terrifies me. That’s because I truly believe that in a close-quarters battle situation, a knife, used properly, will cause far more serious harm than will a firearm.
Janich showed off his “master technique” during a visit to the USCCA studios recently and it is clear that when fighting against a typical right-handed attacker, Janich could very likely remove the attacker’s ability to hold a weapon, stop most arm movement and impede the attacker’s ability to walk in about two seconds.
Now I am not saying that you should give up your gun and only carry a knife. I am also not saying that the “master technique” will be a one-size-fits-all solution for every defensive encounter. This is just one more technique good people can use to stop bad people from doing harm. Like all defensive techniques, it requires training and practice. There are limits to the effectiveness of this, or any, technique. But I can tell you I would never swing a tire iron at Mike Janich.
There are a couple truths about the defensive use of a knife that everyone needs to know:
1) It happens quickly.
2) It happens at very close quarters.
3) It is bloody.
4) It is often more difficult to mount a legal defense when you use a knife.
That fourth one is very important. In the real world of prosecutors and juries, most people only know of knife fighting from what they see in the movies and often only reference the knife as something that is used by a criminal against an unarmed person. Self-defense with a knife is nothing like the Sharks and Jets dancing around in West Side Story. For you younger folks … it is nothing like the fight scene from Michael Jackson’s music video made for the song “Beat It.”
As a result of a world full of bad information about knives and self-defense with a knife, you not only have to know what to do with your knife (hint: Stabbing is rarely the right technique), you also have to know why you did what you did so you can explain that action to the responding officers and the prosecutor’s investigative team.
The three most basic target areas — the inside of the attacker’s forearm, the triceps area and the quadriceps just above the knee — all provide nearly immediate mechanical interference with the attacker’s ability to continue his assault.
Consider this: If you make a deep cut across the inside of an attacker’s forearm, perhaps 4 inches up from the wrist, you have done so to take away that person’s ability to grip a weapon. This often stops the fight right there, because slicing those tendons, arteries and veins usually gets an immediate response. But if you have a motivated attacker and you are forced to cut the triceps about 6 inches above the elbow, well, that cut means the person can no longer extend that arm to continue the attack. This is also what I would call an attention-getting wound.
But still, that attacker has another arm and may wish to press the attack. So then you drop down low and cut across the front of the leg about 5 inches above the knee. This drops your attacker right to the ground and he can no longer pursue you.
What you have done is stopped the deadly violent assault as quickly as possible, and, with each movement, assessed the attacker’s ability to continue fighting. You have only chosen to continue to use force because the attacker has not stopped the assault.
But what people see is a bloody mess. You have done right. But the image of your effective defensive actions means you MUST be able to accurately articulate why you did what you did. And even so, you will still likely need a good lawyer who will hire a good expert witness to convince folks that your actions were both reasonable and controlled.
Mike Janich will be writing in every edition of Concealed Carry Magazine and I have filmed several editions of my weekly video blog Into the Fray with him. He is a resource that will serve us all very well. And because USCCA’s Self-Defense SHIELD covers all weapons used in self-defense, members will have the legal backing they need if they are ever forced to use the tools and techniques we are sure to talk about.
Remember, the goal of self-defense is to cause enough dysfunction to allow you to escape. Once you can escape, you must stop using force.
