Cuts Both Ways

Cuts Both Ways:

I was reading an article on concealed carry of firearms by Massad Ayoob when an interesting thought occurred to me. I quote Ayoob, “When the defender does not know when the attack will come, the only reasonable expectation of safety lies in being always armed.” Certainly this makes a lot of sense, at least to anyone not of a far left Liberal mentality. This mindset reinforces what we preach about carrying a knife that is easily accessed and that you are completely familiar with. But besides being “always armed,” something else came to mind. Again quoting Ayoob, “ Understand that criminals do not fear guns. They are, after all, an armed subculture themselves. What they fear is the resolutely armed man or woman who points that gun at them. Criminals are predators, and their stock in trade is their ability to read people and body language.”

Every knife or martial arts instructor will tell you that if you get into a knife fight expect to get cut. Based on Ayoob’s article, and a conversation I had with Shiva Ki, I believe that these predators also fear the person “resolutely armed” with a knife. If you get drawn into a knife fight they can expect to get cut as well. This puts a whole new face on the efficacy of knife defense. Remember the old adage of the samurai that says, in a duel you have only a one in three chance of surviving. It does not say surviving unscathed either. Consider the title of our new book, When Two Tigers Fight, one will be killed and the other maimed. I submit that there are not a lot of muggers or rapists who are willing to face those odds or take that chance.

Ayoob’s key word is resolutely! You must be unwavering in your willingness to defend yourself or as Ayoob says, “The person who is unwilling to do so will, in the moment of truth, communicate that vacillation to the hardened criminal.” Such a communication will be your undoing. One final thought, quoting General George A. Patton on the mentality of mortal combat, “No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.” Make your attacker pay the full price for his indiscretion.