Hiding in Plain Sight

Here in NYS we have had our Second Amendment rights brutalized by the thugs in Albany and downstate. This has been no secret and if you are a gun owner, and don’t know what is going on here, you need to wake up. Fast! I have attended peaceful protest rallies in Albany three times now. Our calls for the restoration of our rights were loud and clear, but there was no blood spilled or fires set. We are not living in the Ukraine, we are Americans, or are we? Last night I printed off photos from the protests to show fellow gun owners at a local meeting. As I looked over them I noticed one thing that was missing in all of the images. What was missing were my people, my flesh and blood, my life-long friends, my extended family, none of them were there. I was in a sea of strangers who at that moment were more like my own people than the ones I grew up with. Where were those people whom I moved back to NYS to be near in times of crisis? Where were the familiar faces? They were home being quiescent, trying to remain invisible. I have heard of people standing up for their rights, demanding their rights, fighting for their rights and even dying for them. I never heard of someone hiding for their rights! I’m sure when the final showdown comes they will be right by my side linked arm in arm. And that’s the biggest lie I have told in years. Despite my wife’s protestations I moved back to NYS to be with people whom I trusted to stand by me through thick and thin. I thought it was the right thing to do, family, blood and all of that. Now when she tells me what an idiot I am I reluctantly have to agree with her. After all she is the only one who would stand beside me on the mall in Albany and fight for what is right.

Drives Me Nuts

Here we go again. A question asked on a forum was: “If you had to draw a knife and stab someone to protect your life would you?” Time and again this question gets asked. Sometimes by people who were really threatened and other times by victim wannabes. Yes there are people who think they want to be attacked so they can prove their manhood or their skills. The question is unanswerable unless you are actually in that situation, have a knife, and time to access it. What is the exact threat level? Is the man bigger, stronger? Does he have just a knife and is he by himself or with others? Do you have an escape route or not? It is an extremely complex question with no one single answer. But what irks me more than the question is the stupid responses some people post. 1. “I don’t think unless you are trained you should ever pull a knife.” The only good part about this answer is “I don’t think...” They should have stopped right there. Unless you have been raised in a vacuum tube somewhere you probably grew up using a knife to open boxes, cut your food, maybe sharpen a pencil, etc. Who taught you how to do that? Did you have to take a course in knife usage 101? Anyone wildly swinging a knife back and forth is probably more dangerous than any dojo trained knife-fighter. Why? Because they are totally unpredictable. How many times have we heard of the 100 pound woman injuring or killing her attacker, using only a kitchen knife? Do you think she was trained or just scared and fighting for her life? 2. “I have trained in martial arts for six years and would not need my knife, I would just disarm him with my hands.” Holy crap I don’t want to meet up with this dude on a bad day! Six years, WOW! If he went to class every week that would be over 300 lessons. I wonder what percentage were specifically on knife disarms? I also wonder how many times those disarms did not work, even in his nice sterile dojo environment? I’ll bet he won’t tell you. William Fairbairn, a master of the knife, said “there is no sure defense against a man with a knife except a gun or to run like hell.” This was a man who had been nearly killed by thugs in Shanghai and as a result, became a 2nd degree blackbelt. He also wrote the books on knife fighting and self-defense used to train all of the WW-II Commandos and many other Spec-ops people. His response was “run like Hell.” 3. I trained in martial arts for over 12 years. That’s me, and I would never willingly go empty-hand against a man with a knife. Sure I have taught those same disarms for many years. Then I decided to study them, dissect them, and see how to defeat each one of them. Does Mr. Six Years not think that career criminals don’t do the same thing? Why do people with a few colored belts think that their attacker never studied martial arts? I have heard it said if “the attacker knew martial arts he would not need to use a knife.” How insufferably stupid can some people be? Just because I know (and have taught) karate, and some silat, and a bunch of kenjutsu: do you not think I would prefer to use a knife instead of my bare hands? A samurai did not begin to fight with his hands and escalate up through, tanto, wakizashi, katana, etc. No, he started with his bow and arrows, dropped down to his spear, then katana and worked his way on down until he was out of weapons and out of luck. I want to see Mr. Six years come to my dojo, face me and disarm me of a real knife. Yes, not just some sissy rubber knife or a wooden tanto, let’s see him strut his stuff. Unlike a ghetto mugger I promise not to kill him. I’ll even promise not to move too quickly because he might get cut. If he is successful I will take him out for a few beers and toast him as the greatest of them all. If he doesn't succeed I will provide the bandages.

I have been very blessed over the past two years by people donating knives to our collection and for the website on Fairbairn Sykes knives. The most recent one was a wood handled X-dagger from a friend in S. Calif. Then another one came from a good friend in Oregon. The two knives are totally different but both are very valuable and rare.

The first one is from WW-II era and made from a 1903 bayonet. It was donated by a friend who wishes to remain anonymous. It is typical of what I refer to as an X-Dagger. We will eventually release a paper explaining where they were made and by whom. It is an intriguing story. This dagger was influential in our discovery of the true story.

The second one is called the Khanjar Killing Knife. My friend is a H2H instructor, and a retired Special Forces member) had it patterned after an original Kurdish knife that was hand-forged in Afghanistan. This knife is the prototype and it was followed by two more further improved versions. Mick Strider of Strider Knives fame made it. It is double edged and very sharp. I cannot put into words what such gifts as these mean to me. There is a bond between men (and women) who have this love of steel that few people can understand. With friends like this who could want for more?