Unarmed response to knife attacks or similar

[Malamute]

In many of the recent terrorist attacks in the news recently, theres been attacks with large knives. In Europe, they arent able to go about armed for the most part, and, unfortunately, in many places in the states its not legal for many ordinary people to go armed all the time. Never going where you cant be armed isnt really the answer for many of us, we have little choice in the matter due to situations beyond our reasonable control. What sort of response is useful in such situations? In the recent London attacks, one guy fought with one of the knife wielders, and got cut up pretty badly in the process, though he was credited for distracting and occupying the guy while other got away from the place. People were reportedly throwing glasses, bottles, and chairs at them without much effect, though that may have helped keep them away from some groups.

There has to be a better way. What sort of things could either be carried to help ones odds of hindering or stopping such attacks, or things likely to be found at hand in average urban environments? It occurred to me that brooms or mop handles could be used to create space or attack them. Watching people spar with swords, spears, and other medieval weapons, someone with knowledge of such things could likely make a fairly good showing in such a situation, but I know little of such things. Is that a useful skill to work on, improvised weapons? Belts can be improvised weapons, though I also know little of that, and my pants would literally fall off if I took my belt off. Not dismissing it entirely, but it would take some thought beyond just doing it. Using one hand to hold my pants up is probably not a good strategy.

So, any thoughts on this?

Please keep in mind that at least in my situation, working out at the gym or other similar vigorous activity type martial arts things isnt possible at this time due to injury. It may be a permanent issue.

[Cory]

When you see everyone else in the mall running, don't stand there looking to see what they are running from. Put your feet in motion.

Shoes that fit well. Carry a defensive spray. Learn some Ju Jitsu. But really, just be able to run if there is an active knife attacker. Getting cut up while distracting them is a great way to wind up victim 4 of 12. Best to be able to beat feet, and if you can't because your cornered I would want defensive spray and ju jitsu skill, with the goal being to end it as fast as I can knowing that I'm going to wind up getting cut. If Ju jitsu isn't an option I would want a sap/blackjack. If a sap isn't legal a knife of my own.

My walk around shoes are a more appropriate colored version of my running shoes. If my wife and kid are there, I'm picking up the kid and running while dragging the wife by the arm as best I can.

-Cory

[Duelist]

Cane. Especially if you have a physical disability, a stout cane. Umbrellas are good too.

[Malamute]

I thought about a cane, but they really dont help me in actual use.

I'm not able to run at this point. A brisk geezer-like shuffle is about top speed.

[Trooper224]

Do you carry keys? Keep them on a lanyard around your neck. With a little practice, you can put a hurt on someone Indiana Jones style with those things.

[Drang]

The first rule of knife fighting is that everybody gets cut. (Except maybe the guy that brings a gun to a...)

Cane. Especially if you have a physical disability, a stout cane. Umbrellas are good too.

I try to avoid pimping my blog here, but I did this post years ago, and it might lead to resources: But will it replace shuffleboard?
There was a cane fighting class at last week's Washington Arms Collectors gun show, which suggests to me the topic has picked up interest in the 9 years* since I posted that.

EDIT: Except the article was in the Wall Street Journal, and is still behind their pay wall.

cane-fu-fighting at DuckDuckGo

*(Holy crap, I've been blogging for nine years!)

[peterb]

Indoors I always look for fire extinguishers. A facefull of dry chemical might slow someone down, and then you've got a blunt instrument to use.

[BillSWPA]

unarmed defense against a knife is in my opinion a very important thing to be prepared for, and at the same time a very difficult thing to be prepared for. Part of the problem is the nature of the threat -a knife is not only capable of doing a lot of damage, but it is also generally light weight and capable of changing directions instantly. Another part of the problem is that many who teach self-defense against a knife - even those who regularly pressure test their unarmed defense against unarmed opponents - have not studied offensive use of a knife and/or have not pressure tested their knife defense techniques, resulting in a lot of questionable stuff being taught.

One of the most important things you can do to improve your ability to defend against a knife while unarmed is to improve your unarmed fighting skills in general. Defense is going to require properly reading your attacker's actions, speed, precise timing, and precise application of the technique.

As a general rule, you need to protect your face, neck, and the inside of your forearms. Taking a cut to the outside of the forearms, or even the torso, can be quite damaging, but it will have less immediate impact on your ability to fight than a cut to the inside of the forearms. The reason I emphasized protecting part of the arms is because you are going to need to put those arms in the path of the attacker's knife arm (preferably not the knife) as you stop the attack.

Regarding specific techniques, Red Zone appears to be highly regarded for their knife defense. Some techniques from the Philippines involving using the back of the forearm to redirect a knife into a better position to gain control are worth learning.

In general, you want to either jam the knife arm, or pass the knife arm past you into a position wherein you can gain control of it. If you end up with control through a joint lock, apply that joint lock hard. Since you are defending against deadly force, breaking that joint is preferable to trying to keep control through that joint lock. Your goal is to cause enough injury to stop the attack at least long enough for you to gain control of the knife, and hopefully enough to disable the attacker. If you can land some punches or kicks with reasonable safety before or after taking control of the knife, do so. Although your primary focus is on the knife, don't forget to watch for punches or kicks, as well as the attacker switching hands in order to regain control of the knife.


If your attacker has hessitated, take advantage of that hesitation. Don't hesitate to close distance before your attacker has worked up the resolve to press the attack.

Regarding things that can be carried, an unbreakable Umbrella might be helpful, as would many other improvised impact weapon. However, having the unarmed skills to apply whatever you are carrying is more critical than what you are carrying.

[Malamute]

I also didnt want this to just be about me, but to see what ideas may be generally usable for people in similar places or situations. The retired Brit LE guy that was around this spring mentioned he knew of some fairly simple "unarmed" knife defense info that he could relate, but he bailed out of here before that happened.

[scw2]

Would it be a bad idea to use a chair and trying to use that to keep space between you and an attacker? Perhaps facing he legs away form you and jabbing? If this is really stupid let me know since I have zero experience in his arena. It was something I'd considered, at least if you're somewhere like a restaurant.