The problem with the current epidemic of knife crime in our grey and unpleasant land is that, once young males become aware of the danger, a substantial number of them will carry knives ‘in self-defence’, that is, to protect themselves from all those knife-carrying psychos out there. Unfortunately you can’t really defend yourself from a knife with a knife. Because knives are so light and small they can be wielded with tremendous speed, too fast to block or parry. Forget that martial arts shit. A skilled martial arts knife fighter may be very good against a conventional thrust but will crumble under a deranged windmilling assault or prison yard shiv, because such an attack is wild and unpredictable.
The only effective knife defence against a knife attack is to stab potential assailants before they get a chance to stab you. i imagine there are several thousand, or hundreds of thousands, of young men carrying knives ‘in self-defence’ who will, however, pull it as soon as they imagine a confrontation is in the air. They would be far better to carry expandable batons, and far less likely to accidentally kill someone. They would do even better to stay at home reading Sir Philip Sidney.
“They would do even better to stay at home reading Sir Philip Sidney.”
At last someone who agrees with me about the proper way to deal with knife crime, feral youth, etc. Why can’t they just stay in and read? Personally, I’d go for “The Anatomy Of Melancholy”, but pretty much any improving literature would do.
[...] at The Lumber Room has an excellent solution to feral youths and knife [...]