i carry a gun for self defense & a knife for utility

i look as scary and poor as possible for self defense.

I cary a knife or two or three or sometimes....anyways, every day every where. but I have have them just for utility. but they would make wounderful tools for SD if the unfortunate need aver arised.

well stated <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

In Wisconsin I carry my Dog Father Limited Edition in my Rainwalker bandoleer,with my SS-4 cross draw on my left first belt loop. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

We in the great state of Wisconsin have NO LENGTH LIMIT as long as you carry
the knife in question IN THE OPEN. UNCONCEALED!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif" alt="" />

It MUST be recognized as a knife by citizens and LEO's all.

So I gladly wear my finest Scrap Yard Knives and Rainwalker Leather Creations EVERY DAY in the open in Delavan Wisconsin. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />

Neat Huh?

NO CONCEALED CARRY AT ALL!!! A handgun is a Felony! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbdn.gif" alt="" />

And even though they lobby hard in the state Senate every year, they liberals beat down a concealed carry option of any kind. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif" alt="" />

Till then I am forced to wear my knives on me. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Peace.

i can carry folders concealed, but never consider my knife a self defense weapon unless, like pitman, i'm in the woods and it is animals i'm concerned about. at any rate, around town, i have mostly been carrying my bradley alias 1, but also carry my protech runt, an older benchmade, or my spyderco walker. when hiking or camping, i always take a fixed blade, or two, along with a folder and a multitool. but again, self defense isn't my goal, but i do realize that i have something on me that can cause great bodily harm, and i respect it as such, and hope that i never find myself in a situation where i am faced with the decision to cut or not to cut a person.

mac was correct Reconseed, in respect to our ages.

Mac: I'm not sure if Krav disciplines vary from group to group, but we had two instructors. The first was a world-renown Karate (i believe, may have been Kung-Fu) master that gave up a lifetime of work in the discipline when he realized that it didn't actually prepare students for real fights. He took up Krav Maga shortly after. Our other instructor, an awesome guy (250 pounds, very little body fat), was a SWAT team leader. It was the latter individual that I was quoting. The 'dojo' Sharp and I used to attend (school and soccer season stopped my attendance, sadly) also taught a lot of people basic survival fighting. For a, say, 40 year old women who wants to learn how to buy enough time to escape from a man trying to assault her, running away is almost the best option. Also, as a police officer, he would know that some people rush into fights because they've had training and think they can take anyone, so he wanted to instill the idea that fighting should always be a last resort no matter how good you are. I'm reasonably fit, and i'd probably have a knife, but i know that beating up the other guy is far less important that coming home to my family alive.

that said, if someone came to my school looking for trouble, I'd like to think I'd do something rather than let it happen. On a philosophical note, i suppose everyone THINKS that they'd be the one to do something, but... lets hope I never have to find out if its in me.

In the US it seems that you get in a lot less legal trouble if you use a handgun for SD than a knife. In Canada you simpply cannot legally carry a handgun unless you are a cop or on the way to or from the range with a liscence that specifically allows handguns. I have a liscence where I am not even allowed to buy any more guns I can only keep the ones I do have and by ammo. We do have a lot looser laws about knives but self defence is pretty much illegal. If a cop asks you why you have a knife and you say SD you will be arrested and most likely get a lifetime firearms ban as well.

It is not all bad though. You can carry any size knife you want concealed or not so long as you don't intend to use it as a weapon. If you happen to be attacked it is legal to use it to defend yourself. Now just because it is illegal to carry a handgun it is just as easy to get an illegal one as in the US so you are quite likely to face a handgun when you just have a knife.

This also is not as bad as it seems. This will come as a shock to some of you but at the kind of ranges most crime related gunfights happen(within 20 feet) a knife is just as useful and deadly as a handgun often more so. Also the guy with the gun is probably not an expert marksman he may even be holding it sideways.
Most amateurs expect the gun to do all the work. There are some very good tactics for bringing a knife to a gunfight and winning.

There was a famous study done in the US where they took 40 experienced cops and had them face an attacker they knew in advance was going to attack them with a knife. 39 of them failed the only cop who passed happened to be a black belt.
The reason was they all went for their gun. A healthy man can cover 14 feet in 1 second from a standing start. Even backpedalling and knowing what would happen
they all failed. The black belt however got off the attackers line and then had plenty of time to get his gun out.

The point was that if you focus only on your gun you are dead. It is just a tool it is up to you to win the fight.

I have a lot of knives but my current favourite SD knife is nearly perfect. It is the Spyderco Mule team knife with a simple paracord wrap. It is very light and flat so it can be very easily concealed. It is the sharpest knife I own and is less than half as thick as the thinnest Scrapper. It's wide leaf blade would make huge hacking cuts.

Here is a photo of my Mule team knife that I have in pristine condition as a collectible. I can't wait for the Mule2 which will be made of CPM M4 steel but these ones are 52100.
http://picasaweb.google.com/Lance.G.Davis/SmallFixedBlades/photo#5185451129763944770

Here is a photo of a few nice small fixed blades including my Wrapped Mule under the satin SS4.
http://picasaweb.google.com/Lance.G.Davis/SmallFixedBlades/photo#5185449166963890338

One reason I prefer a knife to a handgun is it takes more inner strength and will to actually cut a man's throat than it does just to shoot him. I think that if people carried knives rather than guns there would be less people killed over petty squabbles. However that is also the knife's biggest weakness for SD.
It is quite hard to get over what you actually have to do even if your life is in danger.

A piece of advice that I've heard is that you should only describe a knife as a tool -- NEVER state that you are carrying a knife for self defense because that makes it a weapon. Even if it's otherwise legal, if your description can be construed as admitting to carrying a weapon, the implied intent to harm others opens up a whole range of probable cause options you'd probably rather not deal with.

That makes sense here in Canada Jim but why is it legal to carry a gun for SD and not a knife in the US?

The laws vary from State to State. Bowies are illegal to carry in Texas, where Jim Bowie died with his knife at the Alamo. Go figure.

I have given the Texas Bowie law some thought. Bowies are very lethal knives. A stab or slash from something like the DFLE would kill you a lot faster than most of the pistols of the time. For all the Colt .45 SAA's there were probably dozens of little derringers and pocket pistols and unreliable cap and ball revolvers.
From what i know the law about bowies in Texas has been around for a LONG time.
Even nowadays with Hicap 9mm's a stab wound is twice as likely to kill as a gun shot and most stabings are with much smaller knives than the bowies.

Maybe you are not supposed to take a knife to a gun fight because it would be cheating?