We recently heard about the horrific attack by a student who used a knife to wound twenty people. I heard some people say “at least he didn’t have a gun.” Knives being used as weapons in mass attacks is something that has been on my mind for some time. I believe that a knife in the hand of someone willing to use it as a weapon is just as dangerous, if not more so, than a gun. Warning; this article will be more graphic than my usual.

Here are some obvious facts about knives that you’re likely already aware of but which bear repeating. Every home has kitchen knives, but if someone wanted an easier-to-conceal folding knife, one can be purchased at any Walmart, Target or host of other locations, without any kind of permit. Many states have banned certain types of knives, such as switchblades. Some states have limitations on the length of the blade, but I don’t know if there are any states that ban the carrying of knives altogether. A small folding knife can be just as dangerous as tactical one.

Knives are incredibly easy to conceal, hidden until a sudden attack. I carry a Glock 19, which is considered a “compact” handgun. The only place I can carry it that does not print (show a visible bulge) is in the small of my back, which is hardly the most ideal place to carry for me. I can carry a very large folding knife and it is impossible to tell it’s in my waistline or in my pocket.

In Haganah we practiced knife and gun defenses and in close proximity (within an arm’s length away), guns were always easier to defend against. This is obviously over-simplifying it, but we were taught gun takeaways in close proximity that moved you out of the way of the barrel. If the barrel isn’t pointing at you, the gun cannot hurt you. Often the takeaways put your hands on the gun as you move from the line of the barrel, which allows you to strip the gun away from your attacker. Below is one such takeaway. The person talking is the creator of Haganah, who has many years of martial arts training. I had no previous martial arts training and learned this takeaway in one session. Some of the other takeaways are a bit more complex, but I felt very comfortable with them after a few classes. I believe this is because the attacker has the gun trained on you, no matter how they’re holding it. The attacker knows that if the barrel isn’t pointed at you, the gun can’t shoot you.
 

 
Knife disarms are another beast entirely. Some of the defenses require a block. If your arm is not at 90 degrees, the attackers’ momentum can deflect the attack into another part of your body. In the video, you’ll notice that you have to pay attention to the angle, because it determines where you move to, and how you trap the attackers arm. I’ll admit I am not the most coordinated person. After a year of Haganah, I still fumbled on knife defenses. Unlike gun attacks, knives are more dangerous when the knife is moving, which inherently makes it harder to defend against them.
 

 
In knife defense, you obviously never grab the knife. Even if you trap the attackers hand or arm, he can still grab it with his other hand and continue the attack.
 

Tueller Drill

The Tueller Drill is a self-defense exercise created by Utah Police Sargent Dennis Tueller. The drill is used to show how little time one has to defend against a knife attack. I have done this drill at the range, standing back to back with another instructor, with yet another instructor keeping time. When the time keeper said “go”, the other man drew and fired twice at the target. At that same time, I took off running. I easily covered 20+ feet by the time he finished his second shot. All of this took 2-3 seconds. This drill showed me that 20 feet is not nearly the large safety zone I once thought it was.

In this drill, the shooter is expecting a whistle or other command that tells them when to draw and fire, and it takes most people 2-5 seconds to draw. If I am Joe Dirtbag, intending to use a knife to threaten or attack you, I am not going to start advertising it 20 feet away. No, I will get as close as I can and give you as little warning as possible. Even if I’m high on PCP and start charging you with my knife and you manage to draw and shoot me, my momentum will most likely continue toward you, giving me the opportunity to attack.

 
The Following

There is currently a television show about an FBI agent chasing down a man who has a following of homicidal cultists. These people go into public places (restaurants, book stores, train stations, etc.) and randomly stab people. The show is violent and shocking. I am a bit surprised we haven’t seen more of these types of attacks. One such mass knife attack in China recently by ten men armed with knives saw twenty nine people killed and 130 injured.

When I saw the recent school knife attack headline, I immediately wondered if the student who committed the horrific attack had watched The Following.

Granted, the show is drawn from someone’s imagination, but I think the public’s response during the attack is very realistic. There is no sound from the weapon. Often times, the attackers stab multiple people before screams draw attention to them.

When I watch TV or movies, I always try to think about what I would do in that situation. This is one case where always having my back to a wall and situational awareness would be crucial.
 

Training

Anyone who has fired a gun knows it takes some practice or training to get good at it. For instance, if you want to recover from failures or draw and fire from movement, it takes even more training and practice. Granted, someone could take a gun and some ammo and teach themselves the basics.

However, there is no training needed to use a knife to slash or stab. Unlike a firearm, there are no malfunctions. Under stress, people frequently miss their targets with a firearm, even at close distance. With a knife, there is no distance and while the attacker could miss their first stab, as mentioned above, they are most dangerous when they keep slashing and stabbing.
This is not to say I think using a knife for self-defense is a good idea because it takes no training. On the contrary, I think an untrained person wielding a knife for self-defense is quite possibly giving an attacker a weapon. Hollywood has glamourized knife fighting somewhat, with people coming out unscathed. The first rule of knife fighting, is you’re gonna get cut.
 

Closing

I would like to know how many deaths each year are attributed to knives versus guns. With the ease of attaining a knife, no training being required and the ease of concealment, maybe you can understand why I said I am surprised we don’t see more mass knife attacks.

If you see someone brandish a knife, please take it just as seriously as you would a gun.

 
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Before I get too far into today’s topic, I want start out by saying that I think the vast majority of law enforcement are good, upstanding people. There are a few exceptions, some of which I want to bring to your attention today. I also want to give some thoughts on dealing with law enforcement when the officer is less than a stellar civil servant.
 

Dighton man sues town, police chief after cops suspend his firearms license, seize his guns

In this article we’re told of a law abiding 19 year old named Mathew Plouffe. He obeyed the law, obtained a firearm Identification Card (FID) and purchased 2 shotguns and a rifle. He was pulled over because his car matched the description of a vehicle that was being sought for a recent crime. The officer noted that there was an unloaded and locked shotgun in the vehicle and let Plouffe go without a citation.

The police chief learned of an incident where Plouffe had been shooting with minors, with their parents’ permission. This caused the chief to question Mr. Plouffe’s maturity. Police went to Plouffe’s home and confiscated his FID, two shotguns and rifle.

Plouffe is filing a law suit claiming infringement on his second amendment rights. As the article notes:

“The only reason you can’t get that license or it should be taken away is if you are disqualified for statutory reasons, convicted of crime, or confined to mental institution, or are addicted to alcohol or controlled substances, or you get a 209A restraining order against you,” Trask said.”

My Take:

This is absolutely ridiculous and an obvious overreach by the police chief. I think Mathew Plouffe handled this in the correct manner and I really hope he wins his case. I also hope that an example is made of the police officers involved.
 

Cops Accused of Forcing Woman to Delete Video of Husband’s Arrest Sparked by ‘Unloaded’ Shotgun and Trespasser on His Hunting Property

This article is a bit longer and a bit more of a head shaker. Father and son are on their 10 acres hunting; the son with a crossbow, and father with a .410. While hunting, the pair find a man trespassing, riding a dirt bike on their land. They escort the man to the house and the father asks his wife to call the DNR to report a trespass.

When police show up, the man still has the unloaded .410 in hand, holding the shotgun in one hand, and the shell in the other to declare the firearm was unloaded. One of the officers demands the man put the gun on the ground. The officer then places him in cuffs and lays him on the ground.

The wife then starts the following recording.

You can tell the officer is uncomfortable being filmed as he fumbles to say what kind of gun the man was holding, and while he tries to find the words to explain to the wife why her husband is in cuffs. The officer then tells her to stop filming and tells her to give him the phone, as he is taking it as evidence. She says “no” and the officer threatens to place her under… the video ends, but the wife says the last word was arrest. According to The Blaze, the officer deleted the video and gave the phone back before they left. The family was able to recover the video with software, the Blaze has an explanation including pictures of the process.

The husband was charged with a felony for pointing the .410 at the trespasser; a claim made by the trespasser that the father claims is untrue. He was not charged for having the gun in hand when the police arrived, nor is it mentioned in the arrest record.

My Take:

In some states it is illegal to record either visual or audio of law enforcement. It must not be in Michigan or they would have done more than erase the video. In either case, the video and pictures really add to the land owners’ case.

Even though the carrying of a firearm in public is not against the law and even though he was on his own land, he probably would not have had any issues had he not been holding the gun when the police arrived. I have read several accounts about police who don’t like civilians owning or carrying a firearm. My guess is the officers involved in this case are two more. If you’ll notice, the husband of the woman filming is cuffed and lying on the ground while the man who was trespassing is cuffed but sitting in a chair.

The trespasser doesn’t appear to have been charged as the claim was made that the land was not properly posted. If you look at the pictures from the link to The Blaze’s article, you’ll see that it is posted, though those could have been added after the fact (I doubt that).

Like I said, even though they were not breaking the law and not charged with a crime with the gun as far as holding it when the police showed up, it probably would have gone better for him had he not been holding the gun.

I hope they counter-sue. Unless The Blaze missed something, it looks to me like this is another case of law enforcement overreaching.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to law enforcement and guns, it is always best to err on the side of caution. I use these two stories today to make a point; second amendment rights are under more attack now than ever before. As time passes they will be even more infringed upon. We have veterans who have been stripped of their second amendment rights with a letter from the VA, because they may have PTSD. We’ve got people losing their rights because of a picture posted on facebook.

Have you thought about what you might do if your rights are infringed upon? Do you know the name and number of a good second amendment attorney in your local area?

As a side note, here is an article I found very interesting. It explains Why So Many Police Chiefs Favor Gun Control, When Most Sheriffs Don’t.

In short, it says that police chiefs are appointed by the mayor and if they have a mayor who is anti-gun, and they want to keep their job, they support the mayor’s position. Meanwhile sheriffs are elected by “We the People”, and they tend to vote more for individual freedoms.

 
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I read an article on article on October 11th that points out that terrorists are making dry runs to test airline security and procedures. The article points out that investigators obtained a memo that talks about recent probes or dry runs. From the report:

“A group of Middle-Eastern males boarded in DCA. Shortly after takeoff, one got up and ran from his seat in coach towards the flight deck door. He made a hard left and entered the forward lav, where he stayed for a considerable length of time! While he was in there, the others got up and proceeded to move about the cabin, changing seats, opening overhead bins, and generally making a scene. They appeared to be trying to occupy and distract the flight attendants.”

The article ends with a statement from an Air Marshal and industry insiders saying “We’re waiting for the next 9/11 to happen, because it’s not a question of if. It’s a question of when.”

What Can We Do?

I believe that terrorists are practicing dry runs to see where vulnerabilities are. I also believe that they would love to use planes in another grand attack. So what can we, the average person, do if we believe there is a terrorist dry run taking place on a flight we are on? I won’t tell you what you should or can do. That is for you to decide. I will just say what I will do. I will step in and help the flight attendants.

If we look back to the shoe bomber and the underwear bomber, they were stopped because passengers acted. If we go back to 9-11 and flight 93, because those passengers acted, they saved lives on the ground.

Sure, ideally there would be a police officer nearby every time one was needed to stop a violent attack. It would also be ideal if an Air Marshal was on every flight that had a dry run or an actual attack on it. Since that isn’t reality, I take personal responsibility for my safety and the safety of my loved ones.

Now I’m not saying to get physical with Middle Eastern travelers. In fact, I don’t believe racial profiling works. I do believe, however, that behavior profiling does work. I practice the Cooper Color Code on land and will continue to in the air. If I see people acting in a coordinated effort in a manner that passengers normally don’t act, I will be ready to act if the flight crew needs it or if I believe my safety is at stake.

I like to be as prepared for a violent confrontation as I can be. Sometimes this means I carry a firearm and sometimes, for various reasons, I can’t. Obviously, I can’t on an airplane. The TSA has limited what can be carried onboard, but there are still some options.
This link is to the Prohibited Items list on the TSA site. You’ll notice that most of the items listed must be checked, but some items that are allowed are:

• Scissors – metal with pointed tips and blades shorter than 4 inches are allowed, but blades longer than 4 inches are prohibited
• Tools – Wrenches/Pliers/Screwdrivers (seven inches or less in length). It might draw attention to board a plane with just one screw driver. Consider getting a small toolkit.

Some items that are not listed but should be perfectly allowable to carry onboard are:

(A disclaimer from the prohibited items page: It’s important to know that even if an item is generally permitted, it may be subject to additional screening or not allowed through the checkpoint if it triggers an alarm during the screening process, appears to have been tampered with, or poses other security concerns. The final decision rests with TSA on whether to allow any items on the plane. Also, please note that some dangerous items below are illegal in certain states and passengers will be subject to state law. It is a passenger’s responsibility to be aware that origination and destination cities may have local laws prohibiting the possession of these items.)

• Walking cane
• Flashlight; I would not try to bring on a “tactical” flashlight because of the disclaimer above. It should also probably be less than seven inches.
• Solid writing pen. Again I wouldn’t try to board with the tactical type pens.

If you bring a cane, you should probably be using it. I carry a flashlight often, if questioned about why I have it, I will give my honest answer; if something happens on board, I want to be able to see. A good solid pen with a notebook should not draw any undue attention.

If you decide to travel without any of the above and must use force, remember that if you’re in a fair fight, your tactics suck.

I pray the Air Marshals and the industry insiders are wrong. I pray there is never another 9-11. However, like I said above, I believe the terrorists would love to have many more. It could fall to the passengers on board to stop it.

 
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If you carry a firearm for self-defense, have you prepared your family for what they should do if you have to use it to protect them or yourself? I don’t know about you, but to me, having to use deadly force is definitely a version of the stuff hitting the fan. Making sure your loved ones know what to do, before, during and after can protect them from many negative impacts. Here are some general thoughts on how you prepare your family.
 

Before

My wife and I both have our permits to carry. When we got them, I came up with some tactics for us. If there is a deadly force encounter, I am the one to respond. My stepsons lost their father at very young ages. They cannot lose their mother. Whether I were killed or, for some reason jailed, she would still be able to care for them. I know there are police officers who put their homes in only their wives’ name for similar reasons. If they are sued they can’t lose the house.

When we go out to eat, I sit facing the door. This way I can stay in condition yellow and be aware of who is coming in. If we sit on the same side in a booth, I sit on the outside just in case I need to act.

There are a couple different companies that offer a type of “carry insurance” that can aid in legal and other expense incurred from the need to use deadly force. There may be others, but the two I am aware of are, US Concealed Carry Association (USCCA) and Armed Citizens’ Legal Defense Network, Inc.. I’m not endorsing either one but simply making you aware of available options. I had USCCA coverage for a while but, for financial reasons, no longer carry it. When I am better able to afford it, I’ll look at both options again. I note this here because a legal defense could be a bank-breaking financial burden.

Our home security plan has modified over the years as the kids have gotten older but the core is essentially the same. Trudee calls police while I lock, load, watch and listen. If the kids need me, I fight to them. Otherwise, everyone stays put and we wait for police. The oldest child isn’t old enough for a firearm, so he has kept a bat by his bedside for years. This helps him feel safer and better prepared, just like a firearm at my side does for me.
 

During

I am right handed, so I try to keep Trudee on my left side. If I need draw my firearm, I can do so and she won’t be in the way. I can also use my left hand to tuck her behind me if needed. That way she can look for cover while I engage the threat. We have talked to the kids as well and they understood that if either of us ever had to use force, they were to immediately get to cover and concealment as safely as possible. I explained what cover and concealment are to them, and gave them examples of each in some of the places we go.
 

After

If you have to use force, your family should tell police or anyone else that they will need to speak to either you or your lawyer. If police request to search your home, your family should tell them “not without a warrant”. They should then alert you or your attorney.

The entire family might go through a rollercoaster of emotions after a critical incident. There is nothing wrong with seeking counseling for the entire family to help you all process what has happened.

Some might think I’m instilling fear in the kids but I disagree. By knowing that bad things happen and teaching them how they can and should respond, they are empowered, more inoculated and better prepared should, God forbid, any of these things actually ever happen.

 
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