Defense with a knife entails many legal pitfalls owing partly to the general misperception of knives as thugs’ weapons coupled with the appearance that excessive force was used due to the many wounds that may be made before a determined attacker loses the will to fight if you depended on blood loss to incapacitate the attacker. In this member-education video Michael Janich outlines self defense knife use and associated legal concerns that his Martial Blade Concepts system resolves.
Most knives carried daily are comparatively short-bladed. That makes it important to understand the anatomy of muscles, tendons and nerves that provide mobility and that allow an attacker to use a weapon. Janich discusses scaling target selection observing that not only is this kind of targeting the most effective in stopping the fight quickly, it also is the most ethical and responsible and can be explained in court. He illustrates flowing through a series of cuts to finish the fight, even if one or several of the cuts don’t completely sever tendons or disable a hand or leg.
Network President Marty Hayes and Janich close out the presentation discussing interacting with police in the imediate aftermath as well as explaining in court much later why you did what you did and establishing yourself as the victim of the criminal attack that required you to defend yourself. You need the active dynamic -- the facts of the attack against you -- recorded in the notes and reports taken by responding police and later, with representation by counsel, in a formal, recorded statement, they agree.
The interview contrasts defensive display of a firearm with warnings to stay back given with a knife in hand, verbal skills to establish that you were the person who was attacked not the attacker, and why you cut to disable or make the attacker drop his weapon not to kill them.