Budo international Martial Arts Magazine Jul.-Aug. 2014 | Page 31

Eskrima In earlier columns on knife fighting I pointed out already that knife fighting is an indispensable element in modern self-defense within the martial arts. The knife fight becomes increasingly popular and more teachers agree with my view on self-defense against a knife: “only if you know how to handle a knife you can defend yourself against a knife”. If you are a trained knife fighter, you simply have a better chance against a knife fighter or against someone who is attacking you with a knife. More than lethal You know the risk but also remember that the knife itself is not dangerous, it is only a tool. The knife is in fact used in daily life for various purposes as you know. I put butter on my sandwich with a knife as you do, but these tools can be dangerous weapons. The person who is holding a knife can be dangerous and unpredictable when he or she intents violence. Research into street violence shows people who carry a knife often injure themselves. According to the US FBI, who researched violence where knives were used, showed that in 2011 alone five times more knives were the cause of fatal violence than guns or rifles were. It is ironic that people in the U.S. mainly protest against owning guns. In Great Britain, the number counts 60,000 cases of violence in which a knife was used in one year alone, that are about 160 incidents a day. Especially men are victims, and most victims are between 10 and 25 years old. In London 1,000 incidents are reported every day. In the newspapers you may read about “a 19 year-old boy with friends, roaming the streets late at night was violently attacked and stapped to death. He was attacked because of a dispute with another group of youngsters and found himself suddenly attacked. A lethal glint of metal appeared and minutes later he lay bleeding on the sidewalk, stabbed in the heart. (London 2009). There are many examples of deadly violence involving knives. Psychological factor It 's undeniable how dangerous a knifes really are in the wrong hands. The knife, carried for self-defense purposes, often turns to the person him or herself. In training with knives you learn what a knife can do. Training teaches you about its dangers and how to act when you find yourself in a dangerous situation. Try to avoid the fight, out run your opponents. If avoiding the fight fails, your basic training might give you a better chance of survival. In other words, who finds himself in such a situation, usually gets hurt. Violence can be predicted. Almost in any group, someone is carrying a weapon, and in 8 of 10 cases this will be a knife. In such a situation, survival is the only goal, before violence starts to escalate, you have to estimate how the violence will escalate, so you can be out-of-the-way in time. In the above example, you can read how a 19 - year-old boy got into such a situation and did not survive. I think the poor boy didn’t see it coming. What really happened and what started the violence to escalate I don’t know, but what I do know is that violence amplifies in groups. Young people egging each other on, and then the situation gets out of control. There is a psychological factor in the game which is enhanced through alcohol and drugs, people lose sight of reality. Research shows that alcohol consumption is associated significantly with violence, and an increase in alcohol consumption of 1 litre per year shows a signficant 8% increase in the violence rate. So do the math I would say. There is a group of youngsters going out, or going home, consuming a lot of alcohol. They are egging eachother, there is a dispute with another group, how fast will violence will appear? Easy to predict. In addition there is that decent dose of adrenaline which are real game changers and escalating violence triggers more primary behavior which can lead to more raw violence. What people - who have never had a knife in their hands or have no basic training - do not understand is that the psychological factor in the fight suddenly takes on a whole new dimension, when someone pulls a knife. For example, lets say a good boxer who is well trained in unarmed combat and can defend himself properly, he would probably win in a situation where no knife is pulled. But if the same boxer has to fight against an opponent armed with a knife, the outcome will be uncertain. Even if the opponent is in poor condition, mastered no boxing techniques and is only armed with a knife, which has only to be small to inflict real damage. These kinds of weapons in the hands of insecure people make these people unpredictable because since they are armed they suddenly get a false sense of confidence. People with selfconfidence will not easily carry a knife. Insecure or damaged personalities will do more often. So more and more people carry a knife. It may not always be safe on the streets, but the chance you will use a knife increases at the moment you leave home with a knife in your pocket. Take responsibility as a teacher and emphasize again and again that carrying knives is not tough and not particularly smart. Who wants to go to jail when using the knife in a conflict. This is what I tell my students. Knives forbidden by Law · flick knives (also called ‘switchblades’ or ‘automatic knives’) - where the blade is hidden inside the handle and shoots out when a button is pressed · butterfly knives - where the blade is hidden inside a handle that splits in two around it, like wings; the handles swing around the blade to open or close it · disguised knives – eg where the blade is hidden inside a belt buckle or fake mobile phone · gravity knives · sword-sticks · samurai swords (with some exceptions, including antiques and swords made to traditional methods before 1954) · hand or foot-claws · push daggers · hollow kubotan (cylinder-shaped keychain) holding spikes · shuriken (also known as ‘death stars’ or ‘throwing stars’)