The following is offered to our guests visiting the site in an attempt to demonstrate that a knife, when used as a weapon, poses threats to your safety and should be considered as dangerous as a firearm.
The following information was obtained from the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation through their "uniform crime reporting" data which is compiled from every law enforcement agency in the United States. Other statistics were taken from the "Officers Down" memorial web site. Anyone who is interested in obtaining crime statistics would be well advised to check out the FBI web site as well as the data provided by the officers down site. Both can be found easily through any web search engine.
From 1900-1998 there were 14,010 federal, state, and local law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty in the United States.
The first officer to be killed in the 20th century was William C. Rooney, a 30-year-old captain with the Colorado Department of Corrections. On January 22, 1900, captain Rooney was stabbed in the heart during a prison escape and later died from the injuries.
The top ten leading causes of law enforcement fatalities in the Unites States during the past century are:
1. Firearms [6,846 or 49 %] 2. Auto Accidents [2,090 or 15 %] 3. Motorcycle Accidents [1,022 or 7 %] 4. Struck by Vehicle [955 or 7 %] 5. Job-Related Illness [588 or 4 %] 6. Aircraft Accidents [311 or 2 %] 7. Stabbings [197 or 1 %] 8. Falls [147 or 1 %] 9. Drowning [142 or 1 %] 10. Beaten [134 or 1 %]
Statistics show the following percentage of injuries sustained through various means of assault on officers in the U.S.
Firearms: 30.2 % Knives: 30.5 % Other weapons: 40.8 % Personal weapons: 35.0 %
What do we glean from the previous sets of data supplied that may help us understand the dynamics of being assaulted/injured and our chances of survival?
First, lets look at the percentage of injuries resulting from assaults on officers with knives. We can see that knife attacks to officers end with injuries 30.5 % of the time. We also see that 1 % of assaults end in death to the officer. The figures are actually 2 % but they rounded down.
Look carefully at the data for sustained injuries to officers from firearm assaults. For all real purposes the percentage of injuries sustained in an attack is the same. What can we determine from this? The one thing that jumps out at me is that the officer is just as likely to sustain injury from a knife as a firearm making the knife at least an equal and as effective as a firearm.
Based upon my own research provided by police officers, they encounter approximately 8 knives for every firearm on the street while on duty in the USA. Obviously these figures are subject to many criteria which could affect that number dependant on where in the country you reside. Most officers do not realize the knife is as dangerous as a firearm. Most officers receive little if any training in defensive knife tactics at their respective state academies.
I have attempted to demonstrate that the knife is at least as dangerous as a firearm. That many officers don't recognize the potential threat the knife represents to them. The figures shown demonstrate that the knife [in inexperienced hands] clearly presents a major threat similar to the firearm.
I'll leave you with one last statistic to think about.
6 out of 10 gunshot victims die from sustained injuries 8 out of 10 knife attack victims die from sustained injuries.
You are 20 % more likely to die from a knife stab than from being shot in the Unites States. I don't want to experience either personally but if you feel you must please shoot me. I'll have a 20 % greater chance of surviving based on the reports submitted by police agencies to the FBI from across the U.S.
Individuals or organizations interested in obtaining real world training in defensive knife tactics may contact me through the links on this site. If you are in the market for a new folder or if this will be your first knife purchased with defense in mind please feel free to e-mail me with your requests.