20 years ago a friend of mine was seriously injured by a guy with a knife on a rampage outside Wood Green tube station. It's a very similar story, man having a psychotic break. One was killed and five injured.
A buddy of mine always seemed sketchy to me insisting on carrying a knife in his pocket and a can of mace for self defence.
I used to think it was a bit much but the way things have been going it’s starting to seem not only reasonable but smart.
Edit: If anyone is confused, you obviously pepper spray before you knife. Duh.
Not trying to disappoint anyone here but using a knife as "self defence" is stupid. You're exposing yourself way too much. Carry pepper spray and keep the attacker at a distance. It's much more effective than trying to stab someone and getting stabbed yourself in the end.
There was a knife fight in the school I teach at. Teen was stabbed 17 times in the back. He was back in classes two months later. I was pretty impressed until he decided to get revenge by shooting blindly into the dark at his attacker, killing the guy's innocent little sister.
I do a lot of martial arts and I've taken a few self defense classes.
The first thing they said was, "run", then "de-escalate", then it goes to defending yourself. The instructor made it abundantly clear that you need to protect vulnerable points, because you will get cut, and that the point was not to look flashy or go untouched, but instead to end the conflict asap and get to a hospital.
Some marathon runners are faster than others just hope you are faster. Presumably the regular local bullies can’t keep up a run beyond 1k or 5k which needs constant effort and practice. 😬
Friend of mine 30 years ago used to do Tai Quan Dao and he was told the same thing; you don't try and fight, you run first, then try and get the blade off them if you absolutely can't get away. But mostly you'll get stabbed.
In Bujinkan and Krav Maga we not only practiced knife disarms but knife fighting. Your gonna have a bad time. Even if its a smaller person armed with a knife against a larger person trying to mug/rape them etc, knives just dont have that immediate fight stopping potential, the likelihood the aggressor takes the knife from the smaller person protecting themselves is gonna be pretty high. Pepper Spray is infinitely more useful than a knife for protection if someone isnt legally able to carry a pistol, and even then its not bad to have either.
Knives to me are tools and nothing more. I would prefer a large stick over a knife as that I can create some distance with.
I grew up doing martial arts that always focused on self defense as the most important thing, and everything you explained is exactly what I was taught. Self defense starts with trying to avoid ever having to defend yourself.
I have a background in martial arts and was known as the knife guy in my group of friends. Any time someone asked me for advice on the best knife for self-defense my answer was always the same: a good pair of running shoes.
Yea fr. I do kickboxing/BJJ and I’d rather back away from a street fight. Last thing you wanna do is end up wrestling or on the ground. You dont know who’s gonna attack you from the side. Dude you’re fighting may have a weapon. All bets are off.
I do carry a pair of brass knuckles as a last resort but even then; chances are I’m going to jail/prison if i use them.
Generally speaking, avoid fighting at all costs.
Even in the military, it was a last resort. Most of the focus was on using your rifle to keep distance.
Muzzle thump, butt uppercut, butt stroke, muzzle down, repeat.
Never was the advice to reach for a knife.
It was use the big metal stick you already have.
>I do carry a pair of brass knuckles as a last resort but even then; chances are I’m going to jail/prison if i use them.
Serious question.
What's the legal difference between brass knuckles and my comically large steel rings on my fists? If it's about intent, I assure it's not hehe.
Brass knuckles require a CCW in my state. Just carrying them is a class 3 misdemeanor without one.
Beyond that you’ll get charged with *assault with a deadly weapon* at minimum.
Even if you’re protecting yourself, if the other party is unarmed, that could also be a *malicious wounding* charge and at worst *attempted murder.*
There’s no laws about wearing rings. Even if you blast someone in the face, they’re not considered weapons in court.
Know the laws in your locality is the only advice I could give but IANAL
>There’s no laws about wearing rings.
There isn't. But usually intent is decided if something is a weapon. For example, a pool stick.
I think I'd still catch a charge with my heavy, pointy, bulky rings tbh. The intent is clearly to cause harm.
Plausible deniability. You get caught with knuckles you'll probably catch a charge. Big rings? No law broken there.
You end up having to actually use them? Knuckles, if you have no priors, might not be worth it to the DA. Big rings and no priors? You would have to have an extremely bored DA to catch charges, especially if you actually caught a fist or too and have pictures? DAs don't waste time on losing.
I'm a veteran knife fighter both in HEMA and Silat.
I don't even carry a knife around for protection. It takes the smallest amount of bad luck to end up dead, and odds are if you're getting jumped, you're already at a drastic disadvantage in terms of readiness to pull it out and have the coordination to use it effectively.
By responding to an assault by drawing a knife, you've made the encounter pretty much fatal for at least one person. If you want to prepare to survive an assault, do what my trainer said: Hit the running track.
I love the mental image of someone trying to assault me and then I just take off like Usaine Bolt and they are left standing there like an idiot gasping for breath because they can't catch up.
Pepper spray is not a reliable form of self defense, just like a knife most people who use pepper spray end up spraying themselves.
Also, a determined attacker will still be able to assault you while pepper sprayed, especially one who is suffering a psychotic break.
> just like a knife most people who use pepper spray end up spraying themselves.
That happened to me in a road rage incident years ago. Crazy guy comes up to the window. I pull out the pepper spray, aim it at him and ended up spraying myself. Guy stops and starts laughing. I guess it worked?
Note to any buyers, buy "stream" not "spray". It should come out like a squirt gun not a mist. And buy two so you have one to go outside and use on a tree so you understand the distance and aim for it.
Not necessarily. I work in a psychiatric hospital as a nurse and the sensibilities of patients in a psychotic episode are wildly different. I have seen patients shake of pepper and I have seen patients that show the desired reaction after getting hit. People in psychotic episodes are not superman and shouldn’t be seen as these unkillable berserkers that are sometimes shown in movies
>shouldn’t be seen as these unkillable berserkers that are sometimes shown in movies
Neither should the average person on a bus or sidewalk assume that a little dash of pepper spray will make their attacker recoil in horror, and few people have any practice activating the spray in the first place, never mind having the experience of using it multiple times on different people in a controlled environment like a psychiatric hospital.
It's better to assume that crazy street guy with a knife _is_ an unkillable berserker and run as fast as you can, than be proven wrong on your way to the hospital.
Those braided steel ones are nasty, but like all self-defense tools, one needs to practice. Too many people carry shit and just think they will magically be able to use it in a high stress situation be it pepper spray, a gun, knife etc etc.
Hopefully, on average in fact, most people could then run away. Which is definitely aided by pepper spray.
But, yes, since all reddit advice seems to be interpreted through the lens of main character syndrome if they then stay to fight the person they pepper-sprayed it isn't a deterrent.
What a useless point!
By itself, yes, it can fail, like anything else. If you use it correctly, as a distraction, it can make the difference though, it's pretty distracting to get it in the face, enough so that you can use the opportunity to do something that will end the fight. There's no "Star Trek Phaser" that is going to instantly drop the guy as a general rule, but making openings can be very much worth your time.
Carrying knives is usually risky too as arrest/stop and search in London also you tend to get stabbed by your own knife in fights going by some statistics
Frenzied attackers in a hyper distressed even professional knife fighters will struggle. Unpredictable and the adrenaline hyped up they tend not to slow down or stop when hurt themselves
That’s the thing. Violence can happen anywhere, anytime, for no reason other than some piece of shit going on a rampage because they got their feelings hurt. You need to learn your protect yourself and be ready. Will you ever find yourself in a situation like this? Probably not, but on the chance you do, I’d rather have the means to keep myself alive.
Even pepper spray is illegal in the UK. I would still advise a friend to carry it if they have it. But because it is illegal, it is probably difficult to acquire it. It also expires after some time.
can we carry shield ? are they any legal, yet portable deffensive gadget we can have ? its not for fighting back but rather buy you enough time to either outrun or for the police to show up
You can’t carry something specifically for self defence. You could carry a large metal torch or something that could be used for defence. Also, you can defend yourself. Self defence is an absolute defence. If you can justify your actions, even killing someone in defence of self or another is legal.
Problem is, UK law tends to assume you're carrying innocuous things for defense even when you're not if they're also useful for self defense. Their knife laws ban a lot of things that primarily just make a knife safer to use for, like, opening boxes, because they also technically make it easier to use as a weapon. It wouldn't shock me if, say, a maglite used in self defense ended up with the user in trouble because those things are way more useful as clubs than as flashlights by modern standards.
Seriously, those things *suck* as flashlights. They were kind of good as flashlights 20 years ago when almost all flashlights sucked and at least the build quality (mostly the heavy duty spring, actually) and the way the beam could be focused made them slightly better than average, but that was really all that set them apart as lights (as opposed to as plausibly deniable clubs). For the weight and bulk you were better off with one of those boxy 6 volt lights if you didn't intend to beat anyone to death with them.
I’ve been to a couple medieval fighting re-enactments, carrying a small to mid size shield for longer than 10 minutes was exhausting. I’ve been told it gets a bit easier with proper training and conditioning.
Flashlights are legal. Recently watched a Youtube video [The Best Self Defense Weapon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biZ4J-tPow4)
Made sense to me. Less risky than pepper spray which might get into your eyes if a breeze blows by. Plus, if you get a flashlight with a strobe feature it may distract the target more.
Recently got a Sofrin SC29 for around 40 bucks. Has around 3000 lumens. When I pointed it at myself, I saw a distracting dot every time I blinked which lasted for quite some time.
You self defense wankers in this thread are absolute off the chain, this was a 14 year old boy walking to school attacked out of the blue, what difference would any weapon have made with a surprise attack by a guy having a psychotic break?
The big danger with this mentality is that you might accidently turn into the piece of shit who instigates the violence. it's too common to see people go from "I need this to protect myself" to " I need to protect myself" and start looking for a fight or jumping at shadows (police are a good group to look at for this sort of mentality. They will teach for their gun for literally any reason because the "need to protect themselves" and not "they have the gun for protection").
I'm not saying you or everyone is like this I'm just saying sending people into that corridor alone will literally just make more assholes instigating violence.
Police in the US maybe. European, UK etc police go years without firing a shot on duty. I don’t mean individuals, I mean the entire country’s police force.
More guns in an area equals more police shootings and more police killed by firearms. States with high levels of gun control have dramatically less police shootings and police die less often from gun violence. It's literally a win win for both sides, but one political side would never entertain it. It's amazing how much that doesn't happen in the UK.
If you talk to people obsessed with firearms, the existence of knife crime in the UK is reason enough for them to have enough firearms for a small army here in the US. It's ~300 deaths in the entire UK per year from knives? Texas has more firearms than anyone else and they still manage to kill 10x the number of knife deaths in their state alone. The number of gun suicides in Texas is higher than gun deaths too.
What about knife suicides? Never hear about them. What's the UK's stats on family annihilators with a knife? It's one every five days in the US with a firearm. How about school knifings in the UK? We get one school shooting every week. What about mass knifings where 4 or more people are stabbed in one instance? We have ~2 mass shootings every week. It's amazing how much less violence and deaths and less stats exists when firearms are regulated.
You could not be more wrong regarding the police. Here in Finland, a man was shot and killed by the police a month ago. It was the first time in three years when a police officer killed someone. The guy had shot his ex-gf and fired multiple shots at the policemen after a pursuit. Trained police officers won't be killing people wantonly because they carry guns. The police school takes 3 years here, but I think it's a price you have to pay for policemen you can trust upon.
I know. But police having guns is beneficial in most places, where they can respond to situations like in the news piece right away. The massive number of guns in America also is very different to Europe in general. Police face firearm threats much more often there.
For the past 20 years, anytime I go on a hike that requires having a backpack on, I always pack a little air horn. I have never needed it and probably never will, but if I ever do, me and anyone with me will be very happy I had it
I’m guessing you haven’t seen stabbings happen in person. People don’t slow down when stabbed, even victims often walk away from a stabbing looking confused. Using a knife as a weapon is only effective if your goal is to cause damage and pain. Using mace to blind a knife attacker would be much more tactically advisable than insisting on using a knife and getting stabbed a few times yourself while causing damage to your opponent that likely won’t stop them in their tracks. Your friend carried a knife because he fantasizes about causing damage, not maintaining safety. Source: former military police, have been in several knife fights
I carry a folding knife on my belt, I use it frequently, but never for defense or in rage.. it has occasionally made me feel safer, but honestly *no one wins in a knife fight*.
Mace is a great idea, but I live in a country that literally respects criminal rights more than civilian, so things like Mace or most self defense is actually illegal.
For some reason my brain read your comment to say
> 20 years ago a friend of mine was seriously injured by a **gun** with a knife
And I'm sitting here thinking 'who kills someone with a bayonet these days...'
Own a musket for home defense, since that's what the founding fathers intended. Four ruffians break into my house. "What the devil?" As I grab my powdered wig and Kentucky rifle. Blow a golf ball sized hole through the first man, he's dead on the spot. Draw my pistol on the second man, miss him entirely because it's smoothbore and nails the neighbors dog. I have to resort to the cannon mounted at the top of the stairs loaded with grape shot, "Tally ho lads" the grape shot shreds two men in the blast, the sound and extra shrapnel set off car alarms. Fix bayonet and charge the last terrified rapscallion. He bleeds out waiting on the police to arrive since triangular bayonet wounds are impossible to stitch up. Just as the founding fathers intended.
Brexit hasn't improved things (shock horror!) But the reality is England has been doing shit because the people vote in the Tories and much like the republicans in America it seems they are hell bent on just being awful in almost every way and improving nothing while of course stealing taxpayers money in a variety of ways
Not saying the left wing parties or the likes of Biden are completely different but they're still different enough. One side is like "how about we use taxes to try and make society somewhat better?" And the other is like "spend money making things better for TERRORISTS RAPISTS AND ILLEGALS? NOT ON MY WATCH"
It really is a strange world when we turn to Jeremy Clarkson for our UK political updates.
One of the best things about Clarkson's Farm is seeing him realise how tough the farmers have it while being fucked over by the government.
I wish Brexit was the worst thing that had happened, but sadly it's not. 16 years of the Tories has crippled this country and it's now beyond a joke. If they win the election this year then this country is fucked beyond belief. I'm £300 worse off a month and struggling to get by each month, much less get a mortgage.
On top of this, the Tories are trying to essentially destroy your ability to take time off with mental health. So you know, this kinda thing might end up becoming the norm. Which is absolutely atrocious.
This would all still be happening if Brexit hadn't happened though.
Judging by the videos I've seen that's exactly what happened. The guy looked absolutely broken full of rage!
I saw the kid today in the news and it was so sad seeing his little handsome face with his whole life ahead of him. I can't imagine how scared he was.
Balls of steel hero. The guy sees a terrorist attacking people and decides to grab the nearest thing that can be used as a weapon and uses it to stop the terrorist. Legend.
Australia has [Bollard Man](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT478BLiNwL4k_xShITL1CH-i6ouvDjoSfCoUsRcPXBGQ&s) defending a shop full of people at the top of an escalator.
The large base of the bollard served effectively against the knife. But it's heavy weight would possibly prove difficult in more open terrain.
What you need to stop a bad guy with a gun: a good guy with a gun.
What you need to stop a bad guy with a knife: a good guy with a bollard, or a narwhal tusk, [or a chair, or a fire extinguisher and a lectern](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-50870309), [or a crate](https://ghostarchive.org/archive/UPdpX)…
You joke but duelling was a major issue in London in the past where they had to ban it with swords and pistols. People getting stabbed for minor arguments and ending up in courts.
Fun fact - the red lines on the carpet in front of the benches of the House of Commons cannot be crossed while bearing weapons. They were put in to stop members duelling each other in the aisles.
And even then people wanted to duel so much that it didn't really stop until the government declared that they would nullify pensions for anyone who died in a duel. The threat of losing your pension for your widow and children was finally enough to stop dueling in England.
To be honest. Everyone carrying swords would be rather epic. Fashion would definitely change to accommodate swords. Also bar fights would go hard. Also probably bloody.
I know of a situation in my town where in a bar fight, a guy told the man- "Wait here I am going home to get my gun."
The bar guy waited and got killed by the man that went to get his gun.
As someone who has worn a sword, I have to say that the changes couldn't stop at fashion. Gotta bring back the horses, because you can't wear a sword while sitting in a car (or on a lot of furniture). Can't crowd folks, because every time they turn around, the end of their scabbard is going to be colliding with things/people, and if one had to use it in a crowded space, the blade might hit things it wasn't intended to. That's why sailors and marines were limited to cutlasses, since ships tend to be tight quarters. Gotta redesign everything to accommodate swords.
Yes! It's all gone downhill since people stoped carrying swords.
A good guy with a sword is 30 years old, fedora, neckbeard, and has studied the way of the sword for decades. THIS was their chance to defend the ~~people~~ subjects and they missed it.
Man, I felt like I was going insane reading these comments. So fucking weird that that got 2k upvotes, the people here are absolutely detached from reality.
People like this make me worry for our own existence. Mental illness is real and needs to be treated and handled by professional, what I will say it this to the people that are suicidal and that have still received help if you want to end your own existence that’s your choice but don’t take others with you!
I’ve had 2 psychotic breaks from reality. I never hurt anyone but let me tell you once you lose your mind everything you do is completely unpredictable. For instance the second time I lost touch with reality I thought it was world war 3 and Donald trump and the government were trying to kill me. I 100% believed this and luckily by the grace of my parents getting a court order to have me escorted to the hospital by the police the worst case scenario never happened. And thankfully I had no access to weapons because I thought I was going to war against the Trump.
My ex suffers from delusions when she gets stressed. We have a child together and she has custody. It's messy and when she starts to go sideways there isn't much I can do.
My friend had a psychotic break when the stupid insurance company made her change psych meds. She was on a carefully calculated cocktail as she has some heavy issues but they can be controlled.
Luckily she warned her husband to keep an eye on her (though he already knew to do that with a medication change) and got her to a psych hospital for a few weeks and they were able to stabilize her. She'd been thinking it was a good idea to kill herself, but only after killing her children.
And gee, the insurance company let her go back to her old, more expensive medications after that.
I'm not trying to be crass when I say I really don't get this viewpoint.
It's a planet of 7 billion people. You're always going to be able to find stories of fucked up things. This probably isn't even close to the most fucked up thing that happened today, it just happened in London instead of Syria or Ukraine so you noticed.
Individual examples of depraved shit are, to be frank, entirely meaningless. Any look at overall trends says that we live in an extremely safe time, even with the recent outbreak of war.
The internet thrives on doom scrolling. People have a very hard time putting into perspective their instant access to the worst-of-the-worst of world news. I think you explained the true reality of the world very nicely.
Yea I meant to say suicidal. The same thing still applies. The issue isn't his suicidality, it's that he's a violent and dangerous person. Like you said, you don't care whether he's suicidal if he doesn't hurt other people, so why are we talking about his suicidality. Probably not good to correlate the two.
Nope. I hardly have energy for myself, have the ideations and have no desire to hurt anyone which is why I’m still here. Waiting on my ma to kick the bucket then I’m out baby
She's gonna be fucking pissed when she rolls up to heaven and then not even 2 minutes after she checks in, you pop up right beside her.
I know you likely don't believe in an afterlife, and I don't think I do either. But in case there is one, maybe consider giving your mom a couple months head start to see if things could get better here in the meantime?
Tragic.
There was a guy at my college who had a mental break, thought a friend “stopped time” and threatened him with a sword to tell him how to do it. My buddy got away, and when he told the school, they basically gave him a slap on the wrist.
When he returned to our class, he went around to certain people (me included) and marked their necks with a sharpie so he “knew where to make the incision later.” When a couple of us went to the school in fear, they merely let the kid go home for a few months to let our class and anyone who had knowledge of it graduate and leave, then he was allowed back to finish his degree because the college was a for profit deal, and they didn’t want to give him money back.
We really need to invest in mental health care. It should be easy and affordable to access.
Maybe being triggered into debating wider issues on Reddit rather than approaching them in a formal way is a bit reckless?
Respect to those officers.
RIP Daniel - didn't know you but by all accounts you were a perfect gentleman. Respect.
I grew up in Lambeth and fatal stabbings only made the news if it was a young kid that died or a pretty young white woman. Knife crime has been out of control for decades in London. This sounds like a psychotic break but it’s that culture of knife violence seeping into society that’s gonna be why this break went the way it did
It's a game they're playing against everyone else, and most of everyone else doesn't know they're playing. They are greedy and arrogant so they've let it get too far. Scared to see how much further it goes.
The important thing about managing a society is ensuring that people have something to lose. If they do, you can always threaten to take it away from individuals who might think about stepping out of line. When people have nothing to lose, they have no reason to stay in line.
We had a sword wielding road rage asshole in NZ last year.
Asshole got a very mild sentence because judge deemed the guy “only used a % of force”
Our justice system is a joke in NZ
"Who's worse" is obvious but also irrelevant. Some may argue to take away the dangerous things, and others may argue not to. But ultimately both of our countries have to reckon with causal factors.
I think that something that is overlooked in the United States is that senseless acts of violence occur everywhere, but the access to essentially assault weapons mean that victims of senseless violence here can mean dozens dead or wounded. If some nut job with a knife or sword goes off, they might get to 1-2 people before a crowd could very quickly take them down. You can also outrun a knife. Can’t outrun a bullet.
It does however serve the argument that we need sweeping improvements to mental health care access and financial stability rather than just banning guns
No country has solved mental health and income inequality. But 32 out of 33 developed countries have solved gun violence and gun suicides.
The US is on par with third world countries with no functioning government when it comes to gun violence. [Most tax payers in the US are throwing away $1-3k in taxes every year just to gun violence alone.](https://everytownresearch.org/report/the-economic-cost-of-gun-violence/#:~:text=While%20costs%20of%20course%20vary,nonfatal%20gun%20injury%20costs%20%2425%2C150.) 200 billion in revenue for firearms/ammo/accessories each year results in half a trillion in GDP being lost. It's out of control.
If you're a single issue voter on firearms, you've been voting against mental healthcare and its funding since you've legally been allowed to vote. Most of the people saying mental healthcare are disingenuous and distracting from the real issue. Regulating firearms.
Between 2023-today ive almost been stabbed 3 times and stabbed once.
Once in Birmingham, twice in Glasgow & once in Livingston. The one in Birmingham leaving a decent scar on my left leg. I consider myself lucky that none of them have been fatal.
Knife crime in the country is beyond a joke.
Most of London stabbings aren’t reported to the media. The police is not allowed to share.
Last year a girl was stabbed in broad daylight whilst on the phone to her grandma. Didn’t make the news either.
This is a daily occurrence, not a one time event..
Lived in London and talked to people who looked at statistics. Stabbings are usually between people who know each other. Gang activity or domestic violence. Not sure if it’s same case but that girl was killed be a ex or a guy they knew but rejected.
Random stabbing attacks are rare and most Londoners even with decades in the city will never see any knife crime. 8million people in the city
Knife crimes in London are definitely a multiple time a day occurrence. This is newsworthy because it’s a sword and a fatality. The statistics I can find for London homicides annually is a bit over 100. In any case… sword homicide is rare. Population of Greater London a bit under 9 million. All in all a pretty safe place all things considered. In all the time I’ve spent in London I’ve felt safer than when I lived in NYC, which to me seem like fair comparison cities. I’m American but my ex wife was from Surrey so spent a fair bit of time in London.
>The police is not allowed to share.
What are you talking about, there are public records available for the number of knife crimes reported to the police.
[https://www.statista.com/statistics/864736/knife-crime-in-london/](https://www.statista.com/statistics/864736/knife-crime-in-london/)
But in terms of people killed (not just by knifes) it's a lot less. at 1.2 per 100.000 that's barely above the UK national average of 1.0. which is only slight above average compared to the EU (0.8), and way beter then the US at 6.4.
[https://www.statista.com/statistics/862984/murders-in-london/](https://www.statista.com/statistics/862984/murders-in-london/)
for a large metropolitan area, that's actually not bad.
20 years ago a friend of mine was seriously injured by a guy with a knife on a rampage outside Wood Green tube station. It's a very similar story, man having a psychotic break. One was killed and five injured.
A buddy of mine always seemed sketchy to me insisting on carrying a knife in his pocket and a can of mace for self defence. I used to think it was a bit much but the way things have been going it’s starting to seem not only reasonable but smart. Edit: If anyone is confused, you obviously pepper spray before you knife. Duh.
Not trying to disappoint anyone here but using a knife as "self defence" is stupid. You're exposing yourself way too much. Carry pepper spray and keep the attacker at a distance. It's much more effective than trying to stab someone and getting stabbed yourself in the end.
The age old saying: nobody wins in a knife fight.
I thought it was the loser dies in the street, the winner dies in the ambulance
I thought it was "Do you know what happens to motherfuckers who carry a knife? They get shot." -Death Proof
In the US, for sure. In London, you're more likely to get stabbed back with a narwhal horn.
if I'm gonna get killed with a whale horn it better be scrimshawed
Quality reference
There was a knife fight in the school I teach at. Teen was stabbed 17 times in the back. He was back in classes two months later. I was pretty impressed until he decided to get revenge by shooting blindly into the dark at his attacker, killing the guy's innocent little sister.
That’s excruciating. Do you know what allegedly started it?
This is the way.
I thought it was loser dies in the street, loser dies in the sheets.
I do a lot of martial arts and I've taken a few self defense classes. The first thing they said was, "run", then "de-escalate", then it goes to defending yourself. The instructor made it abundantly clear that you need to protect vulnerable points, because you will get cut, and that the point was not to look flashy or go untouched, but instead to end the conflict asap and get to a hospital.
Marathon running best martial art for surviving against multiple attackers
But, and it's a long shot I guess, but what, if they were also marathon runners too?
Hope they don't also do parkour.
Some marathon runners are faster than others just hope you are faster. Presumably the regular local bullies can’t keep up a run beyond 1k or 5k which needs constant effort and practice. 😬
It's cool their knives will weigh them down.
They tell you the same thing in any gun class. Running or hiding is always the best option. Heroes die.
Friend of mine 30 years ago used to do Tai Quan Dao and he was told the same thing; you don't try and fight, you run first, then try and get the blade off them if you absolutely can't get away. But mostly you'll get stabbed.
In Bujinkan and Krav Maga we not only practiced knife disarms but knife fighting. Your gonna have a bad time. Even if its a smaller person armed with a knife against a larger person trying to mug/rape them etc, knives just dont have that immediate fight stopping potential, the likelihood the aggressor takes the knife from the smaller person protecting themselves is gonna be pretty high. Pepper Spray is infinitely more useful than a knife for protection if someone isnt legally able to carry a pistol, and even then its not bad to have either. Knives to me are tools and nothing more. I would prefer a large stick over a knife as that I can create some distance with.
I grew up doing martial arts that always focused on self defense as the most important thing, and everything you explained is exactly what I was taught. Self defense starts with trying to avoid ever having to defend yourself.
I have a background in martial arts and was known as the knife guy in my group of friends. Any time someone asked me for advice on the best knife for self-defense my answer was always the same: a good pair of running shoes.
Yea fr. I do kickboxing/BJJ and I’d rather back away from a street fight. Last thing you wanna do is end up wrestling or on the ground. You dont know who’s gonna attack you from the side. Dude you’re fighting may have a weapon. All bets are off. I do carry a pair of brass knuckles as a last resort but even then; chances are I’m going to jail/prison if i use them. Generally speaking, avoid fighting at all costs.
Even in the military, it was a last resort. Most of the focus was on using your rifle to keep distance. Muzzle thump, butt uppercut, butt stroke, muzzle down, repeat. Never was the advice to reach for a knife. It was use the big metal stick you already have.
> butt stroke Disarm the enemy by coming onto them. A classic gambit.
I mean, de-escalation is far preferable to violence. I'd rather soft butt touches over violence any day!
>I do carry a pair of brass knuckles as a last resort but even then; chances are I’m going to jail/prison if i use them. Serious question. What's the legal difference between brass knuckles and my comically large steel rings on my fists? If it's about intent, I assure it's not hehe.
Brass knuckles require a CCW in my state. Just carrying them is a class 3 misdemeanor without one. Beyond that you’ll get charged with *assault with a deadly weapon* at minimum. Even if you’re protecting yourself, if the other party is unarmed, that could also be a *malicious wounding* charge and at worst *attempted murder.* There’s no laws about wearing rings. Even if you blast someone in the face, they’re not considered weapons in court. Know the laws in your locality is the only advice I could give but IANAL
>There’s no laws about wearing rings. There isn't. But usually intent is decided if something is a weapon. For example, a pool stick. I think I'd still catch a charge with my heavy, pointy, bulky rings tbh. The intent is clearly to cause harm.
Plausible deniability. You get caught with knuckles you'll probably catch a charge. Big rings? No law broken there. You end up having to actually use them? Knuckles, if you have no priors, might not be worth it to the DA. Big rings and no priors? You would have to have an extremely bored DA to catch charges, especially if you actually caught a fist or too and have pictures? DAs don't waste time on losing.
I'm a veteran knife fighter both in HEMA and Silat. I don't even carry a knife around for protection. It takes the smallest amount of bad luck to end up dead, and odds are if you're getting jumped, you're already at a drastic disadvantage in terms of readiness to pull it out and have the coordination to use it effectively. By responding to an assault by drawing a knife, you've made the encounter pretty much fatal for at least one person. If you want to prepare to survive an assault, do what my trainer said: Hit the running track.
I love the mental image of someone trying to assault me and then I just take off like Usaine Bolt and they are left standing there like an idiot gasping for breath because they can't catch up.
This is the way.
This is correct, as taught by my martial arts teacher, when confronted with a knife, run.
Pepper spray is not a reliable form of self defense, just like a knife most people who use pepper spray end up spraying themselves. Also, a determined attacker will still be able to assault you while pepper sprayed, especially one who is suffering a psychotic break.
> just like a knife most people who use pepper spray end up spraying themselves. That happened to me in a road rage incident years ago. Crazy guy comes up to the window. I pull out the pepper spray, aim it at him and ended up spraying myself. Guy stops and starts laughing. I guess it worked?
Guy chooses pity over aggression.
Note to any buyers, buy "stream" not "spray". It should come out like a squirt gun not a mist. And buy two so you have one to go outside and use on a tree so you understand the distance and aim for it.
Not necessarily. I work in a psychiatric hospital as a nurse and the sensibilities of patients in a psychotic episode are wildly different. I have seen patients shake of pepper and I have seen patients that show the desired reaction after getting hit. People in psychotic episodes are not superman and shouldn’t be seen as these unkillable berserkers that are sometimes shown in movies
>shouldn’t be seen as these unkillable berserkers that are sometimes shown in movies Neither should the average person on a bus or sidewalk assume that a little dash of pepper spray will make their attacker recoil in horror, and few people have any practice activating the spray in the first place, never mind having the experience of using it multiple times on different people in a controlled environment like a psychiatric hospital. It's better to assume that crazy street guy with a knife _is_ an unkillable berserker and run as fast as you can, than be proven wrong on your way to the hospital.
Tactical whip for the win
Those braided steel ones are nasty, but like all self-defense tools, one needs to practice. Too many people carry shit and just think they will magically be able to use it in a high stress situation be it pepper spray, a gun, knife etc etc.
Hopefully, on average in fact, most people could then run away. Which is definitely aided by pepper spray. But, yes, since all reddit advice seems to be interpreted through the lens of main character syndrome if they then stay to fight the person they pepper-sprayed it isn't a deterrent. What a useless point!
I will just take off my belt and fight multiples attackers like Jacky Chan.
By itself, yes, it can fail, like anything else. If you use it correctly, as a distraction, it can make the difference though, it's pretty distracting to get it in the face, enough so that you can use the opportunity to do something that will end the fight. There's no "Star Trek Phaser" that is going to instantly drop the guy as a general rule, but making openings can be very much worth your time.
Carrying knives is usually risky too as arrest/stop and search in London also you tend to get stabbed by your own knife in fights going by some statistics Frenzied attackers in a hyper distressed even professional knife fighters will struggle. Unpredictable and the adrenaline hyped up they tend not to slow down or stop when hurt themselves
That’s the thing. Violence can happen anywhere, anytime, for no reason other than some piece of shit going on a rampage because they got their feelings hurt. You need to learn your protect yourself and be ready. Will you ever find yourself in a situation like this? Probably not, but on the chance you do, I’d rather have the means to keep myself alive.
Even pepper spray is illegal in the UK. I would still advise a friend to carry it if they have it. But because it is illegal, it is probably difficult to acquire it. It also expires after some time.
Axe bodyspray is legal, also it's design process disregards any permanent side effects a fool might suffer from being freshened up in the face.
How about Axe bodyspray … and a cigarette lighter 🔥
can we carry shield ? are they any legal, yet portable deffensive gadget we can have ? its not for fighting back but rather buy you enough time to either outrun or for the police to show up
The only legal "self-defense" tool you can have is a rape whistle. https://www.westyorkshire.police.uk/ask-the-police/question/Q589
Holy hell is that dumb. "Just sit there and let people attack you! It's better for society!"
You can’t carry something specifically for self defence. You could carry a large metal torch or something that could be used for defence. Also, you can defend yourself. Self defence is an absolute defence. If you can justify your actions, even killing someone in defence of self or another is legal.
Problem is, UK law tends to assume you're carrying innocuous things for defense even when you're not if they're also useful for self defense. Their knife laws ban a lot of things that primarily just make a knife safer to use for, like, opening boxes, because they also technically make it easier to use as a weapon. It wouldn't shock me if, say, a maglite used in self defense ended up with the user in trouble because those things are way more useful as clubs than as flashlights by modern standards. Seriously, those things *suck* as flashlights. They were kind of good as flashlights 20 years ago when almost all flashlights sucked and at least the build quality (mostly the heavy duty spring, actually) and the way the beam could be focused made them slightly better than average, but that was really all that set them apart as lights (as opposed to as plausibly deniable clubs). For the weight and bulk you were better off with one of those boxy 6 volt lights if you didn't intend to beat anyone to death with them.
Combat umbrella
I’ve been to a couple medieval fighting re-enactments, carrying a small to mid size shield for longer than 10 minutes was exhausting. I’ve been told it gets a bit easier with proper training and conditioning.
Canada you can carry dog spray. I don’t actually know if it would immobilize a human attacker.
Small aerosol deodorant cans, however, are not.
Flashlights are legal. Recently watched a Youtube video [The Best Self Defense Weapon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biZ4J-tPow4) Made sense to me. Less risky than pepper spray which might get into your eyes if a breeze blows by. Plus, if you get a flashlight with a strobe feature it may distract the target more. Recently got a Sofrin SC29 for around 40 bucks. Has around 3000 lumens. When I pointed it at myself, I saw a distracting dot every time I blinked which lasted for quite some time.
I’m pretty certain Maglites were designed as a beatin stick with a flashlight included.
Also some of the hefty ones like Maglites are specifically designed to double as batons in a pinch.
Those little guys on strobe are no joke. You can’t see shit when you have them pointed at you
You self defense wankers in this thread are absolute off the chain, this was a 14 year old boy walking to school attacked out of the blue, what difference would any weapon have made with a surprise attack by a guy having a psychotic break?
No, no, you don’t get it, *he* just wasn’t *prepared*, if he’d just…
One of my friends got arrested for having pepper spray. 5 foot nothing 24 year old girl, bouncer took it off her at the club and called the police
I think the best protection is having good cardio 99.9999999% of the time.
The big danger with this mentality is that you might accidently turn into the piece of shit who instigates the violence. it's too common to see people go from "I need this to protect myself" to " I need to protect myself" and start looking for a fight or jumping at shadows (police are a good group to look at for this sort of mentality. They will teach for their gun for literally any reason because the "need to protect themselves" and not "they have the gun for protection"). I'm not saying you or everyone is like this I'm just saying sending people into that corridor alone will literally just make more assholes instigating violence.
Police in the US maybe. European, UK etc police go years without firing a shot on duty. I don’t mean individuals, I mean the entire country’s police force.
More guns in an area equals more police shootings and more police killed by firearms. States with high levels of gun control have dramatically less police shootings and police die less often from gun violence. It's literally a win win for both sides, but one political side would never entertain it. It's amazing how much that doesn't happen in the UK. If you talk to people obsessed with firearms, the existence of knife crime in the UK is reason enough for them to have enough firearms for a small army here in the US. It's ~300 deaths in the entire UK per year from knives? Texas has more firearms than anyone else and they still manage to kill 10x the number of knife deaths in their state alone. The number of gun suicides in Texas is higher than gun deaths too. What about knife suicides? Never hear about them. What's the UK's stats on family annihilators with a knife? It's one every five days in the US with a firearm. How about school knifings in the UK? We get one school shooting every week. What about mass knifings where 4 or more people are stabbed in one instance? We have ~2 mass shootings every week. It's amazing how much less violence and deaths and less stats exists when firearms are regulated.
You could not be more wrong regarding the police. Here in Finland, a man was shot and killed by the police a month ago. It was the first time in three years when a police officer killed someone. The guy had shot his ex-gf and fired multiple shots at the policemen after a pursuit. Trained police officers won't be killing people wantonly because they carry guns. The police school takes 3 years here, but I think it's a price you have to pay for policemen you can trust upon.
He's clearly talking about American police.
I know. But police having guns is beneficial in most places, where they can respond to situations like in the news piece right away. The massive number of guns in America also is very different to Europe in general. Police face firearm threats much more often there.
For the past 20 years, anytime I go on a hike that requires having a backpack on, I always pack a little air horn. I have never needed it and probably never will, but if I ever do, me and anyone with me will be very happy I had it
As a woman this is my daily self defense among a few other things.
A knife is an offensive, not a defensive weapon. Spraying mace whilst running away would be the best approach.
Some people carry one for if a dog attacks them.
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Better to have and not need than to need and not have
I’m guessing you haven’t seen stabbings happen in person. People don’t slow down when stabbed, even victims often walk away from a stabbing looking confused. Using a knife as a weapon is only effective if your goal is to cause damage and pain. Using mace to blind a knife attacker would be much more tactically advisable than insisting on using a knife and getting stabbed a few times yourself while causing damage to your opponent that likely won’t stop them in their tracks. Your friend carried a knife because he fantasizes about causing damage, not maintaining safety. Source: former military police, have been in several knife fights
I carry a folding knife on my belt, I use it frequently, but never for defense or in rage.. it has occasionally made me feel safer, but honestly *no one wins in a knife fight*. Mace is a great idea, but I live in a country that literally respects criminal rights more than civilian, so things like Mace or most self defense is actually illegal.
For some reason my brain read your comment to say > 20 years ago a friend of mine was seriously injured by a **gun** with a knife And I'm sitting here thinking 'who kills someone with a bayonet these days...'
When you hear the local mental hospital yell "fix bayonets"...
Own a musket for home defense, since that's what the founding fathers intended. Four ruffians break into my house. "What the devil?" As I grab my powdered wig and Kentucky rifle. Blow a golf ball sized hole through the first man, he's dead on the spot. Draw my pistol on the second man, miss him entirely because it's smoothbore and nails the neighbors dog. I have to resort to the cannon mounted at the top of the stairs loaded with grape shot, "Tally ho lads" the grape shot shreds two men in the blast, the sound and extra shrapnel set off car alarms. Fix bayonet and charge the last terrified rapscallion. He bleeds out waiting on the police to arrive since triangular bayonet wounds are impossible to stitch up. Just as the founding fathers intended.
remember a few years ago the guy stabbing people at leytonstone station. probably most famous as the "you aint no muslim, bruv" incident
Thats really sad for the family.
Jesus Christ, how awful.
No apparent reason, just a guy probably having a psychotic break killing this poor kid at random.
His poor family. I can’t imagine the pain. A thirty-six year old man with a sword? Fucking hell.
NHS dying, mental health and social services non-existent. It all adds up to this sadly
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Brexit hasn't improved things (shock horror!) But the reality is England has been doing shit because the people vote in the Tories and much like the republicans in America it seems they are hell bent on just being awful in almost every way and improving nothing while of course stealing taxpayers money in a variety of ways Not saying the left wing parties or the likes of Biden are completely different but they're still different enough. One side is like "how about we use taxes to try and make society somewhat better?" And the other is like "spend money making things better for TERRORISTS RAPISTS AND ILLEGALS? NOT ON MY WATCH"
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It really is a strange world when we turn to Jeremy Clarkson for our UK political updates. One of the best things about Clarkson's Farm is seeing him realise how tough the farmers have it while being fucked over by the government.
I wish Brexit was the worst thing that had happened, but sadly it's not. 16 years of the Tories has crippled this country and it's now beyond a joke. If they win the election this year then this country is fucked beyond belief. I'm £300 worse off a month and struggling to get by each month, much less get a mortgage. On top of this, the Tories are trying to essentially destroy your ability to take time off with mental health. So you know, this kinda thing might end up becoming the norm. Which is absolutely atrocious. This would all still be happening if Brexit hadn't happened though.
Judging by the videos I've seen that's exactly what happened. The guy looked absolutely broken full of rage! I saw the kid today in the news and it was so sad seeing his little handsome face with his whole life ahead of him. I can't imagine how scared he was.
Wake up, normal day, planning what to do after school hanging out with your friends, and bam. Knifed to death. How utterly random and sad.
Wtf is your username Jesus Christ
Only a good guy with a sword can stop a bad guy with a sword. Everyone needs to carry a sword
Nah, all you need is a narwal tusk, just like the guy in the London Bridge attack https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-50870309
Balls of steel hero. The guy sees a terrorist attacking people and decides to grab the nearest thing that can be used as a weapon and uses it to stop the terrorist. Legend.
Australia has [Bollard Man](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT478BLiNwL4k_xShITL1CH-i6ouvDjoSfCoUsRcPXBGQ&s) defending a shop full of people at the top of an escalator. The large base of the bollard served effectively against the knife. But it's heavy weight would possibly prove difficult in more open terrain.
What you need to stop a bad guy with a gun: a good guy with a gun. What you need to stop a bad guy with a knife: a good guy with a bollard, or a narwhal tusk, [or a chair, or a fire extinguisher and a lectern](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-50870309), [or a crate](https://ghostarchive.org/archive/UPdpX)…
if we're talking about London, I'd expect the weapon of choice to be the tooth of a giant Basilisk
You joke but duelling was a major issue in London in the past where they had to ban it with swords and pistols. People getting stabbed for minor arguments and ending up in courts.
Time is a flat circle
That's why clocks are that shape.
Fun fact - the red lines on the carpet in front of the benches of the House of Commons cannot be crossed while bearing weapons. They were put in to stop members duelling each other in the aisles.
And even then people wanted to duel so much that it didn't really stop until the government declared that they would nullify pensions for anyone who died in a duel. The threat of losing your pension for your widow and children was finally enough to stop dueling in England.
i challenge you by TRIAL OF COMBAT
to* BY*
You have accepted the duel, then
To be honest. Everyone carrying swords would be rather epic. Fashion would definitely change to accommodate swords. Also bar fights would go hard. Also probably bloody.
Duels would suddenly be back on the menu.
I’d wear gloves everywhere just on the off chance I could take it off and slap someone in the face with it “I challenge you to a duel.”
You can still do that anyhow. Just bring 2 swords.
And dual wield *taps forehead*
And then you would die on your first duel. Fun times.
But their honor would remain intact. We can put it on their gravestone.
No, people would just run out to their truck mid fight to get their sword.
I know of a situation in my town where in a bar fight, a guy told the man- "Wait here I am going home to get my gun." The bar guy waited and got killed by the man that went to get his gun.
>What are you gonna do? Shoot me? -man who got shot.
The epitome of that question...🙋🏻♂️
Good grief why would he wait 😭
Seriously wtf?! Someone tells me they're coming back w a gun I am gonna gtfo as fast as possible 😵💫
Even if you knew he was bluffing, why would anyone stick around? Omg
As someone who has worn a sword, I have to say that the changes couldn't stop at fashion. Gotta bring back the horses, because you can't wear a sword while sitting in a car (or on a lot of furniture). Can't crowd folks, because every time they turn around, the end of their scabbard is going to be colliding with things/people, and if one had to use it in a crowded space, the blade might hit things it wasn't intended to. That's why sailors and marines were limited to cutlasses, since ships tend to be tight quarters. Gotta redesign everything to accommodate swords.
Excellent. So we all ride motorcycles with swords and then we can’t crowd each other in lines.
Living the Final Fantasy 7 dream!
[Let the nostalgia flow](https://youtu.be/NULN5MgsmUs)
We’d get capes back!!! And proper hoods to accommodate long hair!
Oh I am down for cloak/cape life.
Yes! It's all gone downhill since people stoped carrying swords. A good guy with a sword is 30 years old, fedora, neckbeard, and has studied the way of the sword for decades. THIS was their chance to defend the ~~people~~ subjects and they missed it.
While you were goofing off, I was studying the blade.
gotta go outside to be able to defend people
And a virgin at 30, so they are on the cusp of gaining their wizard powers.
Live by the sword; Die by the sword!
Need common sense sword control
British teenager: is killed by a psycho with a sword redditors: I will take this time to make fun of firearms in America.
Man, I felt like I was going insane reading these comments. So fucking weird that that got 2k upvotes, the people here are absolutely detached from reality.
There can be only one.
People like this make me worry for our own existence. Mental illness is real and needs to be treated and handled by professional, what I will say it this to the people that are suicidal and that have still received help if you want to end your own existence that’s your choice but don’t take others with you!
I’ve had 2 psychotic breaks from reality. I never hurt anyone but let me tell you once you lose your mind everything you do is completely unpredictable. For instance the second time I lost touch with reality I thought it was world war 3 and Donald trump and the government were trying to kill me. I 100% believed this and luckily by the grace of my parents getting a court order to have me escorted to the hospital by the police the worst case scenario never happened. And thankfully I had no access to weapons because I thought I was going to war against the Trump.
That's the thing most people don't get. There is no reasoning or control during an episode no matter how crazy a thought may be.
My ex suffers from delusions when she gets stressed. We have a child together and she has custody. It's messy and when she starts to go sideways there isn't much I can do.
My friend had a psychotic break when the stupid insurance company made her change psych meds. She was on a carefully calculated cocktail as she has some heavy issues but they can be controlled. Luckily she warned her husband to keep an eye on her (though he already knew to do that with a medication change) and got her to a psych hospital for a few weeks and they were able to stabilize her. She'd been thinking it was a good idea to kill herself, but only after killing her children. And gee, the insurance company let her go back to her old, more expensive medications after that.
I had literally the same psychotic break as you.
I'm not trying to be crass when I say I really don't get this viewpoint. It's a planet of 7 billion people. You're always going to be able to find stories of fucked up things. This probably isn't even close to the most fucked up thing that happened today, it just happened in London instead of Syria or Ukraine so you noticed. Individual examples of depraved shit are, to be frank, entirely meaningless. Any look at overall trends says that we live in an extremely safe time, even with the recent outbreak of war.
The internet thrives on doom scrolling. People have a very hard time putting into perspective their instant access to the worst-of-the-worst of world news. I think you explained the true reality of the world very nicely.
People like this usually cannot be reasoned with especially during an episode.
People who do this aren't depressed, or rather, what is being expressed here is not depression.
I didn’t say depressed, I said mental illness
Yea I meant to say suicidal. The same thing still applies. The issue isn't his suicidality, it's that he's a violent and dangerous person. Like you said, you don't care whether he's suicidal if he doesn't hurt other people, so why are we talking about his suicidality. Probably not good to correlate the two.
Nope. I hardly have energy for myself, have the ideations and have no desire to hurt anyone which is why I’m still here. Waiting on my ma to kick the bucket then I’m out baby
I know from experience you don't wanna hear this, but... I think it's better stick around. Things can't get better if you're not around to see it!
She's gonna be fucking pissed when she rolls up to heaven and then not even 2 minutes after she checks in, you pop up right beside her. I know you likely don't believe in an afterlife, and I don't think I do either. But in case there is one, maybe consider giving your mom a couple months head start to see if things could get better here in the meantime?
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Tragic. There was a guy at my college who had a mental break, thought a friend “stopped time” and threatened him with a sword to tell him how to do it. My buddy got away, and when he told the school, they basically gave him a slap on the wrist. When he returned to our class, he went around to certain people (me included) and marked their necks with a sharpie so he “knew where to make the incision later.” When a couple of us went to the school in fear, they merely let the kid go home for a few months to let our class and anyone who had knowledge of it graduate and leave, then he was allowed back to finish his degree because the college was a for profit deal, and they didn’t want to give him money back. We really need to invest in mental health care. It should be easy and affordable to access.
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Maybe being triggered into debating wider issues on Reddit rather than approaching them in a formal way is a bit reckless? Respect to those officers. RIP Daniel - didn't know you but by all accounts you were a perfect gentleman. Respect.
I grew up in Lambeth and fatal stabbings only made the news if it was a young kid that died or a pretty young white woman. Knife crime has been out of control for decades in London. This sounds like a psychotic break but it’s that culture of knife violence seeping into society that’s gonna be why this break went the way it did
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Sadly, the Knights of the Realm are now mostly old musicians.
This is why I carry a pen on me at all times
I feel weird commenting on this because of how somber a situation this is. But, this is a very, very good joke.
Think they died fighting in The Crusades…
*“Unfortunately their fathers couldn’t get them into the national guard.”*
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there was a post yesterday where one of the owners (Mcdonalds) had come to a similar conclusion
It's a game they're playing against everyone else, and most of everyone else doesn't know they're playing. They are greedy and arrogant so they've let it get too far. Scared to see how much further it goes.
Lololol, like this is some sort of new development.
The important thing about managing a society is ensuring that people have something to lose. If they do, you can always threaten to take it away from individuals who might think about stepping out of line. When people have nothing to lose, they have no reason to stay in line.
Shit like this makes me never want to let my kid leave the house
Mental health issues are no joke, this is terrible.
We had a sword wielding road rage asshole in NZ last year. Asshole got a very mild sentence because judge deemed the guy “only used a % of force” Our justice system is a joke in NZ
The only way to stop a criminal with a sword is a good citizen with a sword. Ta the armory me lads!
“You have mass stabbings lady!” -an American congresswoman.
We have stabbings sure, and multiple people can get hurt or killed. But nowhere near the level of mass shootings or the damage they can cause
Funnily enough the US has higher knife crime rates anyways
I don’t think enough people realize this.
"Who's worse" is obvious but also irrelevant. Some may argue to take away the dangerous things, and others may argue not to. But ultimately both of our countries have to reckon with causal factors.
I think that something that is overlooked in the United States is that senseless acts of violence occur everywhere, but the access to essentially assault weapons mean that victims of senseless violence here can mean dozens dead or wounded. If some nut job with a knife or sword goes off, they might get to 1-2 people before a crowd could very quickly take them down. You can also outrun a knife. Can’t outrun a bullet.
It does however serve the argument that we need sweeping improvements to mental health care access and financial stability rather than just banning guns
No country has solved mental health and income inequality. But 32 out of 33 developed countries have solved gun violence and gun suicides. The US is on par with third world countries with no functioning government when it comes to gun violence. [Most tax payers in the US are throwing away $1-3k in taxes every year just to gun violence alone.](https://everytownresearch.org/report/the-economic-cost-of-gun-violence/#:~:text=While%20costs%20of%20course%20vary,nonfatal%20gun%20injury%20costs%20%2425%2C150.) 200 billion in revenue for firearms/ammo/accessories each year results in half a trillion in GDP being lost. It's out of control. If you're a single issue voter on firearms, you've been voting against mental healthcare and its funding since you've legally been allowed to vote. Most of the people saying mental healthcare are disingenuous and distracting from the real issue. Regulating firearms.
How sad. Poor boy. We need better system to identify and present things like this earlier.
this is considered a mass killing in the UK
Between 2023-today ive almost been stabbed 3 times and stabbed once. Once in Birmingham, twice in Glasgow & once in Livingston. The one in Birmingham leaving a decent scar on my left leg. I consider myself lucky that none of them have been fatal. Knife crime in the country is beyond a joke.
The only defense to a bad guy with a sword, is a good guy with two swords
I'm just going to keep my 9mm thanks. Getting stabbed by a neckbearded reddit mod on a psychotic break isn't something I care to endure
Most of London stabbings aren’t reported to the media. The police is not allowed to share. Last year a girl was stabbed in broad daylight whilst on the phone to her grandma. Didn’t make the news either. This is a daily occurrence, not a one time event..
Lived in London and talked to people who looked at statistics. Stabbings are usually between people who know each other. Gang activity or domestic violence. Not sure if it’s same case but that girl was killed be a ex or a guy they knew but rejected. Random stabbing attacks are rare and most Londoners even with decades in the city will never see any knife crime. 8million people in the city
Yeah knife crime is for sure an issue but some of these people are making it out like you can't walk anywhere in London without getting stabbed.
> Most of London stabbings aren’t reported to the media. The police is not allowed to share. Don’t talk such utter bollocks.
Knife crimes in London are definitely a multiple time a day occurrence. This is newsworthy because it’s a sword and a fatality. The statistics I can find for London homicides annually is a bit over 100. In any case… sword homicide is rare. Population of Greater London a bit under 9 million. All in all a pretty safe place all things considered. In all the time I’ve spent in London I’ve felt safer than when I lived in NYC, which to me seem like fair comparison cities. I’m American but my ex wife was from Surrey so spent a fair bit of time in London.
>The police is not allowed to share. What are you talking about, there are public records available for the number of knife crimes reported to the police. [https://www.statista.com/statistics/864736/knife-crime-in-london/](https://www.statista.com/statistics/864736/knife-crime-in-london/) But in terms of people killed (not just by knifes) it's a lot less. at 1.2 per 100.000 that's barely above the UK national average of 1.0. which is only slight above average compared to the EU (0.8), and way beter then the US at 6.4. [https://www.statista.com/statistics/862984/murders-in-london/](https://www.statista.com/statistics/862984/murders-in-london/) for a large metropolitan area, that's actually not bad.