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Subject: 
Re: Violence created by presence of guns? (was: Gotta love Oracle...)
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Wed, 10 Oct 2001 14:40:22 GMT
Viewed: 
608 times
  
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Dave Schuler writes:
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, James Simpson writes:

I'd far rather take my chances with a Canadian Mugger than a US one, because
95/100 up here, all I would face is a knife.  And, the bleeding idiot had
better know how to use it.

In close quarters, or in terms of hand-to-hand self-defense, a knife can often
be deadlier than a gun. Based on what I've learned in self-defense classes,
and from a bit of personal training by a friend who teaches martial arts,
attempting a knife-strip to disarm an attacker can often be more dangerous
than disarming someone with a gun.  There are a number of pretty fast and
effective ways to turn a handgun back on your assailant or use a combination
of strikes to >remove the gun and assault your attacker. Clearly, defending
yourself against a handgun in close quarters is very dangerous, but when push-
comes-to-shove and my life depends upon it, I'd rather face someone with a
gun in close quarters than a knife (at least a gun has surface area that can
be grabbed.)

But the issue is "close quarters."

Exactly my point.  I'd rather face, within my striking range, a mugger with a
gun than with a knife.

A gun is more or less equally deadly
(other than matters of aiming) at a range of ten feet or of one foot; both
can therefore be considered close quarters for a gun-wielder, but it's hard
to disarm someone from five feet away even though the gun is still deadly at
that range.  A knife, by contrast, becomes substantially less deadly when
one moves beyond arm's reach, so, while it's still hard to disarm a
knife-wielder at that range, the likelihood of the knife inflicting injury
upon you is sizably diminished.  Further, I can run from just about anyone
brandishing a knife at me, but I'd be surprised to find that I could outrun
a bullet.  Therefore the argument that "knives can be deadlier than guns"
doesn't hold much water except in knife-to-the-throat vs. gun-to-the-head
discussions.  I grant you--most muggers don't assault people from a
distance, but the issue of range:threat is vital when distinguishing the
relative danger of each weapon; if it were not, then the world's armies
would go into combat with knives rather than rifles (although the increased
dangerous range *still* isn't an argument for outlawing private gun ownership.)


Clearly all that you say above is correct.  Again, my point was that in hand-to-
hand combat (as I define mugging), you often have a greater chance of escaping
injury when facing a gun than a knife.

james



Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Violence created by presence of guns? (was: Gotta love Oracle...)
 
(...) But the issue is "close quarters." A gun is more or less equally deadly (other than matters of aiming) at a range of ten feet or of one foot; both can therefore be considered close quarters for a gun-wielder, but it's hard to disarm someone (...) (23 years ago, 10-Oct-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

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