During my time working as an EMT, there were many instances of stabbings. The victim(s) was usually stabbed multiple times.
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The dangerous truth is that if people mean to stab you…. you either are stabbed before you even notice it, or the attack is immediate the moment you notice that they have a knife in their hands. That is the nature of the reality of knife attacks. Additionally, the common “sewing machine” stabbing from close range makes it very hard to defend.
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Disarming techniques are not reliable. Everyone who is not delusional and has some real-life experience will admit that. You will not get that knife out of a determined attackers hands. It is the centre of their attention and efforts, the focus of their intent. It also does not matter whether the attacker is skilled or unskilled, since a knife is more or less a natural instrument when it comes to hurting and killing others, it is a direct extension of the hand and arm.
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Defending against a knife attack…… You ARE going to get CUT!..…. Perhaps fatally.
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If you think that knife attacks look anything like those typically seen in martial arts classes….. you are dead (sic) wrong.
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Real attacks, by people who are familiar with a knife’s properties and true potential, are a blur of short, non-committed stabs, slashes and cuts that are practically impossible to stop.
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An attacker, with any idea of what he or she is doing, will overwhelm you with a hail of cuts that will start at the nearest body part and end in a vital target. Within a second you may lose your fingers, veins and arteries sliced, have severed tendons in your arms, and be finished with a stab to your eye, or throat, or trunk.
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The problem with martial arts knife defenses is that often the onus is on the attacker, to attack correctly to make the defense work. And that’s NOT how reality works. The reality is that the knife will probably be hidden, and you won’t see it until you have already been stabbed.
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Someone who wants to hurt you with a knife isn’t going to hurt you through one, simple, clean attack. And even if they do, there’s a very good chance your knife defense will fail. If you drill that defense 100 times, you might find that you get lucky just once or twice.
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Please, don’t let people believe they can protect themselves against a knife attack easily. The real world of knife attacks are that they are vicious, brutal, fast and effective. And really easy to hide until it’s all but too late. You rarely if ever leave a knife attack without an injury. Success is minimizing those injuries, and living through an attack. 
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“Your physical safety is up to you, as it really always has been.” – Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)
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 Photo Credit: Benjamin Sobieck
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