) but I don't think a knife is a very good self-defense weapon. It requires that you be within hand-to-hand combat distance with the attacker, and your ability to meaningfully employ it depends on heavily on your level of physical fitness and training in knife fighting. A knife is not a disabling weapon; it is a killing weapon, but it kills slowly through blood loss. That's the opposite of what you want for self-defense where stopping the attacker immediately is paramount. And then there's the psychological factor: a knife simply isn't that intimidating to the kind of person you can expect you might have to use it against. He can reason to himself, "I'm a big tough guy. I can dodge his feeble attacks, or even wrestle that dinky thing away from him."It's probably better than nothing, of course But IMHO, a gun is simply worlds better if you feel the desire to carry a weapon for self-defense. A gun is more intimidating, easier to effectively employ with less physical conditioning or training, has greater range, and is more likely to actually stop an assailant quickly should--god forbid--you ever need to use it in that capacity.
For that comment, I'm afraid I have to send you back to the morality thread for penance.
