Kinfe Attack While Walking Down the Street

Gregg Kielma, as an Instructor and ERT says, I teach this all the time. If you’re under a knife attack while walking you’ve forgot situation awareness. Always remember situational awareness. Stay in condition yellow when in public and armed. Move your head around, say aware, watch the environment, avoid putting yourself in a poor situation. Remember to avoid, escape or defend. Keep your distance, because distance buys us time. I, we, you, always want distance and time on our side. Let’s look at the Lt Truller drill.

Most people misunderstand the drill to mean “a knife beats a gun at close range.” Really, what it means is “a prepared attacker beats an unprepared defender.” It also shows that just having a gun isn’t enough to defend yourself.

If someone is already in the process of stabbing you, you will not draw and fire your gun in time to stop them. Your first line of defense is not your weapon, it’s situational awareness. You need to watch your environment. You need to be aware of someone’s body language indicating that they are about to do something violent.

When an attack comes, you need to be mobile. In the Tueller Drill, most people stand in place and focus on how quickly they can draw their gun. What you need to do during an attack is not be a static target. Start moving. Create some space between you and the assailant so that you can defend yourself. Plus, knives are not very efficient weapons. If you are moving and defending yourself, it’s harder to get you in an immediately fatal location like the heart. You probably won’t escape a scenario like that unwounded, but you can escape alive.