With the recent attack at OSU campus it would be good idea to know how far away from a knife wielding subject someone should stay? Assuming they are a CCW holder, carrying their firearm, but do not have it drawn.
How far should you stay from knife wielding suspects?
- Thread starter Ohio Gun Owner
- Start date
An average human can cover 10 yards in a second. I try to teach a minimum standard for drawing from concealment to first shot of 1.5 seconds, with a goal of 1 second flat (and faster with practice). With that said then, anyone with a knife withing a 10+ yard radius of you is an immediate threat (meaning you will barely be able to draw fast enough to defend yourself). I'd say a person 20 yards away or more might even pose a threat. What this boils down to is that anyone wielding a knife as a weapon anywhere in your vicinity is too close. Obviously you need to evaluate the duty/ability to retreat before engaging such a threat, but the reality is that a knife wielder is dangerous from much farther away than people realize.
Here is a video of 2 experts in their field. A knife fighter and what I assume is a military trainer/solider of some sort. They both bring up some extremely valid points and one of the most important ones I took away from it is to get mobile when going against someone with a knife. Either move side to side, go back and to the side, but get the person off their direct route to you, make them redirect and buy yourself extra time to draw and discharge your weapon accurately.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/FWMzWwRkiKA?feature=oembed
https://www.youtube.com/embed/FWMzWwRkiKA?feature=oembed