I Was Wrong About Knives for Self Defence

I was wrong.

I am not afraid to admit that, because I was not just a little bit wrong. I was dead wrong, and I have changed my opinion.

In a previous video, I made the argument that carrying a knife for self defence is generally a bad idea. I still think many of the points I made in that video were valid.

In most places, carrying a knife with the intention of using it as a weapon is illegal. That alone matters.

There is also a serious mindset issue. Most decent people have not done the mental work required to use a knife against another human being. They imagine the knife as a deterrent. They imagine pulling it out, showing it, and saying, “Don’t make me use this.”

That is a dangerous fantasy.

If you produce a knife as an intimidation tool, especially against someone who is already violent and committed, there is a real chance it will be taken from you and used against you. We have seen this repeatedly in places like the UK, where knife violence has become a major problem. Very often, the weapon that people carry for protection becomes the weapon used against them.

So the argument against carrying a knife for self defence still has weight.

But October 7 changed my mind.

A crisis, whether personal or national, forces you to reassess your worldview. It exposes which ideas were solid and which ideas were built for a world that no longer exists.

On October 7, terrorists went door to door through Israeli communities. Families were trapped inside their homes. Many had no firearm. Some were holding the door of a safe room with one hand and holding a knife in the other.

That reality matters.

It forced me to separate two very different questions.

The first question is: should you carry a knife in public for self defence?

In most cases, I still think the answer is no.

The second question is: if someone is breaking into your home with the intention of harming your family, and you do not have a firearm, should you grab a knife?

The answer is absolutely yes.

You grab whatever gives you the best chance of protecting your family.

That is the distinction I missed before.

A knife should not be treated as a magic solution. It should not be carried casually. It should not be flashed around. It should not be used to threaten or intimidate. But in the home, in a genuine life-threatening situation, it can absolutely have a place.

If you can legally own a firearm and you are trained, then a firearm is the better tool. A pistol, shotgun or rifle gives you greater distance, greater control and a better chance of dealing with a lethal threat before it reaches your family.

But many people live in countries where that is not an option.

For them, a knife may be one of the few realistic tools available inside the home.

And it does not need to be a special commando knife or some tactical fantasy blade. A normal kitchen knife is already present in almost every home. In fact, the kind of knife you can legally have in your kitchen is often far more practical than anything you could legally carry in public.

After October 7, I became much more interested in understanding the knife as a weapon system. Not as a hobby. Not as a martial arts fantasy. But as a practical question of survival.

What I found was interesting.

I did not need to go as far outside my existing skill set as I expected.

If you understand range, timing, pressure and movement, then many of the same principles apply. If you know how to strike, if you know how to manage distance, if you know how to hit without being hit, then putting an object in your hand changes the consequences, but not the foundations.

At long range, fighting is still largely striking. At close range, it becomes grappling. The weapon changes the level of danger, but it does not remove the need for fundamentals.

That is why I am not a huge believer in treating traditional knife systems as the whole answer to self defence. As martial arts, they can be fun, technical and interesting. But when the question is protecting your family under extreme pressure, the answer is usually much simpler.

Can you move?

Can you manage distance?

Can you act under stress?

Can you protect others?

Can you make a decision and commit to it?

That last point is the most important.

A knife is not an intimidation tool. It is not something you pull out to scare someone. If you produce a weapon in a genuine life-threatening situation, you need to understand why you are doing it and what that moment means.

That requires mental work.

You need to be honest with yourself. Under what conditions would you be willing to seriously harm another person to protect yourself or your family? If the answer is “never,” then you should think carefully about having any weapon available at all.

Because weapons are not symbols. They are tools. And tools only matter if you are willing and able to use them when the situation demands it.

So here is where I stand now.

I still do not think carrying a knife in public for self defence is a good idea for most people. Legally, practically and psychologically, it creates serious problems.

But inside the home, especially for people who cannot legally own firearms, a knife can absolutely be a valid defensive tool in an extreme situation.

That is the nuance I missed.

And I am happy to admit that I was wrong, because being wrong is part of learning. If October 7 taught us anything, it is that reality does not care about our theories. It does not care about what we thought was reasonable, comfortable or likely.

Reality tests your assumptions.

When your assumptions fail, you have two choices. You can protect your ego, or you can update your thinking.

I would rather update my thinking.

Stay safe.

Ron

About the Author

Ron Engelman is the founder and head instructor of Krav Maga Israel. He is an Israeli combat veteran, Sergeant Major and Senior Krav Maga instructor in the IDF, and an international educator whose main work is developing and educating Krav Maga instructors around the world.

Ron’s teaching is shaped by real-world experience, military service and decades of practical instruction. His work focuses on self defence, instructor development, leadership and building stronger, more capable communities. Through his courses and training systems, he helps instructors and students develop confidence, competence and the ability to protect themselves and others.