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Give a Navy SEAL a kbar and have him run towards a 95 pound 16 year old girl with a 20 ga full of buckshot and see who wins

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ORIGINAL: celticlord2112

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Yes but when someone breaks into your home and shoots you from the doorway with their limited ammunition while you're drawing your shiny sword, that pointy bit of metal is going to seem much less useful. For self-defense purposes a knife is a horrible idea, unless you happen to be an urban ninja, or prone to pre-emptive strikes against anyone who might possibly be armed.

You seriously believe self-defense is a matter of which weapon you have? 

That is your error.  Self-defense is a matter of mind, not metal.

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ORIGINAL: LondonArt

I seriously believe guns are much more dangerous tools in the hands of an average person than knives, yes. Most self defense situations do not require you to make traps, assemble spears, or quietly take down hostiles unnoticed. In a mugging or home invasion, which is the situation where a normal person is most likely to be defending themselves against an armed assailant, a gun carries both practical (in terms of range of use and the amount of practisey needed to use it adequately) and psychological benefits over a knife.

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ORIGINAL: celticlord2112

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Give a Navy SEAL a kbar and have him run towards a 95 pound 16 year old girl with a 20 ga full of buckshot and see who wins

Give a Navy SEAL a ka-bar and tell him to run towards said girl and he'll look at you like you've lost your ever-lovin' mind.....and he would be right.

Give a Navy SEAL an AR-15 or HK-MP5 and have him run at the same girl with the same shotgun and you'll likely get the same reaction.

But then....that's not "defense", is it?

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In a mugging or home invasion, which is the situation where a normal person is most likely to be defending themselves against an armed assailant, a gun carries both practical (in terms of range of use and the amount of practisey needed to use it adequately) and psychological benefits over a knife.

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ORIGINAL: AquaticSub

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ORIGINAL: LondonArt

I seriously believe guns are much more dangerous tools in the hands of an average person than knives, yes. Most self defense situations do not require you to make traps, assemble spears, or quietly take down hostiles unnoticed. In a mugging or home invasion, which is the situation where a normal person is most likely to be defending themselves against an armed assailant, a gun carries both practical (in terms of range of use and the amount of practisey needed to use it adequately) and psychological benefits over a knife.

The subject of this thread isn't a normal mugging or home invasion. In a normal mugging or home invasion I'd suggest a shotgun and good lock on your bedroom door. My grand plan is prime the shotgun so they know what I've got, shout that they can have anything downstairs they want but come up and I'll shoot them.

However, in a survival situation like a Mad Max world, which the OP is about, you're an idiot to rely soley on a firearm that will run out of bullets and has few uses. Again, both have their places but to use a weapon effectively you must be aware of it's limitations and plan for them.

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ORIGINAL: LondonArt
See, this is an entirely reasonable point of view, I have no issues with this. My issue is with anyone who claims a knife is an objectively superior defensive weapon, simpler to use than a handgun, or that they could ninja their way past an armed assailant in a normal situation. As we do not yet live in a Mad Max society, I can only assume the OP originally quoted is keeping their pointy bits of metal for normal defensive use.

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ORIGINAL: AquaticSub

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ORIGINAL: LondonArt

I seriously believe guns are much more dangerous tools in the hands of an average person than knives, yes. Most self defense situations do not require you to make traps, assemble spears, or quietly take down hostiles unnoticed. In a mugging or home invasion, which is the situation where a normal person is most likely to be defending themselves against an armed assailant, a gun carries both practical (in terms of range of use and the amount of practisey needed to use it adequately) and psychological benefits over a knife.

The subject of this thread isn't a normal mugging or home invasion. In a normal mugging or home invasion I'd suggest a shotgun and good lock on your bedroom door. My grand plan is prime the shotgun so they know what I've got, shout that they can have anything downstairs they want but come up and I'll shoot them.

However, in a survival situation like a Mad Max world, which the OP is about, you're an idiot to rely soley on a firearm that will run out of bullets and has few uses. Again, both have their places but to use a weapon effectively you must be aware of it's limitations and plan for them.

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ORIGINAL: DomAviator


Even in a mad max world it would be hard as hell for me to run out of ammo.... Aside from the thousands of rounds I have on hand and my reloading supplies... If you plan your aresenal around standard calibers .223 (5.56 NATO) , 9mm, .308 (7.62 NATO) there would be tens of millions of rounds for the taking.... I wouldnt reccomend a .338 Win Mag or a .257 Roberts as an end of the world survival gun.  

However, that aside... One could get a muzzleloading blackpowder firearm. With a $15 mold you could make your own bullets and you can easily make blackpowder. Its just charcoal, sulfur, and saltpeter.... Same thing would work in old "cowboy calibers" like the 30-30 or the 45 long colt.

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ORIGINAL: celticlord2112

Proper handgun tactics (proper meaning those which will kill the other guy without getting you killed) are far more challenging to master than basic knife strikes, and require far more training and practice to instill into muscle memory.

Self-defense first and foremost is about simplicity--about having the tools and the tactics which can be easily remembered AND utilized with a minimum of thought during a crisis and a minimum of training before the crisis.  Handguns....just don't qualify.

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ORIGINAL: AquaticSub


For you maybe. But I don't think your standard person wants to have that much ammo around. I don't.

However I must say that as a Rev War reenactor, I am not wowed by the accuracy of muzzleloaders.

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ORIGINAL: Irishknight

For the record DA, 500 rds a week is a lot of practice time.  I used to do 100 a week when I was an armed bank guard and they thought I was obsessive.  If you put exactly that amount of time into learning to use a blade, you would not feel as iffy with it as you say.  In fact, you would be remarkable.
The first time I went anywhere that taught instinctive shooting, my 1st and 2nd rounds missed.  The instructor said that was above average.  After watching others in the class, I actually began to see what he meant.  Many people will never get the hang of it.  It will always be a matter of them getting the distance with the first shot or two. 
You, by your own admission are HIGHLY trained.  Most people in home defense situations are not.  Of course, survivalist types will probably put in the time to make you look lazy because they want to be ready when God invades the world or whatever.

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Handguns, particularly instinctive snapshooting, can be taught it just requires practice.