In my experience and based on my training/education, an edged weapon is such a "last resort" weapon that it is the human equivalent of "using claws". Since I trim my nails, I can't claw at someone.
But if things have deteriorated so bad that I am that close, and that in danger, an edged weapon means that I am in such a fight for my life (and am unable to retreat/withdraw) that we're to the "there are no rules" point.
With that said, do NOT underestimate the lethality and killing potential of an edged weapon. The old saying of "only a fool brings a knife to a gunfight" is not accurate in the way that it casts an edged weapon as somehow being inferior or less-lethal than (for example) a firearm.
One of my instructors had a great drill/example that drove this point home to all of us in his class.
Using dummy (plastic non-edged knife and a non-fireable mockup of our sidearm) weapons, the scenario was this. One student laid face down on the floor, arms spread, and the plastic "knife" under their chest. The other person stood 7 meters (just over 20 feet) away with their "sidearm" holstered as they would normally carry concealed.
At the buzzer, the person on the floor would get to their feet, take the knife, close the gap, and swipe the standing students abdomen (simulating an evisceration). The standing student was to react, draw their weapon from concealment and get off at least one trigger pull prior to being "gutted".
In every instance, and despite the fact that the standing person (with the firearm) knew what was coming, the person on the ground was able to gain their feet, grab their knife, close the gap and simulate a killing blow before the standing person could draw, aim and fire.
The point of the drill? Knifes are deadly and don't think that because you have a firearm that you are invulnerable or "safe".
English
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Edited by coolmike699: 3/6/2013 5:01:17 AM[quote]"only a fool brings a knife to a gunfight" is not accurate in the way that it casts an edged weapon as somehow being inferior or less-lethal than (for example) a firearm. [/quote] They tested this on Mythbusters, and came to the same conclusion.
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Never saw that episode. But feeling someone slashing my belly with a plastic knife (as my pistol was still coming out of the holster) was enough to drill it into my head forever.