Why do people carry knives?

When we talk about knives we often lean heavily on emotion and kneejerk reaction. Headline news tell us of a feral generation of lost youth that are murdering each other in numbers that are shocking. It is no wonder we are afraid and seeking answers. For martial artists, occupations that deal with aggression, and the self-protection world this could be training knife defence or learning weapons, or some hand-to-hand system that promises ways to survive any confrontation. Unfortunately, the truth is no-one system or organisation holds all the answers and the problem of knife crime and why people carry is a complex one.

 I have trained and taught in many different martial arts systems for many years, working in security as a bouncer and bodyguard for many of those. I am a trainer and speaker on violence management for security, corporate and schools. In my working years in front-line roles, I have been attacked with bottles, knives, beer glasses, scaffold poles, baseball bats and a few other things that were lying about. The truth is I have never found any system or style that offers all the answers, and my honest advice is avoid the situation at all costs if you are able. However, the world is becoming increasing violent, and knives are on the rise. The death toll is rising and with the relentless cuts to public services and the Police we must arm ourselves with the best knowledge we can.

Statistics on knife crime.

Here are some statistics to show the current situation in the UK with knife crime and the culture of violence. The figures are sourced from The Office for National Statistics, The Ministry of Justice, and Governments own websites. In the year ending March 2019 (pre-pandemic) there were around 40,100 offences involving a knife or sharp instrument in England and Wales. This is the highest level ever recorded with the comparable data available.

Fatal stabbings were at the highest levels ever recorded since records began in 1946 until 2020 when we saw the start of the pandemic and countrywide lockdowns. This saw a decrease of overall knife and offensive weapons offences of 14% in the year ending March 2021 with the CJS (Criminal Justice Service) dealing with 18,553 cases. This drop comes after a consistent year on year rise from 2014 leading to an overall increase of 35% up to 2020.

London ha recorded the highest rate of 168 offences involving a knife per 100,000 population in 2017/18 whereas in 2020/21 the West Midlands Police force recorded the highest rate with 156 offences per 100,000 population which is a recorded increase in the area of 41% from previous years.

 The figures show a 45% increase in the number of victims aged 16-24 and a 23% increase in those aged 25-34. Those stabbed to death are predominantly young men, as are the perpetrators.

A third of female victims were killed by partners or ex partners, compared with 1% of male victims. Of male victims 35% were killed by a stranger, compared with 17% of female victims.

One in four men were killed by friends or acquaintances, compared with 7% of female victims.

 In the past two years 58% of suspects and 35% of victims were dealers or users of illegal drugs.

In the past two years the number of children carrying knives in schools has risen by 50% and the number of knife offences rose by 26%.

 Those most at risk are young men aged 18-24 who come from a financially deprived area.

 We should pay close attention to these figures as they give us a very clear overview of the types of attacks, who is most likely to become a victim, and patterns, behaviours and places to avoid to help prevent us becoming a target.

 

Reasons to carry a knife.

If you ask most people who carry a knife why, they will usually answer with it is for protection or self-defence. In fact, in an article from the Guardian entitled In their own words; Why young men carry knives the vast majority cited this reason stating they had either been attacked personally or knew someone who had.

 In London 95% of those caught with a knife are male, 60% of those are under 25. However, that is not the full story and when we start to look a little deeper, other reasons become clearer. In a BBC article by Leslie Ashmall about youth knife crime a young man called Orlando who is 18 and lives in London said “People where we live, we aint got no purpose, we don’t know our worth.”

 This is interesting as it shows a very clear difference as to some of the reasons behind why people carry knives. If we look at Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, he states there are five main requirements. Each must be met before the next can be addressed. These are:

Physiological needs. these are the basics of life such as food, water, warmth, and rest.

Safety needs. things like security, stability, and freedom from fear.

 Belonging. friends, family, partner, community, peer group

Self-esteem. Achievement, recognition, respect, credibility.

Self-actualisation. Creativity, personal talent, potential.

 If the world you live in does not afford you even the basics of those needs, we can see why the next list is more relevant. Also, by understanding and acknowledging those personal reasons we can be better placed to understand the threat and make better choices regards are own personal safety.

 Here is a more in-depth list of reasons people carry knives. If you weight them up against the hierarchy of needs, you often see a direct correlation between those needs and the example given for carrying a knife.

 Protection/self-defence

Easy to get hold of

Brought up in a household or culture where carrying is acceptable

To gain status/kudos/street credibility/respect

Reassurance

Instil fear in others

They feel they cannot physically defend themselves

Forced to by older gang members/family members

To physically harm another

Peer pressure

Commit crime

Protect assets

This list is far from exhaustive but gives a broader spectrum view on the motivations for having a knife. By understanding why someone would carry we are better equipped to deal with the issue and guide our training to include understanding the social and economic drivers creating teachable knowledge around the types of threats faced to manage the physical, psychological, and physiological aspects of knife crime.

Physical skills training.

It will be up to the reader to decide what if any physical skills should be practised, and to what level to answer the perceived threat this problem creates. The majority reading this will probably already train in some form of martial art so my advice on the physical would be this. Make sure your practise is more than compliant set drills. Add as much realism as you can. Failing is part of learning. If you always succeed in your drills, you are not adding enough realism. Add fear and aggression training. It matters. Change location, training clothes, work with other styles, anything to break the norm.

 Try unrehearsed and unchoreographed defences with a marker pen and white t-shirt. Learn what the different types of blades do as each is designed for its own specific role so therefore each has different capabilities.

If you teach or train knife defence then teach awareness, avoidance, de-escalation, and common sense first. Do not glorify violence, especially weapons defence. Disarms and controls are a last resort, not a first response.

In my Edged Weapons defence seminars, we cover all of this in detail and look to our edged weapons action hierarchy to understand and manage the levels of threat, plus principle led physical techniques used by military, police, and security forces from around the world.

This article is based on content taken from my e-book Knife crime and edged weapons awareness.

Please contact me direct for more details.