So, If You’re in a Public Place and a Vibrant Starts a Knife Rampage…

It’s probably pretty important to start having conversations like “what do you do if you’re in a public place and a black or a Moslem pulls out a knife and starts a rampage?”

In response to a recent article about a mass stabbing by a Somalian in Germany that left three dead, a reader noted:

It is very difficult to defend against a knife attack without getting wounded if anyone thinks it easy just try it using an opponent with a marker pen.

This is real talk.

If someone has a gun, you can theoretically just tackle them. Also – risk/reward must be considered, and it’s a lot harder to outrun a bullet.

If you watch the clip that was circulating of the German event, people were circling – but what was the plan?

Passanten stellen sich einem geistig Verwirrten in #Wuerzburg#amoklauf #würzburg pic.twitter.com/2Imfd98yVR

— Burek Shakur ?? (@BurekShakur) June 25, 2021

Eventually, the vibrant will close the distance, and it is just very unlikely that you’re going to keep from getting stabbed.

Everybody wants to be a hero (hopefully), but if you’re in a public place and a vibrant starts a knife rampage and you don’t have a gun, the best thing you can do is run. Most people who go on stabbing rampages are either drugged up or insane, and probably won’t chase you very far.

The people who get killed in these stabbings are usually confused gawkers who don’t process what is happening quick enough to trigger fight or flight. Honestly, I think cellphones and general “screens everywhere” has distorted reality for most people to the point where people just can’t process immediate threats very quickly. You could also blame the general lack of threats in the environment for the inability to process threats, I guess, but typically a threat such as “black man with a knife” doesn’t require previous experience with threats to be recognized as a threat.

(It’s kind of like how we will always have an immediate fear response to spiders and snakes, because it is wired into our DNA that they can be deadly. I don’t think a safe environment removes the fight or flight response. It has to be the screens and general unreality created by digital technology.)

If you’re in this situation and you want to help others, the best thing you can do is yell as you run. Yelling might break others out of their dazed state.

If you’re at a far enough distance, you can assess the situation, and maybe hijack a car to run the guy over. Currently, the cops will probably show up, but I don’t think we can really count on that for much longer.

But seriously: even if you are relatively trained-up in whatever kind of MMA, it is really hard to stop a guy with a knife without getting sliced, and once you’re sliced, you’re going to get sliced again.

The only weapons you can use against a knife-wielding vibrant with any reasonable chance of success is a gun or a vehicle (maybe a baseball bat, if you are a highly physical person and can connect a solid head blow before he closes the distance – but you’re not likely going to be carrying a baseball bat or find one lying around).

It is very important to realize that we are entering into a time when the police might not show up to these situations at all, and the stabber will just keep stabbing until he gets bored or until someone gets creative.

I know that a lot of readers of this site (most, I dare say) would want to do the Christian thing and end the situation to protect people.

In the situation in Germany, the vibrant was within range of a car. Pulling someone out of their car is a lot easier than disarming a rampaging man with a knife.

It’s always helpful to think through these kinds of things. Even if they don’t ever happen, you won’t regret having thought about it. It’s also kind of enjoyable to think it through, I think.

I always personally watch the clips of these events, and imagine being there.

Of course, as always, I need to say: you shouldn’t be living in the city anyway.