Increase of knife attacks locally, which defense tool?

[Montana]

A lot of great ideas thus far, but, with each of those great ideas comes a price...A LOT OF PRACTICE!! Without it, you're still not going to be able to defend yourself against a knife adequately enough, if at all, imho.

Having something is better than nothing, but without practice, it's still nothing.

Very.....VERY true!

[Liver Punch]

How about a hairbrush http://www.coldsteel.com/honeycomb.html

Personally I'd go with the mag-lite option, I agree with you guys saying a knife is a great equalizer.. just personally I don't feel comfortable using one and would probably stab myself or drop it on my foot. I do carry a small mag-lite around which has a super bright LED (useful for shining in people's eyes too).

I meant to post this one - it's often overlooked.

[MasterPain]

https://www.amazon.com/Nite-Lite-Rechargeable-Hunters-Favorite/dp/tags-on-product/B00474JQ3C

If your going to use a light as a weapon, or as a light for that matter, you need a coon hunter's light. The light is on your head and the battery rests in a pouch on your belt. About 4 feet of heavy cord attaches to both. The light is bright, lasts all night, and it's hands free. The battery and cord would make quite a flail, or just use the battery as a handheld bludgeon, all while keeping the light in their eyes. The batteries in these things are hard and weigh 4 or 5 pounds.

[bushido_man96]

I think the ideal weapon for someone who is out to do more than scare you, should already be in your hand.

This isn't always feasible. I'm in law enforcement, but I can't just carry my gun in my hand all the time "just in case." That's why you have to work on things like deploying your weapon, making space to do so, working on the speed of getting it out there.

[The BB of C]

I suggest tasers, hardwood canes, metal canes, cane swords, spiked keychains or gloves laced with steelshot.

My philosophy recently has become "the quickest weapons are those that are attached to your body." This means that I agree with some of the aforementioned. Empty hands are best against knives. Simply because you don't have to waste time on the draw. So anything that you can be carrying in your hand would be good.

https://www.kaswords.com

They have tasers and spiked keychains for pretty cheap. These are good because you can hold them in your hand and carry them. No need to rechamber and draw like a knife.

Look around on True Swords or BUDK. They'll have gloves laced with steelshot. Now your hands are protected to a degree, you're literally wearing your weapon so you won't have to draw it, and damage will be significantly amplified.

[Spodo Komodo]

We had a situation in the late 80s early 90s where I was a student. Basically there was some ethnic tension which manifested against students and resulted in a string of "dukings" where several students were stabbed in the thigh or the buttock as a warning to leave the area. I got caught out and suffered a substantial wound to the hip but a friend of mine was carrying a paleontology textbook and managed to use it to shield himself from the stabbing. He also managed to take the knife, still embedded in his textbook along to the Police Station as evidence. I don't know of anywhere that carrying a textbook is illegal or considered threatening and they can be good defence against a knife.