How many knives are out there?

I had the opportunity to ask two Farang Hapkido / Farang Mu Sul training partners, both law enforcement officers, how many contacts they make with people armed with knives. One answered that nearly 100 percent of men and about 30 percent of the women he comes into contact with are carrying a knife. The other said that roughly 70-80 percent have "some sort of stabbing/cutting instrument." I don't claim to be a world class knife fighter, but I train like my life depends on it, and I am thankful to have a grand master (Kuk Sa Nim Michael De Alba) who is considered by people all over the world to be one of the best knife guys around. The sheer number of people carrying knives also underscores a few related ideas: 1) Cardio and conditioning are very important. You can't stab, slash, or cut what you can't catch. 2) Maintain a healthy respect for what even the most unassuming person is capable of doing. Old, young, strong, frail, lucid, or out of it: I am respectful to those around me until they do something that causes me to leave. That's leave, not confront, not challenge, not throw down. As a great man once said to me, "Self defense is not fighting; self defense is getting away and surviving." 3) Reality is nothing like a drill unless the drill evolves into something realistic. Though it looks static, the drill/technique below was dynamic, flowing, and culminated in realistic scenarios in addition to sharpening skills of knife picking and disarming an opponen. In other words, nothing takes place in a vacuum.

Three things are certain: I never want to get into a knife fight, I will train every day for that possibility, and I will avoid the potential whenever possible. 

Farang!