If you had a knife and had to harm someone (without killing them) in self-defense, where should you stab?

Written by: Remi

Published on: October 6, 2022

Question

If you had a knife and had to harm someone (without killing them) in self-defense, where should you stab?

Faith97 · Answer

Michael Janich has his “Martial Blade Concepts”, emphasizing the use of the knife for self-defense (when appropriate).
His idea is to cut to incapacitate and then get away. Targets include the inside of the forearm (to render the hand useless) the back of the knee (in effect, “hamstringing” the opponent), etc.
No thrusts. While still extreme, the courts generally look on thrusts as intending to kill, while cuts are not. Many jurisdictions make no such differentiation; an attack with a knife of any sort is at least “assault with intent to do great bodily harm”… A felony.
So you had best be justified in using ANY weapon.

Emma · Answer

Left or right side lower torso behind the hips, wont kill them they will however sustain an injury to go to the hospital to get it check out, sitiches or butterfly stitches, it’s a superficial scar.
Another the upper right or left arm into the muscle, that will hurt enough, to where they don’t do that again to anybody, they’ll need help a sling is what will be needed after this, an possible nerve damage has occured along with stitches, laceration an a 2ed degree scarring.
Upper an lower thighs, they’ll feel that, ohhh will they be feeling that one, get prepared for some serious screaming like a little b**ch. They’ll be missing a small chunk ,even after stitches an a scarring can be of 2ed ir 3ed degree of scarring. An a possibility of a life time garentee of being wheelchair bond or needing some form of help, transporting from one place to another, with handicap accessibles.
*hypothetically speaking.

Lilybelle · Answer

If you had a knife and had to harm someone (without killing them) in self-defense, where should you stab?
Slash.
A knife is a weapon, using a weapon when attacked makes your defence a counter-attack.

But if I didn’t want to kill an attacker with my knife, I wouldn’t stab. Stabbing often results in killing, because you will cause internal bleeding from severed arteries.
Plus, despite what you may think, a slash hurts a lot more than a stab wound. Most of your sensitive nerve endings are in the skin, your primary tool for touch.
Slashing someone’s hands and arms will render them unable to hold weapons.
Slashing their forehead will hurt and the blood oozing from the cut will blind their eyes.
Slashing their legs can sever muscles that are needed for mobility.
None of these are lethal, but disabling the attacker. Still, that doesn’t render them ‘defensive’.

Chicago Cutlery Belden 15 Piece Premium Kitchen Knife

Reply

Reese · Answer

You don't stab. You slash. Took a tactical knife fighting course.

Elliana97 · Answer

Nowhere! If you aren’t up for using deadly force then it’s better not to carry a deadly weapon at all as it would most likely be used to kill you by an attacker. Carry mace, pepper spray or a taser, these will give you distance between you and an assailant, which will hopefully give you a chance to escape the situation.

Spring Assisted Knife – Pocket Folding Knife – Military Style

Reply

Madelyn · Answer

I really hope that you trained before you got in a life or death scenario.
(because, if you use a knife as you would use a sword, a club , you’re probably will have some ‘problems’. There are specific stances for knife fighting)
In a life or death situation, Killing the opponent shouldn’t be a problem. Keep you ass safe (it mostly include running, but you don’t always have a choice). The hire a good lawyer.
Normal knives have not (so much) stopping power. If someone is stupid enough to keep figting you while you are holding a knife, you’re in a world of shit, because
1. He is not in his right mind
2. He REALLY wants to kill you.
3. He is far and he has a gun.
So, the only recommandation i should tell you, if you are ‘kind’ enough to do not want to kill him by stabing him repeatedly in his main arteries, is to aim his arms or to try to cut his tendons.
But, trust me, you WILL need a lawyer. And probably an ambulance;
“In a knife fight, the looser die in the gutter, and the winner dies in the ambulance”.
If you HAVE to fight, be quick, take as little risk as possible, and use whatever it takes to see another day.

Athena · Answer

The idea of ‘nonviolently’ disabling an attacker is nonsensical. The only sure way to stop an attacker is to make their body stop functioning. Anything else is wishful thinking that is likely to enrage your attacker, not stop the attack.
Think about it. If they are willing to continue the attack after seeing you are capable of defending yourself with a lethal weapon , what do you think it will take to actually stop them?

Olivia · Answer

“If you had a knife and had to harm someone (without killing them) in self-defense, where should you stab?”
If this is “life or death,” then fight to live. If you have to kill, KILL. The other person isn’t going to be so nice as to not.
But, let’s say that you are dealing with someone and you are clearly more experienced than they are. In other words, you could kill them and end the fight in one move. So, you feel sorry for them and decide to…
Bat to “spank” them. Strike with the spine of the blade, not the edge, and show them that you could have cut them but didn’t. You’re playing with them here, which is dangerous.
Or, you can CUT them, or slice. These tend to be less lethal wounds as they tend to cut muscle and skin. While you can still kill with these, most of the easy targets (exposed) and those on the body require deeper penetration. It gets risky on the neck, wrists, and inner legs where you can cut something and cause serious bleeding that is hard to stop. Otherwise, most require a STAB to get to the heart, lungs, kidney’s, liver, and so on.
Now, when you draw a knife on someone, you just entered the big leagues. This is a lethal weapon, just like a firearm. You can easily kill with it. If you don’t want to kill, use pepper spray or a baton that isn’t made of metal. Even wood is risky since you can still kill, but it’s less likely. A newspaper rolled up is safer and still hurts, when done right.

Ariana · Answer

You can only use deadly force if you are in fear of suffering death or great bodily harm. That fear must be reasonable. Your problem is you don’t understand what happens in a fight. Especially a fight that’s life and death.
You’re talking about using a deadly weapon, but not using deadly force. It’s obvious you never been in a fight. Fights don’t go the way you want. Your opponent won’t be standing idlily by letting you do what you want. He’s attacking you with deadly force. Most likely you’ll be so scared and irrational that you won’t be be able to think right. Because of your inexperience at fighting, you won’t know what to do. You might even drop the knife and become hysterical. It’s much easier to think about what you might do when you’re not under attack and are cool and calm.
If you stab your opp…

Samantha · Answer

Hard question, but let’s see what we can do:
You should cut instead of stabbing to minimize damage.
You have to avoid arteries and other anatomical parts (e.g. tendons, muscles etc) to prevent severely harming the attacker.
So, what you can cut ?
I would aim the temporal region of the head, forehead, the nose, cheeks, basically all the head area minus the eyes, lips and ears. I think cutting near over the eye would have a bloody result, but without permanent damage but the scars.
Then, I would say all the major muscle groups, BUT being careful to stay away from arteries. The biceps and quadriceps should be a good target.
But, as many as pointed out, it’s kinda nonsensical to be careful avoiding damaging an attacker that wants to kill you and even really difficult.
To be able to defending as you asked, you should be so skilled that you are able to predict the attacker movements and counter with a superficial cut that only affects few millimeters of skin.
Definetely improbable.
An attacker that tries to kill a defender armed with a knife deserves to feel all the blade inside its body.

Natalia · Answer

No such thing as harm but without the intent to kill. If things reached the point that I decided to use a knife that would probably mean the other dude has something at least as lethal as my knife, more likely even more lethal. That means I will do my best to kill the dude, as fast and sure as possible. Ideally with my first stab if possible. Also biologically you do not have spare parts. There isn’t any place where I can cut you and you will survive without medical intervention (I am talking about real, deep, proper cuts, not some “just penetrated skin” cut you get in kitchen when cooking. Even “safer areas” like the outer part of your arms, shoulder, deltoids (where the arm is connected to the back) etc are not “that safe”, can easily bleed out. And of course stabs are fatal 99.99% of the time anywhere in the body (without medical help). Few opponents are as dangerous as a shortsword (or big knife) user who is actually trained in blade combat (not your average mugger for sure)

Zelite Infinity Damascus Chef Knife 8 Inch, Japanese Chef Knife

Reply

Emma · Answer

Well, here´s a thought. If you do not intend to kill, why would you deploy a lethal weapon? Sure, you can always go for arms, legs, even shoulders maybe, any muscular part of the limbs, but then again, while you are at it, the other person is fighting for their life and they´d do anything to survive, even kill you, cause now, you are the assaulter trying to kill them.
In almost any place in the world, being assaulted and deploying and using a lethal weapon will not count as self defense unless the other person also has a lethal weapon, and even so, you would have to justify carrying that blade with you in the first place.
I personally carry a blade, but it´s a folding knife that when closed could be use as a blunt object, and that´s the way i would use it in a self defense scenario (provided i actually end up needing an object).. now, if the scenario es really really bad, then yeah, the bladed option is there.
But honestly, if the blade is deployed, would you really risk your chances trying to “not kill” with a lethal weapon?

Ella · Answer

There are no safe spaces when you use a weapon. Remember that things can and do go wrong. You can hit arteries and cause blood clots when you don’t mean to.
If the person makes you defend yourself don’t worry about their life worry about your life. Drop them as efficently as possible and say “I want to talk to my attorney.” nothing else when the cops show up. Only speak to your attorney, this person attacked me and I had to protect myself (any bystandars etc) and I stopped when the danger was no longer present. That will get you walking out of court unless there’s evidence to the contrary like a statement from you. Don’t talk to other prisoners in confinement before court.
“Why are you here?”
“Must be a misunderstanding. I’m not sure. They’ll tell my lawyer.”

Brielle · Answer

A knife isn’t a gun. You don’t aim one. You slash or stab or throw one (you only throw one if you have practiced at lot with the right type knife).
Since knives cut, they can kill by slicing open a vein or artery which exits in the torso, neck, arm, or leg. So basically their isn’t a “safe” place to slice someone in self-defense not wanting to kill your attacker. Even trying to stab the attacker some where away from a major blood vessel, isn’t a sure thing as it would be easy to miss by a few inches and hit something much more vital

Katherine · Answer

Anytime you stab someone you run the risk of hitting a main artery or major organ which will cause a person to bleed to death. If you are using a weapon for self defense it’s to kill someone who is going to kill you. If you don’t intend to kill someone then don’t use a weapon that kills people.

Pocket Knife Spring Assisted Folding Knives

Reply

Eloise · Answer

You can stab then anywhere apart from the head, neck , shoulders, middle of the stomach, groin and the chest. If you have to  STAB   , go for the left side of the opponent's stomach (your right side) and try stabbing on the extreme left. This is to avoid the main organs and to make chances of the opponent's survival high.

Eloise124 · Answer

Leave it home.
If you have no intent on defending your life with force, up to and including DEADLY FORCE you have decided to become a VICTIM rather than a survivor.
You would be better served by not providing your attacker with easy access to a deadly weapon and hope for a severe beating rather than your death as the outcome…

Elliana97 · Answer

You need to get your head on straight. If you are in fear for your life, the person you need to worry about is YOU! If the other guy was so worried about people’s safety, neither of you would be in this mess. Your first and only goal is to STOP THE THREAT! If his threat is so bad you had to pull a knife, you are in MORTAL COMBAT. Do you want to live, or do you want a messy and painful death? Make up your mind. Live or die? Until you make up your mind, you shouldn’t even think about carrying a weapon.

Gerber Gear 22-48485 Paraframe Mini Pocket Knife, 2.2 Inch Fine Edge Blade

Reply

Melanie · Answer

As someone who carries a knife every day as a tool, I’d hate to have to use it as a weapon, not just because such a scenario would be horrible but also the fact that knives are the worst self defense option and should only be a last resort to a gun. Also, you have to consider the level of justification you need to pull your knife out which is probably when the attacker has a weapon as well, one that is likely better than your knife. So you might be better off with a taser or a blunt object to add as an extension to your fists. Better yet, run if you can.

CJRB CUTLERY Folding Knife Crag

Reply

Aaliyah · Answer

Depends on your needs stabbing is to kill or maim while slashing is good for maiming and debilitaion it’s also harder to slash effectively cause let’s face it most people who carry a knife want that tip not the belly of the blade hitting
Personally I would use the knife as a fist filler and deck the sob hard until he wasn’t awake or lost his teeth if not depending on the knife if it has a solid pommel or strike pad like some good survival knives then I’m Gooding for a brutal pommel strike on the skull it can cause concussions or blackout if done correctly
NEVER STAB UNLESS YOU INTEND TO KILL OR MORTALLY WOUND THE AGGRESSOR/OPPONENTS

Caroline · Answer

You would have to know a great deal of anatomy for this. You could dislocate things like the knees and shoulders by stabbing into areas that give you enough leverage to pry the bone out of the socket or you could cut someones achilles heel the knock them out with the knife pommel. Yeah, being non lethal with a knife is hard as it kind of defeats the purpose.

Forged Viking Knives, Husk Chef Knife Butcher Knives Handmade Fishing

Reply

Katherine · Answer

There is no such thing as a safe way to stab or slash somebody. If you are going to use deadly force to defend yourself, then you cannot be worried about such things.

Samantha · Answer

If your self defence tactics include not severely harming your attacker, your tactics suck, and your obit will not be far down the road. I would suggest a couple of readings of Jeff Cooper’s excellent short book called Principles of Personal Defense, available here for free in pdf form: https://ia800509.us.archive.org/26/items/JeffCooperPrinciplesOfPersonalDefense/Jeff%20Cooper%20-%20Principles%20of%20Personal%20Defense.pdf before you get seriously hurt. And I would buy, and practice with, a gun that you are able to handle without hurting yourself or anyone else you like or love. Most locales require a ccw of some sort to carry a knife(that’s big enough to be effective), so why not carry a gun?

Forged Viking Knives, Husk Chef Knife Butcher Knives Handmade Fishing

Reply

Faith97 · Answer

You would not stab at all… you would use the pommel as a fistload with which to strike the head. If it was a large blade, you could use the blunt spine to strike at the wrists and clavicles. There are many surfaces on a knife other than the point and edge.
C. R. Jahn, author of FTW Self Defense

Bolo1997 · Answer

I honestly don’t know enough about anatomy to know for sure but I’d put my money on the gut; roughly bellybutton area. Around there your really only damaging GI organs so assuming they get to a hospital in time, it’s nothing that can.t be fixed. A lot of other places hide big blood vessels that have the chance to make the person bleed out.

Forged Viking Knives, Husk Chef Knife Butcher Knives Handmade Fishing

Reply

Natalia · Answer

First of all, there’s no guarantee that your stabs and slashes will be non-lethal. If i had a knife and i had to incapacitate someone, i’d stab the kindeys. This will result in rapid unconsciousness. Generally i prefer slashing because i can aim for the radial nerve, the ulnar nerve, brachial artery, the biceps, triceps, quadriceps, and many more areas. If i slash any of these areas, that will cause the attacker to drop his/her weapon or at least collapse due to torn leg muscles. If you want to learn more, read and subscribe if you like my post:
6 easy steps to master knife-fighting for self-defense

Everleigh · Answer

If it’s a legitimate case of self defense against a threat of death or serious bodily harm, I would not take chances with half measures. Trying to restrict yourself to only non-lethal targets would be very difficult, since a person can bleed to death in about 3 minutes. During that three minutes, they might continue to attack, by the way.
I would cut or stab to disable, and then try to back away, and see if they continue the attack. Unless they had a gun or other long range weapon. In such a case, I would continue my active defense.

Brielle · Answer

If you don’t want to kill your attacker, don’t use a knife. If you have a knife in your hand it is because you think that the attacker will hurt you. If you don’t want to hurt the other guy, don’t use a knife. Otherwise, you will cut this person and open up the person so that he bleeds.

Forged Viking Knives, Husk Chef Knife Butcher Knives Handmade Fishing

Reply

Eloise · Answer

I’d go with lower abdomen. It’ll hurt like hell, broad target area, usually 1–2 will stop the threat, and it takes along time to die from that, provided you miss the abdominal aorta (hence the “lower” recommendation) and don’t get deep enough to hit a kidney.

Forged Viking Knives, Husk Chef Knife Butcher Knives Handmade Fishing

Reply

Melody · Answer

Your question is nonsensical and betrays an ignorance of self defense and the law
A knife is a deadly weapon. Merely pulling out a deadly weapon in a fight is a crime, let alone injuring someone with it.
The only way that crime is ever legally justifiable is if you are in fear for your life or grave bodily harm. Claiming “self-defense” is not a get out of jail free card, it is an affirmative defense to a criminal charge. By claiming self-defense you are effectively confessing to a crime.
If you attempt to wound or intimidate your opponent with a deadly weapon, that can be used as evidence that you were not in fear for your life and therefore you were not justified in using a deadly weapon in the first place.
If the threat is not serious enough to warrant killing your attacker, it’s not serious enough to use a deadly weapon at all .
That being said, in swordfighting, a very effective tactic to end the fight is to snipe your opponent’s weapon hand or arm. The important thing to remember here is that fighting is NOT self-defense . Self-defense is stopping an unlawful, unprovoked attack as quickly as possible. Tactics that will win a fencing match will get you arrested in real life.

Aubrey · Answer

Both shoulders. Ideally cutting the trapezius muscle, but so long as I hit meat their arms are probably out of commission. If they don't stop then same thing to the thigh muscles.

Evelyn · Answer

Knives are deadly and can harm someone even if that person has no skill. Yes, knives are that deadly and i wouldnt stab, but cut off his arm muscles so he wouldnt be able to move them.

Kylie97 · Answer

Seriously, are you old enough to be on here without adult supervision?
A young bloke I know of 19 years, polite, pleasant, well mannered. He got in a scrape with another young bloke of 22 or so. The 19 y/o was handed a knife by his friend as he went to deal with a confrontation with the 22 y/o. The 22 y/o now has a stoma after nearly dying. The 19 y/o spent years in prison and essentially ruined his life several lives.
Best way is to not get in a situation where you think you might need a knife.

Audrey · Answer

If you are forced to defend yourself with knife or a gun, wounding your adversary is not an option. If he survives that makes him just plain fortunate. With a knife, go for the kidneys. inside the thighs, armpits or either side of the throat. With a gun, aim for the center of mass and keep pulling the trigger until he goes down ( please, no warning shots ). I must be a wimp. With training in both, I still much prefer the gun. Like I said before “ only a fool brings a knife to a gun fight “.

Forged Viking Knives, Husk Chef Knife Butcher Knives Handmade Fishing

Reply

Nevaeh · Answer

It's legally better to shoot them. Stabbing is a whole new ballgame that I don't have the time to explain the legal view of right now suffice it to say it much more messy and takes a certain commitment that most people couldn't articulate well enough to the busted legal system.

Maria · Answer

if just more powerfull attacker so he can kikck your face in no weapon //and you got knife id personally /depending odf situation //if you know hw s going to harm you permanent id stabb to kill //if you not sure if this is a show off or death threath stabb legs sever sims below knee if slashing no long trausers// prepare to be sued//so under belt in many country is a injury /over belt even to shoulder is attempt to kill //so go low
//and deep

Rylee · Answer

I get to choose? I slice around the forearm about 4 inched from the elbow followed by a slice down the triceps. That arm is useless

Allison · Answer

Hopefully this won't ever be an issue… but my concern is going to be getting my attacker off of me. And not having time to think, that knife is going in the first place I can get it in. I'm at the point not concerned about whether or not they survive it. I'm only concerned with whether or not I do.

Liliana · Answer

There are places to cut people less likely to cause death than others and some teach classes on this. They refer to this as “bio-mechanical cutting” and the idea is to cut specific muscles so their arms won’t work.
However, the use of a knife is deadly force and should only be done when it is justified.
There is also the issue of making precise cuts or stabs against an opponent who is moving, does not want to be cut or stabbed, and is also trying to kill you.
Some teach the use of a closed folder as a Kubotan or striking with a fixed blade’s pommel, though legally that would still likely be considered deadly force.

Bella · Answer

If you want to cause non-lethal harm to an assailant, you should choose a weapon designed to cause typically non-lethal harm.

Emery · Answer

Sorry, Anonymous - but this question makes my brain hurt.  So let’s assume a self-defense situation. Okay. Now in a self-defense situation, your aim is to protect yourself and stop the attack against you. You may harm the attacker incidentally, but if harming the attacker is your aim, then it ain’t self-defense any more. So let’s ignore that part and take the rest of the question.  If I had a knife…  (Ow, my brain…)  A knife is about the very worst type of self-defense you can choose. It’s truly terribly bad. It is next to impossible to stab someone in a “harmless” place without risking accidentally injuring them fatally. Stab someone in the shoulder and depending on exactly where you stab him, you’re looking at a minor flesh wound, massive joint, brachial nerve and tendon damage, or a little bit closer to the neck and you risk damaging the Aorta. Game over.  Seriously. Knives are great for cutting things, and I love my Santoku cooking knife. But as a weapon? Terrible. As a Self-defense weapon? Disaster.  Oh, and it’s possible that the attacker takes the knife from you and uses it against you.  Personally, I’d throw the knife away. I’m much more comfortable with my hands free. And you can’t easily take my fist away. Plus I’m far more flexible with my hands, elbows, knees and feet than I am with a little piece of metal.  If I can’t run, then I’d defend myself. I have done that in the past and I will in the future. But my aim is never to harm or kill the attacker, unless he is threatening me - for instance with a knife. Then I’ll shoot him.  Oh yeah - that’s another reason why a knife is a bad idea.   Question:  If you had a knife and had to harm someone (without killing them) in self-defense, where should you stab?

Alexandra98 · Answer

Use a long, thin knife and aim for the eye socket immediately next to the nose.
Drive the blade in deep and twist.
It works for psychiatrists, why not for you? It’s called a lobotomy.
Oh yeah, you have to convince the guy to be strapped to a table first.

Naruto · Answer

DO NOT USE A KNIFE!
There are NO safe targets for using a knife. I appreciate that you don’t want to kill somebody. So I necessarily recommend for you to NOT carry a knife! Although a knife can be intimidating, it often is not. And it has no stopping power.
If you want to get more into the topic, you can watch videos on YouTube. (search “knife” & “taxi” for example. I did not want to post the video here.)
You will see: A knife is effective for killing, but not for stopping someone. Exactly the opposite of what you want.
If you really want to carry a weapon for self defense, I would recommend Pepper Spray or something blunt for striking.

Eden97 · Answer

Democrat? In the head.
Anyone else on the planet? Outside. Not inside. Like inside of legs or inside of arms. On the outside of the bicep and thigh. Slice anywhere in center mass. Not under arm pit. Not the neck.
If you mean them harm. Cut your way in, cut your way out.
Stabbing is intention. Obvious. Slicing can be defensive. ‘I wasnt trying to kill him, I just wanted him to stop hitting me’ If you stab and kill, the arguement can be made in reverse. If you slice and kill, he bled out cause he kept coming

If you had a knife and had to harm someone (without killing them) in self-defense, where should you stab?

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Is 4060 molybdenum steel an acceptable type for making a knife? What about annealing/quenching it?

Why do some trained assassins prefer a knife to the kidney for a silent kill instead of snapping their target’s neck?