Many of the posts here are excellent. Pluspinc hit some thing on the head, and for once I agree with his post %100.
I especially find applicable his statement here about how bad guys play a role in what happens (and many people do not traing with this in regard). This is such a true statement when applied to most martial arts. People learn in these corner karate marts how to disable an attacker if he stands a certain way and punches you with his feet standing just so, and his arm extended just so, etc etc. Bad guys have a role in the events too. They don't cooperate and they don't react in any one specific way. You can't train to expect them to react a certain way. This is how "black belts" get their butt kicked when a barroom brawler just tackles them and pummels them. They "never learned a counter to that move".
Regarding knife, I have been training in (mostly) Kali for many years. I KNOW that I am far deadlier with a knife as long as I can get contact. Honestly, it does not even take a fancy knife, with just a boxcutter I can shred every major extremal artery on a person in about two seconds and they will bleed out just about instantly after that. All it takes is a $.99 box cutter, contact distance and a matter of seconds.
But, I carry a gun as my primary weapon and a knife more as a utility tool and a backup. There are many reasons for this. Some of them are: Guns are more intimidating to criminals. It does not make sense, but it is a fact. The gun is regarded as king on the street. If you pull a knife, they will likely challenge you and think they can take you. You pull a gun, and criminals (usually) make haste. I have experienced both of these and seen them to be true. The whole object is to get the person to desist without getting youself into legal hassles. If you can get them to desist by diplaying a gun, then you are best off. Of course it goes without saying that you do not display a weapon until and uless you have need to use it, with full intent. But I would still rather pull a gun and have someone run off right before I pull the trigger, than pull a knife and have the person grab an improvised weapon and challenge me. That is what I have seen happen.
Also, guns are versatile. they allow you to engage multiple targets, and give you versatility of range. You can engage target at distance and through cover. There is just a lot of versatility there.
Legally, you are better off if you use a gun, and that is just a (sad?) fact. Knives are very frowned upon for myriad reasons.
On the other hand, I just saw a video of a man who was shot through his chest with a .25 auto. Penetration was more than adaquate because the bullet was found lodged under the skin of his back, he was shot just near the left nipple....yes, that means the bullet went through just near his heart, and definitly his left lung.
The police and paramedics had to wrestle him into the ambulance. He refused to sit down. He complained that it hurt, but it only made him mad and he was strutting around yelling, kicking trash cans and getting more violent, not less.
Since the bullet went right through, there is no doubt that penetration was adequate and placement was excellent, right near his heart and lungs. One could say that the diameter of the bullet was too small, but I don't see that a larger diameter bullet would have made THAT much difference. The guy still had a hole through his chest.
This man was in no way disabled, in fact he was more violent after being shot through the chest.
Just be aware of how ineffective handguns are at STOPPING people. It is easy to see why cops empty so many rounds into bad guys. They are shooting until the BG stops, and that apparently takes a lot of time and bullets. Sometimes, even placement does not help that much. What's the solution? Head shots? Lots of bullets? (this is a rhetorical question)
Personally, I have faced both knife and gun, and I am still here so I guess neither one was more effective. The knife injured me more, but due to my training I would rather face the knife because WITH MY TRAINING (this does not apply to everyone) I handled the knife well. Next time I may not be so lucky. But anyway, any fool can pull a trigger and any fool can get midieval on you and go primitive with a knife. Both are deadly in untrained hands, and more deadly in trained hands. But, at contact distance, the knife is far more effective if a person's goal is purely to physically incapacitate their adversary.
Another thing to think about regarding the knife is this: I you get shot in a bad place such as even through the heart, and get to a hospital right away, you have a good chance of surviving. If you get slashed in a really bad place, like the carotid artery, it does not matter how fast you get to the emergency room, you are going to die.
Blood loss causes physical incapacitation, and knives cause much faster blood loss. The knife is not only deadlier but a faster incapacitator.
