The attacker ran away after the protagonist pulled a knife. The protagonist probably shouldn’t chase after the bad guy into a dead end and slit his throat. That’s murder. If that matches the character’s path in the story, go for it. However, it’s easy to overlook how quickly the “good guy” in a story can do some bad things that might be out of character. (Shutterstock photo)

TLDR: Using a knife for self-defense can put a character on some shaky ground. The best tactic, legally speaking, is to inflict an injury that allows for a retreat when one is otherwise not possible.

It’s a lot of fun to choose knives for characters. I played the part of armorer for a vigilante detective character not long ago, and I enjoyed the hell out of it. The blades in that instance (I recommended two for the character) were to be used for last-ditch self-defense. I stopped short, however, of detailing what self-defense with a knife can mean in a legal sense.

Maybe this matters to a story and maybe it doesn’t. But if you’re going to assign a character a knife, don’t disregard how easy it is for a knife-wielding character to cross the line from self-defense to murder. Continue reading →

Since starting this blog and my other projects, I’ve moved away from the book reviews that initially were my bread and butter. But then along comes a book like Knife Laws of the U.S., and I can’t let it pass by without getting the word out to writers reading this blog.

Written by one of the foremost Second Amendment attorneys in the country, Evan Nappen, Knife Laws of the U.S. details exactly that. Whereas my book, The Writer’s Guide to Weapons, offers a crash course on this subject, Nappen’s work picks up where I left off, then runs a mile with it. This is the premier resource to turn to when assigning knives to characters if the laws of the setting count. Continue reading →