How to Use a Purse to Defend Yourself Against an Attacker Armed With a Knife
- 1). Begin with the most likely mugging scenario. Your attacker is probably only a few feet in front of you and threatening to stab you with his knife. If you’ve got your backpack over both shoulders you won’t be able to do much with it. Slip off one of the straps as quickly as possible and hold it on your dominant shoulder.
- 2). Spin in the direction of the attacker’s hand that is holding the knife, swinging the backpack to impact against that hand and drive the knife out to the side.
- 3). Continue the spin so that your back is facing the attacker. Keep spinning and hammer the back of your other elbow into the underside of your attacker’s neck, or against his temple. This portion of the elbow is the hardest part of the human body. If done correctly, using both the force of the spin as well as the power of your arm and shoulders, you will strike with a level of force equivalent to that of a carpenter’s hammer being swung.
- 4). Sidestep around the attacker and continue to rotate so that you can swing your backpack into the back of your attacker’s skull. If the bag contains lots of books or anything heavy it has the chance to fracture the skull, allowing you to get away or wait for help to arrive. If your bag is significantly smaller or lighter you could instead swing the bag into the back of your attacker’s knees, tripping him up and giving you a chance to run.
Source...