Would an airgun provide some type of protection for a person that is being attacked with a knife?

Question

If it does, I'm buying one.

Oh and where is the most effective part to shoot at on the body to disable the enemy?

Answer 1

I guess it would be better than nothing... and you could (in theory) hurt them if you hit 'em in the eye, the throat, or the groin.

And if they get close enough to actually stab you with the knife - you take a swing & hit 'em with it.

(Of course - you might just aggrevate the knife-man & making 'em mad so they REALLY hurt you)

Answer 2

If you are speaking of a high end airgun that will propel a pellet at a high velocity it would have some effect, I'm no airgun expert but there are airguns which will kill a small animal and I would bet cause a fairly serious injury to a person. Now that said I do not suggest you engage a person armed with a knife. A "regular" airgun would be useful as a bludgeon or a distraction against such an attacker. Knifes are deadly weapons and are not to be trifled with. Luckily very few people are skilled knife fighters. You should watch the video, "surviving edged weapons", fascinating and informative. If I remember right the minimum safe distance when engaging a knife wielding assailant is twenty one feet.

Answer 3

Depends.

A regular BB-gun in the 250-400 FPS velocity range will provide almost no protection. The rounds would hurt, sure, but no real damage would be done unless you score a hit to the eye, which would blind your assailant.

If you're talking a serious pellet-pistol or pellet-rifle in the 600-1500 feet-per-second velocity range, then the answer is yes. People often underestimate these weapons, but keep in mind that a .22-caliber handgun packs 800-FPS velocity, and even a handgun in that small of a caliber is definitely lethal. The same holds true for airguns.

The answer summed up is that any airgun firing a metal projectile with a velocity greater than 700-FPS IS lethal up to a range of about 15 yards. I wouldn't recommend buying one solely for self-defense, but in a last-ditch situation, a serious airgun would easily fend off an attacker with a contact weapon.

Answer 4

I actually used a pellet gun in a defensive situation once. I owned a Walther CP99. Look it up and it actually looks like a real gun. Some idiots were fighting at a party I had and one pulled out a knife. I used the 'gun' to calm down the situation. So this worked because the idiots thought the gun was real.

The amount of damage an airgun can do on a human depends on the type of gun. I have a pellet gun rifle that you can pump numerous times. If someone got shot in a vital part if could stop them. My Walther CP 99 was CO2 powered. It was powerful for a small pellet gun, but nothing that could stop anyone. Pellets hurt like hell, but if someone is running at you, pellets from a CO2 gun are not going to stop them.

If you had too, aim at the face, neck, or balls. Goodluck.

I also recoomend the Walther CP99. Great gun that works great. Looks and feels real.

Answer 5

I've been attacked with a knife and I fended off my assailant with nothing but my hands.
Muggers don't walk up to you and show you a knife, then say "gimme your wallet". That's Hollywood. They make no indication they will strike. They just do it. No time to pull a gun or nothing. I was walking home from work on a snowy winter night, shortly after midnight, from my job. Nobody was out. I worked in a small factory making brass valves. The 4-12 shift I worked had about 10 employees. Most caught the bus. I walked home alone. He came at me about half way home, as I rounded a corner of a lot with a chain link fence that had slats in it. Clean cut white boy, about 20. Blond hair, blue eyes. Looked like a college student. Out of nowhere, he tried to stab me in the face or neck as he passed. I blocked him with my left arm and pushed him into a fence. I had 50 some odd stitches in my elbow and the back side of forearm, about 6" long, through a heavy wool coat. I was a bloody mess. It was a deep cut.
There is no way a gun would have helped. Couldn't pull it out fast enough. I pushed him down and into the fence. He was running away. If I shot him in the back, I'd be the one in jail.
Take it from someone who survived an attempted murder (the charge he's doing 25 years for right now) a gun isn't going to protect you.

Answer 6

A hunting grade pellet rifle will shoot @ ~1100 fps. That is about the same muzzle velicity as a shotgun. The bullet from a pellet rifle is rather light but, with that said, the pellet would penetrate deep enough to hit your heart if no bone was struck.
I have shot squirrells and had a .22 call pellet go all the way through. So, while it isn't an ideal defense weapon, the right pellet rifle can kill a person. Don't depend on it to save your life but I guess it's better than nothing.
Then again, you could just really piss someone off if you shoot them with a pellet gun - beware.

Answer 7

If you are talking about a normal BB gun, the answer is NO.

If you are talking about a .22 caliber or larger, giving more than 1000 fps velocity, the answer is - Not Much.

The pellets lack the mass needed to penetrate, and most such air-rifles are single shots, and slow on a second shot. Unless you managed to shoot your attacker in the eye and into the brain, you don't have much chance of stopping an attack.

Get a real firearm.

Doc

Answer 8

"Hawaiianstyler" would be correct lol one of Dennis Quackenbush's rifles and or pistols for that matter, would certainly do the job. These are VERY powerful custom PCP air guns capable of remarkable performance.

I don't know if I would want to carry one around for "defense" though.

This is the most powerful "production" air pistol that I know of.
http://www.pyramydair.com/cgi-bin/model.pl?model_id=961
This is a 6 shot .22, PCP capable of 1000fps with light pellets and over 700fps with very heavy ones

Answer 9

very minimal and you probable would not like the results, also depending on the area you live the carrying of any tool that fires a projectile is more than likely frowned upon

Answer 10

A store bought air gun against a person?
No, not even close.
A highly modified one, a definate YES.
http://www.quackenbushairguns.com/
Who said air guns can't kill?
Those people don't know what they're
talking about. I do.

Answer 11

If you use it to beat the hell out of the person attacking you then yes.

If not, then I wouldnt chance it.

Only the retarded would try that.