In the UK it is illegal for civilians to carry any type of Edged Weapon for “defensive purposes”. Agree with it or not, until some change occurs that is the situation. (The difficulty with justifying a knife as a defensive weapon is that it cannot realistically be used in a manner with which to control an attacker. If you are going to use a knife against an attacker you must be prepared to seriously wound that person. There is no way to “cut someone gently” in a violent situation where knives are being used for “defensive purposes”).  To quote C. O. D. A. Patriarch Bill Pilkington, “Any knife is a combat knife if you are in a combat situation”. To that, we would add; if you have a knife and are not prepared to use it in an offensive way, why are you carrying it in the first place? This is a dilemma that many youngsters in today’s society are having to come to terms with, often with tragic consequences.
Consequently, C. O. D. A. does not provide offensive EW training to members of the public, nor do we advocate the carrying of EW's.
It is not our intention to decry those who do train in offensive applications of EW’s - merely to exercise our right to take our own viewpoint on the subject.
In various parts of the world, not only is it legal to carry EW’s, it may even be a sensible and practical thing to do from a purely self protection perspective. We believe as much as possible, laws should of course be respected.
What we also passionately believe is that if one person is intent on using an EW of any type on another person, the latter should be able to use as much force as is necessary to completely and utterly dissipate the threat. In many ways, EW’s are a more dangerous threat than firearms and should never be treated with contempt or complacency.  Additionally, reacting defensively will leave the ‘victim’ playing ‘catch - up’ almost certainly resulting in serious injury or even death.

The Progressive STAB Programme is designed for Military use and is confined to such personnel under strict (official) criteria.

Progressive STAB covers many aspects of offensive EW use including carry, concealment, drawing, choosing EW’s and various other areas.

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