I used to do martial arts pretty seriously, have a black belt in one style, and trained extensively in others. During those days, a friend and I worked on knife and gun defenses a lot (I still have visible scars from cuts on my hands decades later). Given a choice within handshake distance, I'd prefer to go against a gun. Some of the knife defenses work so well in practice that it's almost magic how effective they can be. Problem is that people sometimes do stupid stuff and aren't 100% predictable. Their stupid stuff can get you hurt badly.
Given a choice of which to bring to a party, I'd choose both (and pepper spray)! If limited to one, it'd be a gun.
Given a choice of which to bring to a party, I'd choose both (and pepper spray)! If limited to one, it'd be a gun.