RE: The sad truth
Yeah, a .38 revolver is also good enough. The stopping power is more a matter of the bullet type anyway, it doesn't have to be super powerfull.
Automatic are also reliable, if its a decent brand... usually, mostly all the time. But you know how it is, Murphy's law and all... On a revolver there is basically nothing that can go wrong - unless you forget to load it.
Well, with knifes and such stuff its a gamble. I have plenty of them here, in all sizes. Even a ancient greek sword, like they have in the movie 300 - but that needs a new handle... one of the jobs I will do "one day". :)
But I am in Germany - in the US having a knife seems a little too optimistic. When just about everybody has a gun, its not such a good idea to have a knife. At least, not only a knife....
Don't believe everything you hear: Even here in the Midwest there are lots of people who don't own guns, not including hunting weapons they don't usually have on them. Knives are a lot more popular, but mostly of the utility kind--they have lots of uses. Also, most of us who do go around armed are very careful not to show it--we don't want to invite trouble.
Between my wife and I we have about a dozen swords and daggers ... cavalry, broadswords, katanas, and I was given an actual Marine dress sword and instructed not to ask questions about where it came from. They're very cool, but unless there's a zombie apocalypse I'd just as soon not take one into battle.
I have about 80 or 90 knifes, from a Swiss army knife to the greek sword. But really I don't do swords, that Greek things was kind of a coincidence. It was for sale on Amazon as a "replica" to hang on a wall, for 25 bucks or so. So I assumed it would be one of those Halloween type of jobs, made from thin sheet metal. I was much surprised to find that it is cut out of a quarter inch stainless steel plate, weighing 6 lbs or so. Just the handle is total crap, thats why I want to make a new one. But that thing can sort out some Zombies, I tell you... :)
This is very similar to my one. Its actually a Spartan sword. But thats Greek enough for me... :)
Other than that, I just have a few machetes from Kershaw, which could get away as a sword, I guess.
The ancient Germanic tribes had things like that already 3000 years ago, called a sax. Without the "ophone". It was their universal tool/weapon in their daily life as farmers. I know it more from old pirate movies... :)
But the rest are mainly knifes of different patterns, from medival daggers over Bowie knifes to modern hunting knifes. Many of them are made of damascus steel. I had a scource that made them for reasonable prices, some years ago.
I bought them as a investment, with the intention to sell them one day. Perhaps with a nice wooden plate to hang them on a wall or so, or put them on a shelf. Lets see...
As long as you're prepared for the zombie apocalypse, that's the important thing!