I bought my first Knife when I was 13, I was never into knives and didn't see the need to have one but 13 was the age my friends began receiving knives from their parents and so I joined the fad and asked my parents to buy me one. My father was a quiet man but even he questioned why I needed a knife but after a month of begging I finally got both their approval and ordered a CRKT M16 ($18). When I first got it, I showed it off to all my friends and took it with me everywhere I went. As time went by, I began taking it to school. I was bullied everyday for months by a kid named Jason and felt extremely depressed and wanted to fight him and even had thoughts of taking my knife out and stabbing him. I began practicing at home, stabbing and cutting different objects pretending it was him and one day I went for a stab and missed the box and went down and stabbed my thigh. I threw the knife out my leg and was shocked by all the blood, I froze and had no clue what to do. I wrapped my leg with a cloth and sat there thinking of a way to hide it from my dad. Of course he found out and I've never seen him that disappointed and pissed at me, later that day we went to the hospital to find out the cut was almost two inch's deep, very close to my bone and I had to receive seven shots and ten stitches. I was ashamed with myself, thinking I actually was considering hurting someone. My dad threw away the knife and I never bought a knife again until I was 17 and that's when I began getting really into knives and educating myself on the safety and real purpose of using them. I'm sorry for leaving you a story but in the end, carrying knives for self defense only gets you in deeper trouble, I know you didn't what to hear this but it's the truth. Looking back I do chuckle a bit at stabbing myself but also extremely thankful because it could have gone down much worse.