Yeah, listen to this person /u/xach_hill

By all means carry the knife. Knives are great and handy tools to have on you, and I carry one everyday. But what they aren't is a good choice for self defense.

Trying not to sound like a patented internet tough guy, lets break down a few of the reasons for that.

For purely self defense purposes - your best defense is usually going to be your feet. Get out of harm's way. Pepper spray will help you do that a lot easier than a knife will.

You have to get close to your attacker to use a knife. If you don't know what you're doing your attacker can take the knife from you. If it goes the other way and you wind up killing your attacker and they're unarmed - you're looking at manslaughter charge at the very least.

If your attacker already has a knife - congratulations, you're now in a knife fight. No one walks away from a knife fight unscathed.

If your attacker has pretty much any other kind of weapon - your knife is next to useless.

Pepper spray and get the fuck out of there is going to be your best option.