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I have a katana with a real blade, not a souvenir store rinky dink blade. It was my primary home defense weapon before the guns. The beauty of a katana is you can hold it such that the blade is hidden completely behind your arm and the tip is behind your head. A quick under hand upward swing is all it takes to get started from there so I think it has a pretty good surprise factor as well.

I think it would be much messier than a pistol though.