From several feet? While the sapling runs away?

I'm also not real sure what your point is. I said I wouldn't want to face someone wielding a machete anymore than. I was acknowledging that a malicious person can be plenty dangerous with weapons that basically can't be restricted (a machete can be improvised much more easily than a repeating firearm or ammunition for said firearm).

No, saplings don't run away. But sometimes people don't either, especially when they're getting ready to shoot.

We agree that both machetes and guns are dangerous. But I'm arguing that a machete can be more dangerous than a handgun, in the hands of a trained attacker.

I was quibbling with the "physically work quite a bit" aspect of your comment.

My workplace provided "active shooter training" in which a police officer demonstrated a potential way for a group of unarmed people to disarm a person with a gun. When one of my coworkers asked "What if they have a knife?" the officer replied with something to the effect of "There's no good way to disarm them without getting your hands cut up, I'd much rather face an assailant with a gun than a knife."

Cold weapons _are_ more dangerous at near distances, than guns.

The gun has exactly one business end and you know how it is going to be used. An attacker wielding a knife can use multitude of moves, how to attack.

Shooting someone that is running away is murder not self-defense.

Yes, the context of the discussion is the malicious use of weapons.

I have no argument with that.