Read the original question...
The original question was
How many people out there who practice a sword art they would consider to be effective, or atleast reasonably so, also practice mutodori???? And why?
Key words being "effective" and "atleast reasonably so".
With this in mind, if you think muto dori is possible then you must believe your sword can be taken from you, or that a person can defend themselves against you (you being a competent swordsman, them being unarmed).
Therefor if this is your belief, you are not practicing an effective system of swordsmanship!
You can't compare gun take-aways to muto dori. Firstly, you can grab the barrel of a gun (as is practiced by many Jujutsu schools). There is nothing sharp to worry about. Secondly, a person has to aim a gun. A sword does not need to be aimed at a person, it merely needs to come between the two. As far as I am aware, from talking with people trained in professions which use a gun to arrest/subdue an assailant/criminal, they are told that if they hold their gun to the person they may as well hand it to them. These are people trained in the weapons' use. Taking a gun is not that difficult and therefor not relevent to this discussion.
John, I believe the attacker in that knife attack was shot by the victims partner. If not, he would have surely died!
The guy with the sword sees his enemy and steps in and cuts him down.
This is exactly the reason people think muto dori is possible. Why do people always think that a cut with a sword has to be a full bodied, committed action?
What about stepping backwards and cutting?
What about feinting an attack from one angle and changing to another angle?
Just what defences are possible against a kesa (diagonal) cut?
How are you supposed to move in on a swordsman when you can't even see the blade???
Best wishes
Howard Quick
Shinkendo Australia - Shibucho
Senjutsu Ryu Jujitsu
Kokusai Toyama Ryu Renmei