Belt buckles in the 1960s were a more substantial, metal-heavy material than today’s flimsy pant-holders. But, according to Lawrence Kane, a Seattle self-defense expert, it would still take a “miracle” for Ben Carson’s stabbing story to be factual.

“If we’re talking a two- to three-inch blade kind of thing, and it got caught just right, yes you could probably break it in a belt buckle, but it would be awfully close to a miracle,” Kane told KTTH’s David Boze. “Generally speaking it would skip off and still cause impact to the person.”

Yup, if the presidential race wasn’t bizarre enough, we’re now calling in experts to prove whether a potential next leader of the free world lied about his ability to stab a friend.

The media has been poking holes in stories and anecdotes of the famed surgeon since he started vaulting up the Republican presidential polls. His fellow candidate at the top, the never subtle Donald Trump took another shot, casting heavy doubts over a story in one of his books where Carson said, in his younger days, when he was an angrier person, he tried to stab his friend but the knife broke on a belt buckle.

“How stupid are the people of Iowa?” Trump asked the crowd, referring to the important political state where Carson is polling strongly. “How stupid are the people of the country to believe this crap?”

Kane, a Seattle resident and best-selling author of multiple martial arts and self-defense books, said he’s heard a number of different versions of Carson’s story – that the then 13-year-old was using a pocket knife, Cub Scout knife or even a fixed-blade hunting knife.

“I don’t know what the real story is, but I will say if it was in fact a fixed-blade hunting blade, no way,” he said. “If it was a small folding pocket knife, I could maybe see that. It would not be easy.”

Kane said the uncertainty on the type of knife Carson allegedly used is understandable.

“The first time someone tried to stab me, I swear he had a machete,” he said. “Well, it turned out to be a 4-inch pocket knife. Perceptions get wonky with adrenaline. But if it was a small folding knife that he had in his pocket it is possible that it’s real. If it’s some of the others stories I’ve heard, it is not possible that it was real.”

The other question Boze posed was whether Carson’s lack of experience in stabbing people might have played a role in Carson’s ability to successfully strike someone with a knife. Kane said that, actually, some of the least experienced people, such as white belts, can be the most dangerous because they don’t do what you expect in sparring situations.

“You never know what somebody who’s never done this before is going to do,” he said.

With that said, Kane said the most common natural reaction for a person angry enough to stab is to aim for the face rather than the stomach.

“Because your psychology is it’s the face is the representation of the person who makes you angry,” he said. “We start to have some questions about why did he aim for the stomach, that’s not really normal if it was an anger-related thing. Why did he go for a knife instead of just using a closed fist?”

Strictly angle-speaking, Kane said knife wielders usually have an upward stabbing motion rather than straight-in.

“I’m having a hard time seeing an angle that would for sure get caught up in the buckle and snap, as opposed to skittering off and going up,” he said. “Because you’d usually think it would be an upward motion, which means it’s gonna hit, it’s gonna glance off and it’s gonna still land in the stomach.”

And that’s a good lesson for every future president.