Common sense knife control?

Are you in favor of any laws restricting knives?

  • Nope

  • In some extremely limited cases

  • Yes, but I think the laws in my state/country are too restrictive

  • Yes, and I generally agree with the laws in my state/country

  • Yes, and I think the laws in my area should be more restrictive

Results are only viewable after voting.
Triton said:
Been watching a few too many Westerns? Figure there was a shootout on main street every day at noon?
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No, I don't think Westerns are documentaries. The violence was exaggerated in the writings of the day, but it was still a dangerous time. I've read articles that say it was not much worse than a modern city, but the logic and methodology were suspect. In my own family history, I had a relative who was feuding with another man. The man lay in wait and killed him, then went straight to the train station and fled. My relative's kin got together and rode off with spare horses, took the shorter path, and gunned him down at the train station at his destination. So my reading says it was a dangerous time and place, my family history tells me it was dangerous, and that's what I'm going with.

The irony here is that the post that I was replying to with the Wild West comment Robert Heinlein's quote about an armed society being a polite society. His belief is just as fictional as any Western.
 
Since I'm usually as dangerous as a bag of marshmallows: I could probably be walking a Hell-hound down the street, and barely get noticed...
 
killgar said:
I respect your point of view, and I can understand why parents would be upset if someone sold their child a knife without the parents permission, but I'm very thankful that we have no such regulations here in California.

One of my fondest childhood memories was buying knives without my parents knowledge. Although I was permitted to have knives, mom was just as likely, or more than likely to say "No" if I asked if I could buy a knife on my own. Better to suffer punishment than ask for permission was my motto growing up. The vast majority of knives I had growing up were acquired without my parents permission.

There was a camping store that my best friend and I walked past to go to junior high. They sold knives. My friend and I used to drool over them. One time we got a note from his father so we could buy machetes. There's NO WAY my mom would have let me have a machete. We had to buy my friends dad one too to bribe him into writing the note. That machete ended up serving me well for decades. I used in in my landscaping business, on camping trips, and as a yard tool at home.

The knife pictured below is one that I bought at the same store on my own, no note was required (I also bought one for my friend). It was my first fixed-blade, and although I didn't know it then, it was a total piece of junk. But I loved it, I secretly carried it around in my sock under my pants. It made me feel prepared, and super-cool. The pic isn't mine, I just happened to stumble across it one day browsing the net. My knife eventually broke.

I feel bad for all the kids whose parents forbid them from having ANY knives, ever. I fear for the future of those kids, and what kind of adults they will be, when they are forbidden from having one of the most basic, and useful tools a person can posses. I've known some of them, and they have virtually no tool-using capabilities whatsoever. I know I'm a better person for having grown up with my own knives.

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And I am better for having been exposed to knives at an early age, too. My Dad sat me down and showed me the ropes. We talked safety, appropriate uses, when to carry a knife and when to leave it at home. My son is 3 and I’ve already purchased his first knife. We work on closing knives (with my help) and identifying knife hazards.

Now I’m not saying he’s mastering these skills, but with guidance he’s getting exposure.

But I don’t know that Joe Schmoe’s kid is going to get the same instruction. It seems to have worked out well for you that <18 year old Killgar was sneaking around knives behind his mom’s back, but I was a kid doing stupid things like the rest of you. I rest easier knowing that a parent must make the choice for whether their kid is responsible enough for knife ownership where I live. Now does that stop kids from getting them? Not necessarily… but someone somewhere has to make a choice, and it’s not the kid.

My heart goes out to the kids who don’t get one until they leave their parent’s house, but unfortunately “them’s the breaks”. Small beans compared to some things kids go through.
 
Murindo said:
I'm happy here in Texas where all knives including dirks, daggers, Bowies, balisongs, automatics, and gravity knives of any blade length have been legal for the last several years and there haven't been any issues.
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Except for the 'location-restricted knife'.
 
BitingSarcasm said:
No, I don't think Westerns are documentaries. The violence was exaggerated in the writings of the day, but it was still a dangerous time. I've read articles that say it was not much worse than a modern city, but the logic and methodology were suspect. In my own family history, I had a relative who was feuding with another man. The man lay in wait and killed him, then went straight to the train station and fled. My relative's kin got together and rode off with spare horses, took the shorter path, and gunned him down at the train station at his destination. So my reading says it was a dangerous time and place, my family history tells me it was dangerous, and that's what I'm going with.

The irony here is that the post that I was replying to with the Wild West comment Robert Heinlein's quote about an armed society being a polite society. His belief is just as fictional as any Western.
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Every time is a dangerous time because there are always evil people both criminal and political (but I repeat myself). The biggest danger is giving in to hoplophobia and disarming the law abiding because there are criminals. One would think that common sense would dictate that arming the good guys would be a good plan when there are armed bad guys …and there are always going to be armed bad guys. Of course, these days common sense is a super power.

As for the Heinlein quote maybe it’s just me, but I am always extremely polite around armed people, like say police officers and the like. Super power.
 
Triton said:
Every time is a dangerous time because there are always evil people both criminal and political (but I repeat myself). The biggest danger is giving in to hoplophobia and disarming the law abiding because there are criminals. One would think that common sense would dictate that arming the good guys would be a good plan when there are armed bad guys …and there are always going to be armed bad guys. Of course, these days common sense is a super power.

As for the Heinlein quote maybe it’s just me, but I am always extremely polite around armed people, like say police officers and the like. Super power.
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I spent a lot of hours in shooting ranges as a child and young man, put a lot of rounds downrange. I never shot a wall or baffle, but there were always nicks and holes in them. I hope the people who can't control their muzzles well enough to hit the backstop aren't the ones armed out in public, but you never know. I have no problem with a competent shooter carrying a gun, the question is who gets to decide what the criteria are. Training would be a nice one, but it seems that we are throwing that one out.

I prefer to be polite in general, not just to the armed people. If the reason people are being nice is that breaking a societal convention could lead to sudden death, that's not politeness, that's fear.
 
BitingSarcasm said:
I prefer to be polite in general, not just to the armed people. If the reason people are being nice is that breaking a societal convention could lead to sudden death, that's not politeness, that's fear.
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I think the idea is that in a society peopled with those armed and capable of dealing with troublemakers, fewer people want to even look like troublemakers.
 
David Mary said:
Not exactly. Law enforcement will be called, and will have to determine the potential danger to the public peace. That in itself is already a problem for everyone. And a spear is more attention grabbing than a knife, and more alien to the environment as well. Much more likely to be called in than a five or seven inch open carried fixed blade. Officers show up and could argue its imposing size and high potential lethality are liable to cause panic and that this creates a situation dangerous to the public peace. Not to mention other circumstances such as behavior and other things that could indicate danger.

The same argument would be much weaker against an open carried knife. But in the end, if officers judge that it poses a threat to the public peace, you're going through the ringer, regardless of the outcome.

Even if it is not intrinsically illegal to carry a weapon, even one for self defense, I agree that the outcome of doing so may very well be as though it were illegal, if the other circumstance around it did not make it so already.
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Interesting Read.
 
Since I'm usually as dangerous as a bag of marshmallows: I could probably be walking a Hell-hound down the street, and barely get noticed...
EngrSorenson said:
I dare you to say that to a diabetic.
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🤣 Guess what??
Type one Diabetic for almost 57 years.
Been using an insulin pump and an integrated CGM for over 30 years...
 
Bob Denman said:
Since I'm usually as dangerous as a bag of marshmallows: I could probably be walking a Hell-hound down the street, and barely get noticed...

🤣 Guess what??
Type one Diabetic for almost 57 years.
Been using an insulin pump and an integrated CGM for over 30 years...
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So you know how dangerous you are… you’re just bragging.
 
David Mary said:
I think the idea is that in a society peopled with those armed and capable of dealing with troublemakers, fewer people want to even look like troublemakers.
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I know that, it's the same idea that's been bouncing around forever. The problem is the one's who think they are John Wick, shoot like Barney Fife, and lack the judgment to go unarmed if they are going to drink alcohol. That's not even touching on the joy that is racial profiling or the darker side of vigilantism. People need training to hit the target and education about when NOT to shoot, or they are just as much a problem as the thugs. There was an incident when I was in college with a foot chase in a residential area of an idiot by 4 police officers. He turned with a gun, and three of the police had a line of fire, one was slightly behind. Those three hit him twice, nonlethal, in the shoulder and leg. They also hit 2 houses, a couple of cars, and a boat. Alaskan cops get plenty of training and lots of shooting range time, but throw some exertion and adrenaline in the mix with a short barrel and look out. I don't want to be the backstop.
 
Automatics still illegal in PA because of some draconian moral panic "switchblade" laws from the 50's still on the books. Completely ridiculous.
 
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Same here in New York.
Spring assisted actions are also illegal.
 
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