Knife Laws

[killgar]

I agree with you. I am not saying that I am in favor of crime and criminals. I'm suggesting that we need to look at the larger issues that produce crime and criminals.

I agree with you again. My hope would be that a modern, civilized society could do two things at the same time- incarcerate people who insist on committing crimes that harm others, and, address the root causes of many crimes, and in the process reduce both the number of criminals, and the number of crimes committed.

But of course human beings are less than perfect. And anything we create, societies, governments, criminal justice systems, are inevitably going to be less than perfect as well. People, and lawmakers tend to swing to the extremes- "lock 'em all up and throw away the key", or, "let the poor underprivileged victims of society go free". Maybe someday our society will find a middle-ground that works. But I don't see it happening any time soon. Many of the causes of crime today are no different than what they were a hundred years ago, and I don't doubt that the same causes will still be around and plaguing society a hundred years from now.

All that aside, I look at the issue of crime in simple terms- if a guy breaks into my apartment and steals my stuff, I don't care if he's suffered racial discrimination, or economic disadvantage, I don't care if he had a rough childhood or has a substance abuse problem, I want his thieving ass arrested and put in jail, for a reasonable amount of time. Where I hope he receives counseling and rehabilitation, and is one day released as a productive member of society.

 

[Triton]

I agree with you. I am not saying that I am in favor of crime and criminals. I'm suggesting that we need to look at the larger issues that produce crime and criminals.

Sure but that doesn't mean that we should ignore the rule of law, nor should government officials who are nominally elected to uphold it.

 

[Triton]

.

All that aside, I look at the issue of crime in simple terms- if a guy breaks into my apartment and steals my stuff, I don't care if he's suffered racial discrimination, or economic disadvantage, I don't care if he had a rough childhood or has a substance abuse problem, I want his thieving ass arrested and put in jail, for a reasonable amount of time. Where I hope he receives counseling and rehabilitation, and is one day released as a productive member of society.

This.

 

[Mister Coffee]

I agree with you again. My hope would be that a modern, civilized society could do two things at the same time- incarcerate people who insist on committing crimes that harm others, and, address the root causes of many crimes, and in the process reduce both the number of criminals, and the number of crimes committed.

But of course human beings are less than perfect. And anything we create, societies, governments, criminal justice systems, are inevitably going to be less than perfect as well. People, and lawmakers tend to swing to the extremes- "lock 'em all up and throw away the key", or, "let the poor underprivileged victims of society go free". Maybe someday our society will find a middle-ground that works. But I don't see it happening any time soon. Many of the causes of crime today are no different than what they were a hundred years ago, and I don't doubt that the same causes will still be around and plaguing society a hundred years from now.

All that aside, I look at the issue of crime in simple terms- if a guy breaks into my apartment and steals my stuff, I don't care if he's suffered racial discrimination, or economic disadvantage, I don't care if he had a rough childhood or has a substance abuse problem, I want his thieving ass arrested and put in jail, for a reasonable amount of time. Where I hope he receives counseling and rehabilitation, and is one day released as a productive member of society.

I agree again with you again. These are, indeed, tough issues, but I think we have an opportunity — perhaps more so than we have had in a while. We need a functioning criminal justice system (which means that the guy who breaks into your apartment must pay a penalty), but we also need to think about how to build that "modern, civilized society." Maybe the younger generation will bring some fresh ideas to these very serious problems.

 

[Knife_Collector_101]

I live in California, the knife laws here can vary from county to county. As a general rule of thumb all fixed blades have to be open carry, folders have to have a 3 inch blade or less. No spring loaded knives, butterfly knives, switchblades, or knives designed to look like everyday objects.
My question is this, if a knife can be confiscated by the cops as a concealed weapon ( depending on length) why is carrying a 12inch Bowie knife ok so long as they can see it?
I think intent is far more important than the knife you carry.

I know people beat up on California a lot for its gun laws and I can understand that. However, their knife laws don’t seem too bad. You can at least carry switchblades and balisongs that are under 2”. (You can also own and collect ones over that length at home.)

It’s kind of a bummer that cool things like sword canes, belt knives, blades in pens, knuckle knives, etc. are totally banned. I always thought of them as “novelty” items. I can’t remember the last time I heard of anyone being attacked with a sword cane or shanked with a pen blade. I only recall seeing that in movies.

 

[scdub]

I live in California, the knife laws here can vary from county to county. As a general rule of thumb all fixed blades have to be open carry, folders have to have a 3 inch blade or less. No spring loaded knives, butterfly knives, switchblades, or knives designed to look like everyday objects.
My question is this, if a knife can be confiscated by the cops as a concealed weapon ( depending on length) why is carrying a 12inch Bowie knife ok so long as they can see it?
I think intent is far more important than the knife you carry.

Sorry if this has been covered - I didn’t read all the posts, but quickly:
1) If you carry an illegal knife, don’t worry about it being confiscated, worry about jail or PRISON time.
2) I agree generally that intent is more important than the weapon and that generally knife laws are overly restrictive,
3) The intent behind the concealed knife laws are to prevent civilians from carrying effective weapons in a secretive manner. The idea being that if you see someone walking around with a fixed blade on their hip, you can use caution around them. Again I think it’s silly but that’s why the laws were crafted the way they were imo…

 

[TwinStick]

Unfortunately, nothing will probably ever change because the people who make the laws are usually the ones least educated on the subject matter.

I recently had a chat with a "woke" woman who swore that the AR in AR-15 stands for Assault Rifle !!! She thinks nobody should be able to have one and they all should be confiscated. Even though the facts are automobiles kill more people every year but they don't ban them. You can't fix stupid. You can't stop crime by passing another law. And you can't operate under the assumption that people don't want to be criminals. Most of them are there because they made a choice (obviously the wrong choice in my eyes) or because they are lazy & don't want the responsibility of a steady job.

The criminals laugh hysterically at the people who make excuses for them. I can't tell you how many times in my 30 year career in the prison system I have had them say it to my face. They laughed at me, telling me I work for chump change. They would laugh and say " I make your yearly salary in 1 week of selling drugs or guns or people!" They would brag about their crimes and were proud of it. Evil is alive and well. And with recent events, it is flourishing like never before because there is no consequences. They are back on the street before their victims get out of the hospital.

Life is all about making choices. The sooner someone learns how to make good choices over bad choices, the better quality of life they will have. Have I met people who I thought should not be in prison ? Yes, but in 30 years, I can count them on my fingers & not use them all. But when you eliminate the consequences of making bad choices, you are absolutely setting up your society for record high crime rates. Oh wait, that's happening right now ! Lol

 

[Mister Coffee]

Unfortunately, nothing will probably ever change because the people who make the laws are usually the ones least educated on the subject matter.

I understand your discouragement, but if we all pull together, we can move toward change.

I recently had a chat with a "woke" woman who swore that the AR in AR-15 stands for Assault Rifle

It's easy to find examples of ignorance and prejudice on both sides. As, I believe, Sal Glesser said, education is the key.

By the way, I think everyone here knows that the "AR" in "AR-15" stands for "Always Right." That's because, when you're holding a dangerous weapon in your hands, you think that you are, you know, always right.

 

[Mal2]

I understand your discouragement, but if we all pull together, we can move toward change.



It's easy to find examples of ignorance and prejudice on both sides. As, I believe, Sal Glesser said, education is the key.

By the way, I think everyone here knows that the "AR" in "AR-15" stands for "Always Right." That's because, when you're holding a dangerous weapon in your hands, you think that you are, you know, always right.

And always right they are. Argue that they aren't in court not on the street. The public, including the one holding the AR doesn't often understand is that the armed individual has to protect the weapon for if he doesn't it might well harm himself and, more importantly, others.