While I hesitate to challenge the word of someone as august as Bernard Levine, I happen to have first hand experience with the topic of which he wrote. Bernard said:
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">If your goal is to stay out of jail, rule #1 is: Do not do things that give law enforcement probable cause to stop and search you. I would put wearing ANY fixed blade knife openly in an urban or suburban area of California high on this list. Doesn't matter what kind of knife it is, this will get you stopped and questioned. At that moment, the finer points of the law will not keep you from being arrested, though if you are lucky (and have a really skillful = expensive lawyer) they might keep you from getting convicted, when your case finally comes to trial.</font>
While I agree that you should avoid situations which give the police probable cause to stop and search you, I disagree most strongly that carrying a fixed blade openly is probable cause. After all, it is specifically PERMITTED in PC 12020. Further, I have openly worn a fixed blade for some years, in urban areas (a Mad Dog pATAK2), and have never been stopped or questioned. If I were, I would simply say that the knife is for extricating people trapped in vehicles after auto accidents.
Secondly, Bernard said:
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">wearing a dagger openly in a California city could get you 5150'ed (locked up on a 72 hour psychiatric hold), and in my expert opinion, that would be entirely appropriate.</font>
I do apologize, but I do not know Mr. (Dr.?) Levine's qualifications to formulate such an opinion. I will state my own; I am a board certified Emergency Dept physician with 20 years' experience, and have executed many 5150's. Mr. Levine's opinion, in MY professional opinion, is grossly incorrect.
There are three criteria for involuntary commitment in CA: Gravely Disabled, a Danger to Self, and last, a Danger to Others.
Gravely disabled means psychotic, and unable to care for ones' self. A Danger to Self means that you are suicidal. A Danger to Others means that you have DEMONSTRATED that you are a risk to someone else. A person walking down the street obviously has not demonstrated that he is a risk to someone else. Even should a person threaten another with a knife, the police would either take the knife away, and satisfy themselves that the person no longer constituted a threat, or take the person to jail (NOT an Emergency Dept.) if he persisted in his threatening behavior.
Were I to have a person brought in by the police who was found to be walking around with a knife, I would NOT execute a 5150 on him. The whole purpose of a 5150 is to treat mentally ill people. If you are not mentally ill, but just dangerous, you go to jail.
I hope this clarifies the matter, and would welcome any comments, questions or criticisms from anyone.
Walt Welch MD, Diplomate, American Board of Emergency Medicine
