You're all carrying your knives backwards!

[000Robert]

Jokes are always robbed of their humorous impact when they are explained. But here goes: People often fear the unknown. To many people, ethnic foods are unfamiliar and can smell and taste bizarre to those not used to them. It is not actually dangerous, to them though. But the fear of unknown tastes and smells might be enough to cause some people to refuse to ever try certain cuisines. Therefore Boombats' comment was a well implemented way to acknowledge people's propensity for fear of the unknown, while substituting something that is not actually dangerous (unknown cuisine) in place of the real potential danger we were discussing (whether there is an increased likelihood of a person who normally is armed falling victim to violent crime if he or she should travel to a place where the law disarms him or her). I felt it was a clever way to politely stick to his point, while adding some appreciated levity to the topic.

I'm not afraid of anything or anyone. I don't see why people are always trying to ascribe fear for what is clearly preparedness. I choose to be prepared for evil scumbags in case they appear. And I don't go places anymore that I am not allowed to defend myself. I don't wonder through the world in some utopian dream. Personally, I consider anyone that just dances around believing that nothing bad could ever come their way, a dreamer, to put it kindly.

 

[David Mary]

You're not afraid, fine. But fear, as defined by the dictionary is not a weakness. Inaction because of fear is. But fear is a rational and reasonable emotion that is built into the human nature to motivate preparedness.

anyone that just dances around believing that nothing bad could ever come their way

I haven't seen anyone in this thread express that belief. I think the question at issue is the difference between each person's willingness to tolerate or be exposed to risk.

 

[000Robert]

You're not afraid, fine. But fear, as defined by the dictionary is not a weakness. Inaction because of fear is. But fear is a rational and reasonable emotion that is built into the human nature to motivate preparedness.



I haven't seen anyone in this thread express that belief. I think the question at issue is the difference between each person's willingness to tolerate or be exposed to risk.

I agree, fear is a natural response for most people. And I never said that fear equated to weakness. My attitude toward it is that I like to be prepared for what 'might' happen, and not just 'assume' that everything will be a bed of roses.

Tolerate risk? Ok, so if they are willing to tolerate being exposed to risk, and then get killed, should I feel sorry for them? Or should I pity them?

 

[David Mary]

Tolerate risk? Ok, so if they are willing to tolerate being exposed to risk, and then get killed, should I feel sorry for them? Or should I pity them?

I don't even know why you would say that.

Everyone assumes risk every day. Who is to say that one person's risk threshold is more reasonable than another's? We each determine how much risk we will tolerate with our actions, vs the rewards we expect. When I was younger, I went on a several thousand mile Greyhound bus trip across the USA. AFTER I had read about the person who was beheaded on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba. The person had fallen asleep, and woke up to find himself stabbed. The bus driver stopped the bus (middle of nowhere in rural Canada) when the stabbed passenger started screaming. He and the rest of the passengers scrambled to flee the vehicle, but the victim, and his mentally ill assailant remained on board, and the assailant used his hunting knife to finish the job, and take off his victim's head.

He assumed the risk of falling asleep in a less than secure environment. Doubtless he didn't even conceive of his fate, yet there it is. I feel sorry for him. I pity him. And his family. Don't you?

And I rode the Greyhound after reading about this, sometimes for more than 24 hours straight (short stop overs notwithstanding). So yeah, I slept on the bus. I assumed that risk. Because the expected reward (i.e. the purpose of my trip, and the experience of seeing America and meeting her people for myself) was worth the risks to me. Because those worst case scenarios were so statistically remote that I felt they were not a likely risk.

There is a risk involved every time you drive or ride in a car. A t-bone could happen to you with no chance to avoid it. Are we going to ask whether we should feel sorry for, or pity victims of traffic accidents, or their grieving families? Or worse yet imply that because "they knew the risks" of traffic that we don't feel sorry for them?

But again, I don't know why you even went there.

I guess that you are here just to argue. Why don't you get a hobby or something?

 

[000Robert]

I don't even know why you would say that.

Everyone assumes risk every day. Who is to say that one person's risk threshold is more reasonable than another's? We each determine how much risk we will tolerate with our actions, vs the rewards we expect. When I was younger, I went on a several thousand mile Greyhound bus trip across the USA. AFTER I had read about the person who was beheaded on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba. The person had fallen asleep, and woke up to find himself stabbed. The bus driver stopped the bus (middle of nowhere in rural Canada) when the stabbed passenger started screaming. He and the rest of the passengers scrambled to flee the vehicle, but the victim, and his mentally ill assailant remained on board, and the assailant used his hunting knife to finish the job, and take off his victim's head.

He assumed the risk of falling asleep in a less than secure environment. Doubtless he didn't even conceive of his fate, yet there it is. I feel sorry for him. I pity him. And his family. Don't you?

And I rode the Greyhound after reading about this, sometimes for more than 24 hours straight (short stop overs notwithstanding). So yeah, I slept on the bus. I assumed that risk. Because the expected reward (i.e. the purpose of my trip, and the experience of seeing America and meeting her people for myself) was worth the risks to me. Because those worst case scenarios were so statistically remote that I felt they were not a likely risk.

There is a risk involved every time you drive or ride in a car. A t-bone could happen to you with no chance to avoid it. Are we going to ask whether we should feel sorry for, or pity victims of traffic accidents, or their grieving families? Or worse yet imply that because "they knew the risks" of traffic that we don't feel sorry for them?

But again, I don't know why you even went there.

Current events, that's why. I'm talking about "now", not pre-covid. I just feel that people should be more careful at this time. I took risks too at times in previous years. But these are more volatile times. Do as you wish.

 

[kakefat]

I’d just like to chime in on one of the topics that has been brought up in this thread about how some people don’t want to travel to certain countries were they’re not allowed to carry a weapon for self defense because they feel they’d be at the mercy of the criminals in that country.

I’m from Norway and we are not allowed to carry weapons for self defense. However we also don’t have many criminals of which you’d be at the mercy of.

In 2020 we had 31 murders. 71% of those happened in the home and of the murders that happened outside of family there was only one murder were the victim didn’t know the perpetrator.

1 murder where the victim was just unlucky. Yes that’s more than 0 but it’s still so incredibly uncommon that the risk is almost non existent. The fact is we simply don’t have that many criminals here and you are not placing yourself at any real risk by going here unarmed.

The world is vast and beautiful. I’d recommend seeing some of it

 

[Chronovore]

I’d just like to chime in on one of the topics that has been brought up in this thread about how some people don’t want to travel to certain countries were they’re not allowed to carry a weapon for self defense because they feel they’d be at the mercy of the criminals in that country.

I’m from Norway and we are not allowed to carry weapons for self defense. However we also don’t have many criminals of which you’d be at the mercy of.

In 2020 we had 31 murders. 71% of those happened in the home and of the murders that happened outside of family there was only one murder were the victim didn’t know the perpetrator.

1 murder where the victim was just unlucky. Yes that’s more than 0 but it’s still so incredibly uncommon that the risk is almost non existent. The fact is we simply don’t have that many criminals here and you are not placing yourself at any real risk by going here unarmed.

The world is vast and beautiful. I’d recommend seeing some of it

I carry a defensive tool every day, unless I can't. I don't usually let that stop me from going to places where I can't. However, it is a factor in decisions such as where I might choose to move. It might be a factor in where I take my family for vacations, but generally in the context of other factors like crime rates. If I had the resources and opportunity to visit Norway, I probably would.

At the core of this issue are concepts such as liberty, security, and self-reliance. Even if it is never needed, I'm very glad to have it. For me, it's no different than having a fire extinguisher in my kitchen.

I wish that all places were safe and peaceful. I wish that all geopolitical zones would trust their citizens with at least the level of freedom that I have now.

 

[kakefat]

I carry a defensive tool every day, unless I can't. I don't usually let that stop me from going to places where I can't. However, it is a factor in decisions such as where I might choose to move. It might be a factor in where I take my family for vacations, but generally in the context of other factors like crime rates. If I had the resources and opportunity to visit Norway, I probably would.

At the core of this issue are concepts such as liberty, security, and self-reliance. Even if it is never needed, I'm very glad to have it. For me, it's no different than having a fire extinguisher in my kitchen.

I wish that all places were safe and peaceful. I wish that all geopolitical zones would trust their citizens with at least the level of freedom that I have now.

In this case I was purely speaking about traveling since that’s something that was mentioned before.

I would also like if my government would trust me and my countrymen to be responsible enough to carry defensive items. Especially since after it became illegal to carry a knife without a good reason knife violence hasn’t become less prevalent even if it was never high to begin with. Banning an item such as a knife just doesn’t make sense to me since it’s primarily a utility item. Luckily our laws don’t completely forbid us from carrying knives but rather allow it as long as we can explain why we are carrying it.

As for firearms it’s not illegal to own them. We can even own “military style rifles” given we pass certain requirements. But we can’t carry a gun outside in our day to day lives. Personally I’m ok with this since at the time being crime rates are so low I wouldn’t bother to carry anyway.

But like I said my comment was just about traveling. I hope something like gun legality wouldn’t stop someone from visiting my country or other countries were it’s safe to travel and the risk of being assaulted is next to non existent. Personally I wouldn’t want it to stop them from traveling to countries that aren’t safe either. Many of my best travel experiences has been made in countries with high crime rates.

 

[000Robert]

In this case I was purely speaking about traveling since that’s something that was mentioned before.

I would also like if my government would trust me and my countrymen to be responsible enough to carry defensive items. Especially since after it became illegal to carry a knife without a good reason knife violence hasn’t become less prevalent even if it was never high to begin with. Banning an item such as a knife just doesn’t make sense to me since it’s primarily a utility item. Luckily our laws don’t completely forbid us from carrying knives but rather allow it as long as we can explain why we are carrying it.

As for firearms it’s not illegal to own them. We can even own “military style rifles” given we pass certain requirements. But we can’t carry a gun outside in our day to day lives. Personally I’m ok with this since at the time being crime rates are so low I wouldn’t bother to carry anyway.

But like I said my comment was just about traveling. I hope something like gun legality wouldn’t stop someone from visiting my country or other countries were it’s safe to travel and the risk of being assaulted is next to non existent. Personally I wouldn’t want it to stop them from traveling to countries that aren’t safe either. Many of my best travel experiences has been made in countries with high crime rates.

It's not only people, it could be a rabid dog or something. I wonder how many bodies were never found that would've made the list? There's probably a bunch of ways to skew the statistics. I also don't want to be at the mercy of another government's laws. I'm disabled now and wouldn't go even if they did honor my LTC. But those were my reasons before I became disabled.

 

[kakefat]

It's not only people, it could be a rabid dog or something. I wonder how many bodies were never found that would've made the list? There's probably a bunch of ways to skew the statistics. I also don't want to be at the mercy of another government's laws. I'm disabled now and wouldn't go even if they did honor my LTC. But those were my reasons before I became disabled.

I’ve actually never seen a stray dog here in Norway. I’ve heard they have some in the northernmost parts of the country but we don’t really have a problem with it in the south. As for bodies not being found that’s a possibility but as far as I can see from the statistics there haven’t been any unsolved cases of disappearing persons in my lifetime.

Of course if you don’t want to visit other countries that’s up to you and I have nothing against that. I just wanted to argue for it being safe.

 

[000Robert]

I’ve actually never seen a stray dog here in Norway. I’ve heard they have some in the northernmost parts of the country but we don’t really have a problem with it in the south. As for bodies not being found that’s a possibility but as far as I can see from the statistics there haven’t been any unsolved cases of disappearing persons in my lifetime.

Of course if you don’t want to visit other countries that’s up to you and I have nothing against that. I just wanted to argue for it being safe.

I understand. But there are thousands of related possibilities to travel, like a hi-jacking or plane crash or whatever. If I survived a plane crash or wound up in some place that I didn't plan on being, I would want to be armed with at least a handgun and a few good knives. I don't just assume that everything will be happy and great like most people do. I try to plan for the unexpected. It sounds like Norway would be one of the safer places to go.

 

[scdub]

I’ve been doing this for years with fixed blades in right-handed sheathes worn on my left side opposite my pistol.