A California Knife Story

[pibbxtra19]

Hello Bladefourmers!!
Thought I would share a story with all of you that made me very happy today. Me and my girlfriend were in front of a place called bad ass coffee in San Diego this morning and as we were drinking our coffee we saw a girl in cargo pants walk out with (from what my girlfriend could identify as a blacked out Cold Steal fixed blade on her belt. This made me soooo happy. In California knives are for the most part looked down upon. Not so much in Southern California, but from my experience in Northern California it was a huge surprise when I would meet another knife fan out on the streets. Personally I would LOVE the chance to carry a fixed blade in California. Don't get me wrong, they out legal to carry a hinderer fixed blade around, but the looks and comments I would get would not make it worth it to me. I've gotten enough comments from just carrying my XM-24 around.

This post was my way of commending her for her balls and for making knife carry a more acceptable thing in California.

If anyone else has any interesting stories or comments please share!

 

[killgar]

Fellow San Diegan here (lifelong).

Here's a story I've told before, but you probably haven't read it-

I rode my motorcycle to my local Home Depot and parked up front near the store (where all the barbecues and plants are). There was an empty cop car parked in front of the store nearby. I had an Entrek Cobra fixed-blade in my back pocket (custom sheath). When I went into the store I unbuttoned my jacket (leather gets hot). When I came out of the store, there were two cops sitting in the cop car. I walked to my bike, loaded my purchase into my saddlebags, zipped up my jacket, and wheeled my bike out so I could leave. As I was about to leave I heard someone say "Excuse me sir", I looked over and both cops had exited their car and were walking towards me. One said "Can I talk to you for a moment", naturally I said sure. It turned out that before I had zipped up my jacket that the bottom of the jacket had accidentally covered the knife, thereby making it an illegally "concealed" fixed-blade. The cop simply pointed this out to me, told me that he wouldn't want me to get in trouble for it, and after I thanked him I was on my way. The cop never asked for the knife, he didn't take the knife from me, he didn't even ask to see my ID. I'm not generally a big fan of cops, but I'm always quick to tell this story and point out how cool that cop was.

Here's something I witnessed-

A guy was carrying a very noticeable fixed-blade in a local Walmart. A store employee (woman) noticed it and said "Whoa, that's a big knife." The guy said "Yeah". The woman said jokingly "Just don't kill me with it." The guy laughed and said "I won't".

I've seen more than a few people carrying fixed-blades in San Diego (the urban parts). From bikers to the most clean-cut college looking guys.

I say, it's legal, they're useful, so why not carry what you want. I've been carrying a fixed-blade everyday since 2005 everywhere it's legal to do so and I've never noticed any negative reaction. Sometimes a person might be curious, like a guy who asked me about one of my sheaths, but that doesn't bother me.