<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Phillip:
Just because you are a "good guy" does not give you the right to carry an illegal knife.
There are of course many laws that make no sense, but that does not mean you can ignore them and then get indignant when a cop does the job of enforceing them.</font>
I agree, but in some instances, it is not so cut and dry as to what an "illegal" knife is exactly.
Either the law is vague or the discretion is very, very wide.
You have to understand that the ability to arrest someone and put them in the Court System is the power to destroy and in some cases, it is for nothing more than a pocketknife or exercising the right to defend yourself.
If a Gangbanger is arrested for putting a "G9" in their waistband, as they call them around here, that is distinctly different from someone say, in Illinois, who owns a business and there is no provision whatsoever for concealed carry permits and he wants to pack the same handgun to the bank, or to his business when the alarm goes off in the middle of the night, etc.
Expediency and safety dictate that the individual decides what is best for his safety and in a free society that should be paramount as long as he is conducting himself in a legal manner.
But he is not conducting himself in a "legal" manner, or is he? It does get confusing.
The lines cross and people tend to get a hair across their ass in the process.
If we are to assume that we are in fact free here, and that we do have a basic, common right to Self-defense, what then?
In places like Washington, D.C., there is no hope of getting a carry permit for Self-defense unless you are a Politician. You cannot even have Pepper Spray in The District. Now that is a hoot! Is it not?
Glad I don't live there.
In a world of guns and knives, and it will always be that way, if you are denied access to the same implements that you will be attacked with, you have no right to Self-defense. They have legislated that right away through a backdoor.
What I was referring to above is a reality in some areas. If you inform the Police Officer that you are carrying something for Self-defense, they will lock you up because you are carrying a
weapon, it is no longer a tool and the whole fiasco becomes one of Headgames.
That centers around
intent. And the intent is established in some States right then and there. He "intended" the knife to be a "weapon." And that is often illegal and it is often illegal without establishing, "Why was this person carrying a weapon?"
And then, after you lose your job and/or your house, you can maybe make it out of the mess.
That is the power to destroy the life you wish to protect. In some cases, over a stupid pocketknife.
And when it comes right down to it, that's what any folding knife is, a pocketknife.
It's quite an in-depth discussion for a thread where it was not intended to be.
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"You are no more armed because you are wearing a pistol than you are a musician because you own a guitar." ~Jeff Cooper
And the same goes for a knife...
And, I'm a Usual Suspect.
Some of my Knives
