Tattoos and motorcycles aren't typically used to kill people. If you have a tattoo, it's easy to say, "He wants to express himself." If you have a motorcycle, it's easy to say, "He likes the wind in his hair/the openroad/whatever". But if someone is walking around with a large knife, there are a lot of people who won't just go, "Oh well, it's not illegal I don't care," and start filling in the blanks about why you have that knife--and we know what a lot of people fill those blanks in with.
Actually, a lot of people think that "bikers" are all criminals, drug dealers, and violent murderers who will kill them at the drop of a hat. There is, after all, a long and sordid history in this country of bikers killing people. And there are a lot of people who believe that tattoos are a sign of being a criminal or a gang member. These are both things that inspire strong irrational fear in a lot of people. Irrational fears and prejudices are commonplace in this country, but that's people for ya, and I don't let their irrational fears and prejudices affect how I live my life, whether it's being a biker or carrying a fixed-blade.
As far as putting faith in the cops to interpret the law correctly just because it's explicitly written, I've looked through a few LEO websites in the "ask a cop" sections about knife laws, and I'm afraid I would have to disagree that there's ever any real clear consensus or clarity, and some of them seem to just make up their own personal interpretation as they go along. Washington state for example, we have no written length limit; yet some police will say, "Well, if they're carrying around a big hunting knife and they're not on the way hunting..." or some even go on arbitrary things like, "Oh well if it's longer than the width of my palm."
Whether it's a bad cop or a cop who simply doesn't know their local knife laws, you could just as easily get arrested for carrying a legal folder clipped to your pocket as you could carrying a legal fixed-blade. I don't know what other peoples experiences are, but I can only base my life on my experiences. And my experience has been that my local cops couldn't care less about the knife hanging from my belt. Based on my personal experience, any fear of being arrested would be irrational and baseless. I don't make my knife choices based on what people on "cop forums" say, I make my decisions based on what my local laws say, what my lawyer says, what cops I have known personally say, my own personal experiences with cops on the street, and my own personal needs and preferences.
but I thought we were talking about "avoiding trouble" here.
Actually, I've read the opening post a few times and the OP didn't say anything about "avoiding trouble". The OP asked for our personal experiences carrying a fixed-blade and what kinds of reactions we've had. And though avoiding trouble should be automatic when carrying a knife in public, many of us who have been carrying a fixed-blade openly for several years have never experienced any trouble. Considering how many cops and civilians have seen me carrying a fixed-blade throughout the past eight years without a single negative experience, I wouldn't call that "luck", I'd call it a normal, trouble-free, law-abiding life.
Did you ever hear about the Seattle wood carver who was shot in the back as he was walking around carving a piece of wood? There were no laws that said he couldn't carve a piece of wood with a knife out in the middle of a public street, but a LEO made the discretionary call that he for some reason needed to respond to that, and that ended up with the man being shot to death. Now don't confuse me in saying that carrying a fixed blade will get you shot, what I'm saying is that getting the attention of police ( and definitely in the context of "weapons" ) doesn't really increase your odds of anything good happening.
I've seen cases of people being shot by cops because they had a cell phone in their hand, or a wallet, but what does that prove other than crazy things sometimes happen in life. I don't live my life based on what crazy things
might happen. And as far as "getting the attention of police", like I've said, a cop might react negatively to a folder clipped in your pocket. I've heard of several people (not in California) who were wrongly stopped by police for carrying a folder clipped in their pocket. Many cops consider folding-knives to be "weapons". Should people not carry folders clipped in their pockets, even when it's legal, because there's the chance it might draw negative attention from the cops?
