Need isn't the same as want. I don't need a knife to cut much on a day to day basis, but I like having a knife in my pocket because there are times when it comes in handy. I don't really need dozens of knives, but collecting and using knives is a hobby so variety is where the fun is.
I have a fairly large folder, the Kershaw Speedbump. I don't broadcast it to everyone in public because it looks like a threatening knife and I'm pretty sure almost everyone will view it that way. If I pull out a Queen mini trapper with amber stag handles or a SAK, most people won't turn their head because those knives don't look threatening. They look like something a Boy Scout or their grandpa would carry, and they take two hands to open the blades. The Speedbump is total overkill for me, so I rarely take it with me in public. My Spyderco ladybug, SAK, or Queen mini trapper would be plenty of knife for just about anything I need to do on a daily basis.
Obviously everyone can do what they want, but restrictions are turned into law because of public perception. Politicians cater to public opinion. If enough people go around waving huge "tactical" or threatening-looking knives, people will complain and laws will change. Some people feel like they should do whatever they want, and that's a choice they can make. The consequences of that choice, however, reverberate in society and affect others.
For example, imagine how someone not interested in knives will remark to people they know about how they saw some maniac wielding a huge knife in the park or wherever. People talk. If someone who fears knives sees a man in tactical pants with a scary knife at the local public park with children nearby, the person who doesn't like knives will probably tell other people about it and may even write their local politicians. If that person doesn't, there's still the chance that whomever they tell will try to do something to get the laws changed to be more restrictive. People who don't like knives may not do anything the first time they see someone using a scary knife in public, but the experience may make them more aware of how many people use knives in public, and they may decide to take action to change that.
Knife enthusiasts can say "whatever" and do what they want. They can have the attitude that they're going to do whatever they want regardless of the consequences. That's certainly one way of looking at things, but we do live in society and there are laws and restrictions and more can be added at any time. I think we all would do well to remember that knife enthusiasts are a small minority and that what we choose to carry and show in public can have consequences. Instead of carrying a massive folder in public to open a letter or cut some tape, we might choose a smaller knife for public use and leave the larger knives for camping or use at home.
Thank you for saying what I was working my way around the bush to.
I love knives, and will always have a sharp pocket knife on me as long as I have pants on. I think it should be mandatory that all adult males have a knife. But society does not see it our way at all. We're the 1% minority, and all those people that you all refer to as sheeple, all out vote us by a huge margin. They look at us already as being a bit weird, and it takes very little to push that opinion over an edge. We, as knife affictionado's are the sole ambassador of our hobby. One idiot can ruin it for all of us. Every week here, I see some post about someone's thinly disguised gloating about scaring the 'sheeple' when taking out a knife in public.
I remember when you could walk into a hardware store, and buy a "switchblade". They were made by well known knife companies like Schrade, and Hammer Brand. Lots of carpenters and handymen used them for the convienence. But then came the James Dean craze, and a Senator doing feel good legislation, and Bam, no more automatics. The punks on street corners ruined it for everyone else. Think it can't happen again?
When I was stationed in Germany, automatics were legal. It was sooo cool to be sitting in a pub, and hearing a metalic snick and seeing the guy a table over using a nice bone handled Boker auto slicng his sausage. Now, thanks to the abuse of some tactical knives by a minority few, it's all gone. It's almost as bad as England now. No one handers, and other restrictions. Look at San Antonio with it's ban on lock blades, Boston with a 2 1/2 inch blade limit, and other places with strict limits on knives. Try to get in a football game or concert with a knife in your pocket. All it takes is one blip on the radar to get the sheeple attention. A few idiots kill it for all of us.
Let me tell you what got me started on this post.
A few days ago, the wife and I were at a mall. I detest malls, but the better half needed something that was only at this one chain of stores, so off we went. On the way out, near one of the exits, a group of 'youths' were hanging out. I'll call them youths for lack of a more polite term. As some people were passing by, one of the 'youths' made a grand gesture of flamboyantly opening a very large tacticool folder with one of those tiger striped blades. He did it just as group of elderly people were walking by, getting a few alarmed looks, and a audible gasp from a little old lady. They were part of a group from a local retirement home, that is a very very high dollar place. We're talking people who have kids that are corporate heads, maybe even a congressmen or two.
It was one of the most moronic, bordering on insane show off stunts I've ever seen a punk do for a very long time. Don't think for a New York second that these old folks are not going to be making some calls. All it takes is one. One little old lady who has a grandson that's a staffer for some senator, or a son-in-law who knows somebody of influence, who ever. Whatever. And why did the punk flash his knife so high profile? He was making a very large show of slicing open a cellophane pack of Twizzlers. A frigging pack of Twizzlers.
For his moments thrill, he's made an enemy for each and every one of us for a lifetime, out of the people who witnessed his stupid act. He's reenforced the view of a knife as a punk's weapon. I say punk, because there's no other real term for what I saw that afternoon. I've been on this rock for 70 years now, and I've seen a lot of stuff come and go. In my youth, you didn't need a permit for carrying a gun. Lots of people did it. But the actions of a criminal few did away with that. Only in recent years has the CCW movement gained back a lot of ground lost to the so called sheeple, thank God for the N.R.A. As I understand it, abut 40 of our 50 states now have CCW permits for the citizens who want to protect themselves. Once upon a time in America, you could walk into a hardware store and buy a new full auto Thompson, or you could cut of the barrel of your shotgun at 12 inches if you really wanted to. But the actions of the minority criminals changed all that with the National Gun control act.
Like I said, I love knives, and will never go without one, unless I'm flying someplace. But while in public, I'm very aware of the fact that I am surrounded by people who are not knife nuts. They do not share my love of a sharp cutting tool. So I keep a low profile. If I have to cut something while in public, my edc is a very small non threatening pocket knife. And contrary to some of the posters here, I've never had a bad reaction to my knife. I've even had some women comment how it's such a pretty knife. So people are not afraid of knives, they are afraid of someone pulling a knife that is obviously designed as a weapon. There is a difference, and the non knife people see it that way. It's like the difference between a garder snake and a timber rattler. You don't have to be snake expert to know which ones the dangerous one. Like the guy once said about art; he can't describe it, but he knows it when he see's it.
Carry and own what you want. Collect whatever you want. But in public, you have to police yourselves, or the ' sheeple' will do it for us. And you won't like what that leads to. Use some restraint. You can dress up like Conan the barbarian and swing around a broadsword in your backyard if you want. But when you're out and about, keep in mind that you are the ambassador of the knife community. The ambassador among a public who already thinks it's weird to love knives. A public who could turn on us in a heartbeat, because of a idiotic display of immature knife handling while showing off for the ' sheeple.'
I've given a lot of my knives to my grandson. I'd like to think that he will be able to enjoy the same knife carrying rights I enjoyed in my life.
Carl.
