How old do you have to be to edc a folder?

I now remember the one time I got "in trouble" for having a knife as a youth.

I was 14, first semester of high school, day before finals. I got in a fight in the locker room, after first period gym class.

Two juniors had been picking on a freshmen a week before. He didn't show up to class that day. They tried to pick on me. Broke one guy's jaw and knocked the other guy on his ass. Don't pick on a kid who takes three different martial arts and has a serious anger problem.

I got an in school suspension (because the next day was finals) and had my backpack searched. They found my SAK in it and the principal said I really shouldn't have this at school. Didn't take it away. This would have been January 1994 I think.

I've never been in another fight, then again I was 6'2" when graduated and grew another 1.5" after that.

Moral of the story:

Don't be stupid about where you carry your knife. I've learned that a few times. I had to go to take a friend to court oh at least 20 years ago. Unlike the court in my county, this one had metal detectors. Almost lost my knife to it. Stupid stupid.

I've found some bars the bouncers specifically look for pocket clips. I remember the first time well, nearly had my TSF Beast confiscated.
 
My first pocketknife was an old, rusty, used-up camping/scout-style knife I had appropriated from my dad’s toolbox at age 13. Not long after, I bought some Schrade pocketknives for myself (not all at once) at a local hardware store. Which was lucky; at some stores you had to be 18 or older to buy a pocketknife. This was in early 1977.

As for how old someone should be, it totally depends on the person. Some kids are taught well and are mature enough to safely and responsibly handle a pocketknife at a very young age. There are many adults I wouldn’t trust with a pocketknife and should never carry one. I was taught to respect knives as a toddler, to the point that my parents knew the kitchen knives were safe around me, and I wouldn’t touch one without supervision, much less play with one, because at that age I was frankly afraid to.

I would not try to be “smart” and bring a knife into a location, like an amusement park, a courthouse, a concert or sporting event, etc. Or a school. Although when I worked as a real-time captioner for hearing-impaired students at local colleges and universities, I carried an SAK in case my steno machine needed adjusting, etc. I wouldn’t try it as a student.

When I was a kid, most of the boys at school, and many of the male teachers, carried some type of pocketknife, and nobody I knew of ever pulled one out during a fight. They weren’t viewed as weapons. Nobody cared in the ‘70s/early ‘80s. Nowadays, forget it. You’ll probably end up on the news if you’re caught carrying a Boy Scout-style knife or a Victorinox Classic at school.

Jim
 
Alldayap28 said:
I couldn't believe my eyes the other day when I just found out about the new tobacco age law. (I don't watch the news ever cause it's boring and negative). So if the government wants to maintain EXTRA control overwhat we can and cannot do and you have to be 21 to buy both tobacco and liquor, then i think you should have to be 21 also to carry a legal EDC knife as well as go to war. Fair is only fair
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Not a fair comparison AT ALL. A knife is a tool, no different than a hammer or a screwdriver. Tobacco and alcohol are bad habits that have no real benefit to society.
If you are responsible enough at 16 years of age to be behind the wheel of a 2 ton vehicle capable of running down the road at 100mph, you should be able to carry a knife.
 
This “knife” :eek: should be illegal to carry if you are over 16
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By 14 you should know better :D
 
Lee D said:
Not a fair comparison AT ALL. A knife is a tool, no different than a hammer or a screwdriver. Tobacco and alcohol are bad habits that have no real benefit to society.
If you are responsible enough at 16 years of age to be behind the wheel of a 2 ton vehicle capable of running down the road at 100mph, you should be able to carry a knife.
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dunno about that, the entire planet is addicted to alco-gel right now. :p
 
Lee D said:
Not a fair comparison AT ALL. A knife is a tool, no different than a hammer or a screwdriver. Tobacco and alcohol are bad habits that have no real benefit to society.
If you are responsible enough at 16 years of age to be behind the wheel of a 2 ton vehicle capable of running down the road at 100mph, you should be able to carry a knife.
Click to expand...

Problem is, I know full grown adults that should be kept away from sharp objects, firearms, and motor vehicles.
 
Lee D said:
Not a fair comparison AT ALL. A knife is a tool, no different than a hammer or a screwdriver. Tobacco and alcohol are bad habits that have no real benefit to society.
If you are responsible enough at 16 years of age to be behind the wheel of a 2 ton vehicle capable of running down the road at 100mph, you should be able to carry a knife.
Click to expand...

There may be some possible health benefits to responsibly and moderately consuming certain beverages containing alcohol. There are also arguments that restrictions placed upon the use of ethanol "for our safety" have deprived society of its benefits as a solvent or carrier in various products in which more toxic or less pleasant substitutes have since been used. We can also apply the same kind of logic that you offered for knife rights.

For instance, does it make sense that young people who are old enough to fight and die for their country, or be legally drafted into doing so against their will, can't be trusted to responsibly enjoy a malt beverage? Those same young people between 18 and 21, who would carry a firearm in that military role or for a profession in law enforcement, are in many places no longer allowed to purchase a firearm for themselves.

A running theme here has been the creeping of laws and social attitudes, infringing upon rights and personal responsibility "for our safety". Some of our older members mentioned a time when kids carried pocket knives at school or stored firearms in their lockers. Is anyone old enough to remember when schools had archery or rifle ranges?
 
Chronovore said:
There may be some possible health benefits to responsibly and moderately consuming certain beverages containing alcohol. There are also arguments that restrictions placed upon the use of ethanol "for our safety" have deprived society of its benefits as a solvent or carrier in various products in which more toxic or less pleasant substitutes have since been used. We can also apply the same kind of logic that you offered for knife rights.

For instance, does it make sense that young people who are old enough to fight and die for their country, or be legally drafted into doing so against their will, can't be trusted to responsibly enjoy a malt beverage? Those same young people between 18 and 21, who would carry a firearm in that military role or for a profession in law enforcement, are in many places no longer allowed to purchase a firearm for themselves.

A running theme here has been the creeping of laws and social attitudes, infringing upon rights and personal responsibility "for our safety". Some of our older members mentioned a time when kids carried pocket knives at school or stored firearms in their lockers. Is anyone old enough to remember when schools had archery or rifle ranges?
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YES!!!!

When I was in high school, we had a rifle team and had meets at a local high school that had a 50 foot range in the basement for .22 rifle competition. This was of course long before the demonization of firearms by the more liberal elements of society. It was common place to have a pocket knife for sharpening pencils because the wall mounted crap crank sharpeners fell apart by mid winter.
 
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