metal detector absurdity

dsvirsky

dsvirsky

Joined
Aug 2, 1999
Messages
1,910
I work in the federal building in Oakland, CA. If you don’t have a federal ID, the guards won’t even let you carry in the smallest SAK (they’ve been known to make people check small sewing scissors). Employees get to go around the metal detector and avoid this unpleasantness. Under normal circumstances.

Later this morning, President Clinton will be speaking in front of the building, and there’s a huge amount of extra security. So, I get to the entrance and they’re making the employees go through the metal detector. Resigned to handing over all my toys until this afternoon, I pull the BM 705 out of my waistband and put it in the change tray, along with the Spydie Cricket from my right front pocket, and my office keys. Travel case goes through the x-ray machine, carrying my WH Lancet and a Ladybug II. Walk through the metal detector, pick up all my knives, and go on my way.

Huh?


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Dave

Let no one ever from henceforth say one word in any way countenancing war. It is dangerous even to speak of how here and there the individual may gain some hardship of soul by it. For war is hell, and those who institute it are criminals. Siegfried Loraine Sassoon
 
You're very lucky. A lady friend of mine who works in the Dane County Building here in Madison went on business to the Milwaukee County Courthouse. A metal detector found her SAK, which was confiscated and thrown away in front of her into a trash can. Her boss had to intervene to reclaim the knife. Personally, I will be glad when all of this politically correct nonsense goes the way of the purple goose...--OKG
 
Having worked for the Federal Government for 28 years, I am surprised I have never had to put up with any of this silliness. I've been fortunate to work in nondescript buildings for the last 13 years, but in June of next year we are moving on to a DoD facility. I'm not looking forward to it.

dsvirsky, I've heard that there is a 2.5 inch limit for knives on/in federal facilities. If that is actually true, then your 705 and Lancet violated the limit, correct? I guess the normal policy there is to hold until the end of the workday and not to "confiscate" (read "steal") the item?

OKG, the fact that a guard would have the gall to throw your friend's knife away really irks me. Who do these people think they are? It's one thing to take the "contraband" and hold it until the person leaves; it's quite another thing to steal or throw away a person's perfectly legal personal property. This is the kind of bureaucratic, overbearing treatment of citizens that must be fought every time it happens.

Gnawing keyboard in frustration....

Dean



[This message has been edited by RDaneel (edited 11-03-2000).]
 
Dean,
The 2.5" limit is more a "safety net" than a prohibition. The statute that prohibits carrying dangerous weapons in a federal facility, 18 U.S.C. Section 930, specifies that a pocket knife with a blade of less than 2.5" isn't a dangerous weapon. However, the exclusion from the category of dangerous weapon includes carrying incident to hunting or other lawful purpose. My purposes for carrying a knife are always lawful, so I'm not doing anything illegal.

In any event, their policy is simply to hold any sharp objects until you leave. Presumably, if you just forgot your ID on your desk, you could go get it and retrieve your knife.

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Dave

Let no one ever from henceforth say one word in any way countenancing war. It is dangerous even to speak of how here and there the individual may gain some hardship of soul by it. For war is hell, and those who institute it are criminals. Siegfried Loraine Sassoon



[This message has been edited by dsvirsky (edited 11-03-2000).]
 
I work in a federal office in Washington, DC, as many of you already know from my many, many posts. The operative rules here seem to be the DC law holding blade length to 3", as the only concerns ever expressed have been over knives exceeding that. My boss has commented that a Spydie Police didn't look legal to him, this after I had used it to do a chore for him! And the other comments that I have received have been over my Military, and those from fellow employees, hoplophobes who happen to also be lawyers. So I just generally stick to something near 3" to keep them cool. However, when I have to go elsewhere, I tend to leave cutlery at home or in my desk.

A friend at another agency was telling me a story about pulling out the Lightweight Native that I had given him. He was cutting open a box of something or other and one of the other employees, a woman, said, That's a cute knife." and pulled out her's, a six inch or so Benchmade Tanto automatic. Nobody in the office even noticed. Now that's the kind of office for me!

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Walk in the Light,
Hugh Fuller
 
dsvirsky - They probably weren't worried about your pocket knives. They probably just wanted to make sure that an employee wasn't going to take this opportunity to bring a gun and assassinate the president

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Jason aka medusaoblongata
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"I have often laughed at the weaklings who call themselves kind because they have no claws"

- Zarathustra
 
Being in a federal building, especially DoD, is not in itself a problem. Just last Friday, I walked into the Naval Aviation Headquarters building with a 3.6 inch BM 730 and a 3.25 inch BM 722 on me. One IWB, the other down inside my pocket. No one knew they were there, and there was no metal detector.

I work in a controlled building (still no metal detector, though) and regularly use a 730, 722, or 710, all of which violate the "rule" that we apparently are subject to, yet no one has ever had a problem with it. It is not the rules that are the problem, it is the whiney-a** people that biatch and bray about a "weapon".

Hugh, man, everytime I see your name, I feel sorry for you, after our discussion in another thread. You sincerely have my sympathies... you should come down here and work in the country.
smile.gif


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iktomi
 
What if the blade was made from Talonite?

W.A.

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"To strive to seek to find and not to yield"
Tenneson
Ranger motto
 
I went on a Congressional tour of the White House last year. The sign on the entrance said blades longer than 3" were prohibited. The Secret Service and Federal Police present didn't even bat an eyelash over my BM mini-stryker or SAK cadet in my pocket. I had to check my ASP Defender at the door though.
 
I used to work at the Savannah River Site which is a nuclear defense site run by DOE. The 2 1/2" rule was in effect.

I now work at a NASA site and 3" blades are OK but 4" knives would get you some bad looks.

The other day I went to a new amusement park called JazzLand. They had a metal detector and so I put my Rookie in the change basket. They would not let me in with it so I had to put it my car and go back in line.

On the same weekend I was taking someone back to the Airport and I knew I had to go thruough the metal detector so I took my Benchmade Gentknife. The security person made me open. It did not have the serations she was looking for so I got it in.

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Roger Blake
 
Originally posted by Old Knife Guy:
You're very lucky. A lady friend of mine who works in the Dane County Building here in Madison went on business to the Milwaukee County Courthouse. A metal detector found her SAK, which was confiscated and thrown away in front of her into a trash can. Her boss had to intervene to reclaim the knife. Personally, I will be glad when all of this politically correct nonsense goes the way of the purple goose...--OKG
Click to expand...


No offense, but I find this one a little hard to believe. I live in Madison. I was just in the municipal building to register to vote. I realize that this is Madison and not Milwaukee but how much different can it be? As I walked into the building and through the metal detectors, I realized (like a dumb as5) that I still had an auto Boker Top Lock II in my pocket(like a dumb as5). They simply made me check it at the door. There is a BIG sign right at the entrance that says absolutely no knives allowed (or something like that). When I checked my knife at the door they gave me a ticket and put my knife in a ziplock without even really looking at it. As I left, I went back to collect my knife and handed them the ticket. He asked me to desctibe my knife. "It's got a red handle." I said. A little nervous that he would realize I had just commited a federal offense. The rent-a-cop opened a drawer that was literaly full of ziplocks with various red Victorinox SAKs. I had to point my knife out to him because he was too bored sorting through knives to look at the tickets and make sure they matched.

I realize that I breezed through and could have really been in some deep sh#t. But it would be illegal for your government to confiscate and DISPOSE of your LEGAL property without probable cause and due process. That's why public government buildings have set-ups like this.

Just my $.02 No flames intended.

Just wanted to add to my own post. I used to live in Champaign, Illinois. A couple of years ago one of our Judges was fire-bombed right in the court room. After that, they set up metal detectors in every municipal building in the county. It just happens that I got a speeding ticket right after that and had to go to traffic court in the county seat (Urbana). I'd been in this building a couple of times and forgot that they had just added a metal detector. As I walked in I noticed a Deputy Sherrif sitting right next to their brand new, shiny metal detector. I paused for a split second because again (like a dumb as5) I had the same Boker in my pocket. This grabed the Deputy's attention prety quick and he immediately looking me over. Well, instead of turning around and looking suspicious I walked straight through the detector. To my AMAZEMENT, it didn't go off at all!!! I said "Hello" to the cop and went about my business. The detector didn't go off on my way out either (only one door). The only thing I can figure is that since the handle is aluminum and I didn't have very much ferous metal on me it just didn't register as enough to set off their trap.

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"Paranoia is simply a state of heightened awareness"

"Chance favors the prepared mind."

[This message has been edited by AnthonyD.Hamilton (edited 11-08-2000).]
 
I had to go pay a traffic fine at the Gainesville, Ga. courthouse. Walked up to the metal detector, threw my keys (which had a Leatherman Micra on the keyring) into the basket, and one of the guards told me he could confiscate the Micra, because it has a point! The Micra is a *tiny* pair of scissors.., blades mayby an inch long. He finally let me through.
 
To AnthonyD.Hamilton:
No offense taken, but the story is true. Earlier this year I had to go to the Madison City County Building for jury duty. I 'patted myself' down before I left, because I knew about the metal detectors. I didn't notice I had an Emerson CQC7-B in my right front jeans pocket against the seam. They found it--but they put it in a plastic sandwich bag, issued me a claim check, and sent me to jury duty. Because of my nervous tic (that, and the fact I was tying a hangman's noose in the jury box), I was 'excused,' and sent out. A deputy cheerfully returned my Emerson, and I was once again a threat to life and property at large. My friend, Joyce, claims they are tight in Milwaukee because of the number of assaults in the courthouse with small knives and nail files.--OKG
 
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