Needlessly alarmist ninny at the Washington Post

[Personal]

Needlessly alarmist ninny at the Washington Post:
Scroll to the bottom (next to last post).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006/08/22/DI2006082200796.html

This Washington Post reporter recommends calling the police for what is almost certainly a legally [open] carried hunting knife that has alarmed some nervous nelly in Richmond, VA.

The reporter can be reached at

lifeatwork@washpost.com

and if anyone should chose to write a civil rebuttal I'd also recommend a 'CC' to

editor@washpost.com

I would suggest that any correspondence be kept civil and factual. To do otherwise would hurt our cause more than help.

 

[Pinky]

That would be legal in VA even if concealed.

 

[beezaur]

My boss has started walking around the office with a hunter's knife attached to his belt. It's a small company and he is the top dog (with the exception of the owner). His behavior is getting more strange by the day. Can managers "arm" themselves in the workplace?

Actually sounds like it is an intimidation/nutcase issue to me. I would go to the owner over it.

I actually had a boss crack up on me. He emptied his glock into my truck as I was driving away. Not a fun thing.

Scott

 

[moonwilson]

In your place of business it's legal to carry anything you want, up to and including an assualt rifle with fixed bayonet. So long as company policy allows it. Offices are considered private property and you can do whatever you want on private property (except for sexual harassment I guess).

Beezaur, did you have your boss arrested? Or at least return fire?

 

[beezaur]

Carrying a broomstick is perfectly fine and legal, unless you are doing it in an intimidating manor. We cannot know what is actually going on in that particular workplace without being there. It just sounds to me like the issue for the employee is intimidation. I think we all agree that being "in your face" about anything, especially a knife, is asking for trouble. It is the "more strange by the day" part that makes me suspect intimidation.

My encounter was this:

Ten years ago I worked for a guy who started making gobs of money in his small business. After a couple of years of that, he bagan to get a little paranoid. Pretty soon he was disparaging his friends and starting to take radical stances about things like whether or not the Holocaust actually happened. You could say he got "more strange by the day."

One day he cut my pay, as if to taunt me. I told him what a jerk he was, and he fired me (predictable). The next day I came back to get my stuff, final pay, etc. He started talking about wanting to take me places. Uh-huh, sure -- like I'm going to go anywhere with a nazi sympathizer who just fired me.

At the first opportunity I snuck out of the office and got into my truck. He followed. I had to reverse out of my parking spot before I could leave. That's when he drew his gun. He fired about 4 warning shots (!) into the ground as I set a 4-cylinder world record for acceleration on a gravel road. The other 11 shots went into the back of my truck, on the driver's side, centered around my posterior (he was a pretty good shot, actually). He went back in and reloaded his gun while someone in the office called 911.

I made it out to the road on two flat tires (they blew out driving over bumps, but one did have a bullet hole in it -- when you shoot tires they just leak). I abandoned my truck and fled on foot to a County utility crew. They called 911 when I told them what happened.

The cops came post haste and arrested him. He was convicted of misdemeanor disturbing the peace or something like that (no trial), but he did have to give up all gun-related things as part of the deal.

During the legal wrangling after the shooting, I found out that the guy had previously shot at others. At least once while in the Army and another time at work, or so the PI we hired claims. I found out he had a long history of doing perfectly legal things with the intent of intimidating people. Generally when that didn't work, he would do something like shoot at them or explode a pipe bomb in their car. He kept this quiet by relocating to a different state after each major event.

So, to return to the topic at hand, if I worked someplace where my boss was trying to intimidate people by implied threat of violence, I would be all over that. And, if I could not effect a positive change safety-wise, I would leave. Not leaving earlier was my mistake ten years ago.

It could be that the guy opens boxes all day and just wanted a better knife. We cannot know with the information given. It just sounds wierd to me.

Scott

 

[Rat Finkenstein]

Carrying a fixed blade knife at work is in no way unusual.

 

[beezaur]

Carrying a fixed blade knife at work is in no way unusual.

If you openly carried a fixed blade knife at my engineering business, you would stop or you would lose your job.

If you carried one in my warehouse business I would buy you a nice bench stone to keep at work.

It just depends on the context.

Scott

 

[Rat Finkenstein]

If you openly carried a fixed blade knife at my engineering business, you would stop or you would lose your job.

If you carried one in my warehouse business I would buy you a nice bench stone to keep at work.

It just depends on the context.

Scott

Well, if you are the boss it is a different story. Not going to fire yourself, I hope.

Not having had encounters with psychotic Nazi bosses trying to kill me might give me a different outlook. You fear the worst, where I just see it as a moron being afraid of knives. But given the limited information presented, it is impossible to come to any real conclusion.

 

[Merek]

What is a 'hunter's knife' to some people might be a Buck 110 or some other fairly 'normal' knife to us.
I am NOT going to assume he has some large Bowie style fixed blade based on a question posed by a 'help-me-i-don't-know-how-to-make-a-descision-without-external-authority' in an advice column in the Washinton Post.
I think the questioner is a whiny Nerfworlder who wouldn't survive 5 minutes outside. Who are we to assume her boss has gone off his meds and is about to slay the entire office staff on her thinly worded 'concern'?
I say call the police....Show yourself for what you are.

 

[beezaur]

What kind of work environment are you guys thinking of where it would be ok to carry a fixed-blade hunting knife openly?

I mean really, are you saying that, if there was some "strange" guy in your office who is evidently having some "issues" of some sort, who suddenly starts wearing a hunting knife, then you would be ok with that?

Scott

 

[Vivi]

Carrying a fixed blade knife at work is in no way unusual.

In every job I've held, my parents have held since I've been alive and the jobs my friend hold, it would raise eyebrows. When I worked at Kmart I used a Delica very discreetly, and even that would warrant suspicious looks when it was seen. A fixed blade, while legal, would of gotten me a good talking to, and if I failed to comply I'd probably be fired over it.

Not saying this attitude is a good one, it's just how our society is. Sadly.

 

[rebeltf]

In every job I've held, my parents have held since I've been alive and the jobs my friend hold, it would raise eyebrows. When I worked at Kmart I used a Delica very discreetly, and even that would warrant suspicious looks when it was seen. A fixed blade, while legal, would of gotten me a good talking to, and if I failed to comply I'd probably be fired over it.

Not saying this attitude is a good one, it's just how our society is. Sadly.

I hate to agree with this but I have to. I want to agree with Rat F because it is not and should not be unusual but we live in a candy-coated , Disney type world where husbands are forced to watch Oxygen with thier spouse so they can "feel" together... ok OT there...
Seriously , I would love to cary and use one of my fixed blades at work but many people would bleat like frightened sheep at the sight of a large fixed blade.
That said , I sent that silly woman at the Post a little email letting her know what I think of her terse little, ill thought reply.

 

[FullerH]

Richmond, Va.: My boss has started walking around the office with a hunter's knife attached to his belt. It's a small company and he is the top dog (with the exception of the owner). His behavior is getting more strange by the day. Can managers "arm" themselves in the workplace?

Amy Joyce: Um, no, he can not. You may want to call the police, Richmond.

This is the query and response. In a federal office, the carrying of a fixed blade would be illegal, no matter the length. But we do not know, from the context, whether this is a fixed blade of a folder. After all, there are any number of folding knives called "Hunter" that use belt sheaths to carry them. The Buck 110 Folding Hunter comes immediately to mind. That is the first point.

My second point is to retell the story of the time that I used one of my federally legal Spydies to cut the fiber reinforced strapping tape away from around the front dolley wheel on an fellow worker's wheel chair. He had been immobilized by some jackass that had left it on the floor, thereby entangling his chair. After I was done, he got all wide-eyed and asked if I always carried a weapon in the office. Now, how can anyone see a pocket knife with a blade of less than 2 1/2 inches as a "weapon?" The applicable federal law, 18USC930, defines such a knife as not being a "dangerous or deadly weapon." But intimidation comes in many forms, and frequently requires no overt action on the part of the supposed intimidator, as I have just shown.

So, absent further information, I think that The Washington Post's answer lady had the wrong response. What she should have said was that the woman should describe what sort of knife the boss was carrying and in what manner he was doing so. Then she could make a more informed response.

And, beezaur, you should not assume that a knife in a belt sheath is a fixed blade or that a "hunter's knife" is necessarily a fixed blade. Nor should you assume that simply the act of carrying a knife is not seen as intimidation by some.

 

[Rat Finkenstein]

I regularly carry a fixed blade, &/or large folders at my job. I also always carry a Short Sword in my Backpack. Nobody freaks out.

In fact, I am going to attend a firearms carry permit course tomorrow, along with my Boss.

Another of my Bosses showed me his new Magnum Research BFR 45-70 pistol this morning.

Should I have freaked out and called the police?

What kind of work environment are you guys thinking of where it would be ok to carry a fixed-blade hunting knife openly?

I mean really, are you saying that, if there was some "strange" guy in your office who is evidently having some "issues" of some sort, who suddenly starts wearing a hunting knife, then you would be ok with that?

Scott

Not everyone lives in a screwed up, scared-of-their-own-shadow fantasy world. (thank God for that!)

Have you considered that your one (out of the ordinary) bad experience might have traumatized you and skewed your perception?

 

[silenthunterstudios]

Carrying a fixed blade knife at work is in no way unusual.

Tell that to the security guard contractors who would shoot you on site where I work, no questions asked. Fullerh is correct about that law, but there are different rules for different buildings. Simple as that.

 

[FullerH]

Rat F., you give your residence as in Northern Minnesota. I see that as a very rural and thinly settled area. Am I correct? If so, wearing even a large fixed blade to work would most likely not present a problem. But I work in Washington, DC, and it is both very urban and very heavily populated, as is Richmond, VA. Wearing a fixed blade to work, whether large or small, would be cause for employer action if not legal action in most of the local jurisdictions, simply based upon the fact that such a choice would be unnecessarily threatening to many of your coworkers. If you cannot see that, it is well that you stay where you are and not come down to urban centers.

 

[Rat Finkenstein]

Rat F., you give your residence as in Northern Minnesota. I see that as a very rural and thinly settled area. Am I correct? If so, wearing even a large fixed blade to work would most likely not present a problem. But I work in Washington, DC, and it is both very urban and very heavily populated, as is Richmond, VA. Wearing a fixed blade to work, whether large or small, would be cause for employer action if not legal action in most of the local jurisdictions, simply based upon the fact that such a choice would be unnecessarily threatening to many of your coworkers. If you cannot see that, it is well that you stay where you are and not come down to urban centers.

Yeah, boss. . . I ain't got no clue bout them there big cities.
(sarcasm, in case you "cannot see that")

Don't attempt to talk down to me. I can see everything clearly.

I gave my example to show that not everyone has the same outlook, or environment. (or restrictions)

I abide by the rule of the law. If I travel to another state, I learn the law there as well before leaving home.

Working and/or living in a restrictive and sheeple-filled cesspool like DC, it is not surprising that you have grown to take for granted any level of restrictions on your personal carry.

The bottom line still is: there is not enough information presented to make a decision about the boss carrying a "hunting knife"
-What kind of work?
-what kind of Knife (fixed or folder)?
-what size of knife?
-what State, City, and is it Rural, Suburban, or Urban?
-what the personal views of the writer are re: knives? (obviously not very knowledgeable, and they consider knives only as weapons)


For all anyone knows, it is a swiss army knife his kids got him for fathers day.

 

[FullerH]

The bottom line still is: there is not enough information presented to make a decision about the boss carrying a "hunting knife"
-What kind of work?
-what kind of Knife (fixed or folder)?
-what size of knife?
-what State, City, and is it Rural, Suburban, or Urban?
-what the personal views of the writer are re: knives? (obviously not very knowledgeable, and they consider knives only as weapons)

Actually, these were the very questions that I was asking in the post fior which you were attacking me.

As for talking down to you, how about the following:

Working and/or living in a restrictive and sheeple-filled cesspool like DC, it is not surprising that you have grown to take for granted any level of restrictions on your personal carry.

Just for the record, I do not "accept" the restrictions, I do as you claim to do. I research the law and obey it. The fact that I work for the federal government places me in the position of having to comply with their regulations, the Code of Federal Regulations, and the United States Code , the USC. THat is why I am constantly citing 18USC930, as it is the ONLY basis upon which a person may bring a knife into a federal building. Now, some agencies may not enforce that law rigidly. I have a friend who carries a 4" folder to work with regularity at his agency, but he is wise enough not to bring it to mine. I have been around with the security people at my agency so that they are aware of the law and they grudgingly accept my pocket knives, but I should not want to carry a larger knife into my building.

And, BTW, I live in Arlington, Virginia. We have no blade limits or restrictions on open carry of blades other than switchblades or gravity blades. We also have a "shall issue" CCW permit law. So do not be so damned quick to make your judgements. The issue of wearing a fixed blade in the office in a private company in Arlington or elsewhere would have to be worked out with the employers and the employees. As would any workplace issue in any place.

 

[beezaur]

Not everyone lives in a screwed up, scared-of-their-own-shadow fantasy world. (thank God for that!)

Have you considered that your one (out of the ordinary) bad experience might have traumatized you and skewed your perception?

No doubt it has skewed my perception. In fact I could not stand the typical "gunstore counter hypothetical shooting" discussions until a couple of years ago. But this summer I took some handgun training at the Firearms Academy of Seattle, and I am back to carrying my .45 again.

But truthfully, and all past experiences and screwed up liberalisms aside, in many workplaces it is just plain bad manners to be carrying around a belt knife. It always has been. An office is one of them.

And, the point which is more important than the knife: BEHAVIOR IS GETTING MORE STRANGE BY THE DAY.

The liberal scaredy-pants ninny is not freaking out over the knife (stop concentrating on the guy's rights!) The ninny is freaking out primarily over the BEHAVIOR.

If some wierdo suddenly feels the need to arm himself, is that a good thing?

I mean, do you want this guy as a spokesman for us "knife nuts?" I sure don't. Yet, there he is, speaking for all of us. If you, as an active "knife nut" worked for this guy, and there he was acting strangely and suddenly having an affinity for large knives for no apparent reason, what would you do?

Scott

 

[Merek]

Why assume he 'suddenly felt a need to arm himself'? Her words were 'a hunting knife'... How does that translate to ' a big freakin monster Bowie'? I think the chikki has zero concept of what a hunting knife is. Fear makes things seem so much bigger a scarier than it reallt may be.
The knife may have been a gift which he just received and he sees the value in carrying a bladed tool just as we do. They will work it out if it has not already happened. Any follow up stories about knife crazed nutsos cutting up an office....? More likely he is being asked to open packages and peel apples....
Why do you toss the 'liberal' word about so freely as if it had anything to do with ninnyism? I consider myself to rather liberal. I have the same problems with all the Nerfworlder conservatives I am around every day who are of EXACTLY the same scaredy mindset of the aforementioned 'ninny'.