Even in Canada, where OTFs are the biggest of no-nos, I sympathise. It happens all the time where people get some crazy idea to see if a device or product can do something it obviously can't, or shouldn't, and for some reason they seem to forget the monetary and sentimental repurcussions.
Four years ago, I got my first serious knife (by which I mean MSRP>$80), a Camillus Heat - and this was the real thing, not one of those beaters they make in Spain right now.
Anyhow, I let a couple of freinds in my building see it; the knife-naive can't tell a Spring-assist from an auto, so they just thought 'Switchblade! Cool!' and in spite of this, someone thought it would be a good idea to throw it into the floor to see if it would stick.
Well, it did. And the tip was horribly mushroomed. This was back before I knew how to sharpen and restore tips, so the knife was blunted and deformed until it was stolen some months later.
We do nothing wrong by indulging the curiosity of others. It's when they're inconsiderate of how much of a limb you're going out on, that you run into trouble. I used to carry a secondary knife that I didn't care about, for just this purpose, but I stopped wanting to think of myself as a guy who feels compelled to carry two knives. Now I just tell people not to be abusive before I let them see my life. I mean, knife. :$
