I was raised by a mother who, in hindsight, I can see was mentally disturbed. One characteristic she displayed was a fear of nearly everything in the world. We lived in a rural area, and it got to the point early in my life where she refused to drive -ever- and rarely left the house / yard. Neighbors (as in the entire neighborhood) owned guns and knives.
She firmly believed that when the newspaper published an LEO's obit, and reported that it was an accidental discharge during cleaning, they were not fabricating. She believed that guns, especially handguns, would just spontaneously combust, and when this happened the results were filled with shame. Likewise, she felt that you had to exercise appropriate restraint with knives, and that if it was not a kitchen knife, there was always a risk of an attack.
Oh, she also believed that large German shepherds would "turn on their owners" and attack them. Better not to have big dogs.
The dunniest workplace incident I experienced involving knives was at a friend's law office. I was. helping him with something, pulled out my Endura, cut open whatever box it was, and was clipping the blade back into my pocket. I did this fairly discretely, as he had an full of clients. My friend, a lawyer who was practicing pfor 20 years, happened to see me do this. He loudly shouts across the office for me to wait a sec, and rushes into his private office. He comes back with a sweet, fully auto SKS, with an extended mag; racks one into the chamber when he's about 10 feet from me, and then throws the sks to me, saying "catch, its live, and once again Wanamaker, my toy is bigger than yours."
None of the clients so much as batted an eyelid. Turns out they were all coke dealers.
All depends on the culture and the people, I think.
I made the mi
