Why doesn't anyone carry a knife?

[B.F.U]

Original caption: Tom Zekos of Newbury, N.H., searched tubs of confiscated pocket knives for sale at the surplus property store. (Boston Globe, November 2012)

Here is plenty of evidence that a lot of people used to carry knives - until they were forceably taken away.

I used to work for a very large and well known company during the 90s, and as all large companies use to do, we would have frequent misc. management training/teambuilding exercises. About a dozen of us were sitting at a table doing some exercise and I was reading our instructions out loud as we identified and collected the required materials...I remember saying, oh yes and we will need a knife, as I put the paper down I reached for my own. But, I was too late, there were already a dozen knives on the table. Guys, gals, old and young, everybody had one and we were all office dwellers and frequent air travelers.

n2s

how would one go about finding and attending one of these sales? There is an airport near by me.

 

[Shotgun]

Maybe it is a pacific northwest thing but I'm actually noticing a lot more people carrying knives. Hipster influence maybe?

Those that don't normally aren't too judgmental either unless the knife is just stupid big. I have not had very many incidences with people objecting to me carrying a knife. There is sometimes that shocked "why do you have a knife" when I pull out my rift but that usually stems from genuine curiosity and simply not being accustomed to seeing a knife being used to solve a problem.

The few times people have truly reacted negatively they have all been transplants from cali or somewhere else.

I'm 24 now so I graduated high school in 2007. I had a leathermen in my bag 3 out of my 4 years of school. I never had a problem and some kids carried them on their belts in plain view. In elementary school or middle school this would have been a problem but for high school it was fine as long as you were low key. It was a tech/vocational school though so maybe the normal high schools were a bit different.

Tattoos and knives. It's a Portland thing.

 

[Oakengroves]

Tattoos and knives. It's a Portland thing.

And beer, strip clubs, autos, and whiskey. And the mountains, forests, and the beach in short driving distance.

But really, of all the places in the US I've ever been, knives are the most common and generally accepted in the pacific northwest, even more so than in the rural south.

Go figure.

 

[jbmonkey]

From TSA website: Scissors - metal with pointed tips and blades shorter than 4 inches are allowed, but blades longer than 4 inches are prohibited.

Knives are not allowed in government buildings and airplanes. Unless you work in one of those, these laws will hardly stifle your desire to carry a knife.

talking more about kids in school and the zero tolerance movement. Look at adults who went to school in the 80s ans 90s and they are so used to not being allowed to carry even a sak they use their keys to open boxes.

 

[dogstar]

I worked at a CA school for 6 years. I could carry a blade under 3" long; the kids could not. My school had serious gang problems, so I can't fault that policy. What do you tell a parent whose kid got slashed with a knife?

Re: using keys instead of a knife, I gift my coworker a Victorinox classic, and haven't seen it since. He still uses his keys. It works for him, can't deny it.

 

[leghog]

Knives are not allowed in government buildings and airplanes.

You paint with too broad a brush. I work in a U.S. government building and have a small folder in my pocket and a larger folder on my belt every day. Visitors likely have knives too as they are not prohibited.

Some few places, like courts, do not allow knives. Heck, a citizen can open carry even a handgun in the state capital here.

 

[Sharpnessis]

I'm happy to report I have converted at least two people I work with. They now carry a knife daily to work!

 

[chiral.grolim]

And beer, strip clubs, autos, and whiskey. And the mountains, forests, and the beach in short driving distance.

But really, of all the places in the US I've ever been, knives are the most common and generally accepted in the pacific northwest, even more so than in the rural south.

Go figure.

Strange, I lived in Portland for 2 years and rarely encountered other knife carriers though I certainly managed to convert a few.
Portland, and Oregon in general, has among the most lax knife-laws in the country, no wonder with Gerber & Leatherman & CRKT & Kershaw/ZT & Benchmade/Lonewolf and ... yeah, kindof the knife-capital of the USA. So if you live in Portland and want to carry a knife, you can find decent quality products in any number of brick&mortar stores. And with the Columbia Gorge right there, so folks can take a weekend pretending they are Bear Grylls, the sporting goods dealers have an easy sale for "outdoor equipment" and "survival gear". *shrug*

OUTSIDE Portland, in the rural communities, not a person I knew didn't carry a knife of some kind. And I've seen the same in the Midwest - folks in the cities and suburbs might have a "bug-out-bag" and "survival gear" including a large fixed blade, etc. but few if any actually carry a knife daily unless they're construction or maintenance/repair workers. The rural folk all seem to carry something sharper than a set of keys on them. But with the way we've been eviscerating US agricultural communities for nearing on a century... but that's getting too far OT.

 

[Kwon Kwang]

People living in urban areas are often soft and distant from the tools which built their civilizations, as hoplophobia sets into European and North American cultures. It's not "Hmm, I don't think I'll need to cut anything, so I'll leave my knife at home"; it's "Why would I want to carry such a weapon? I don't plan on stabbing anyone".

And, yes, I do look down on these people, and I make no apologies for it. These are the unprepared people who die in horror movies.

I never leave the house without at least one knife, and I generally have at least three on me, unless I'm just around the house (one) or in a government building (none). Yes, I get asked to cut things, and yes, I do it with a smug facial expression.

 

[whetrock]

I blame school, I was subject to disciplinary action for carrying a folder in HS, it didn't stop me though, but most of my friends quit carrying knives all together, or never picked up the habit. I felt like they brainwashed us into ignoring the utilitarian value of knives, and made us sense only their disuse as weapons. Still, I survived with my EDC mindset intact, as did a couple of my friends, the more they find themselves in the real world, working jobs, and finding careers, are learning the hard way that a knife at times, is an indispensable tool.

 

[Spudly94]

Ok heres an amazing thought , cause they don't want to , you people are taking about how they have brainwashed that knives are bad , no they just don't want to , it's like anything else , some people like knives and others don't ,all this forum about is bitching about how your the only who has a knife

 

[zzyzzogeton]

how would one go about finding and attending one of these sales? There is an airport near by me.

As far as I know, everything that gets confiscated, or "voluntarily surrendered" as the TSA calls it, at all airports within a particular state, gets turned over to the state's agency for handling "surplus property". Implied from the caption under the picture that this is the one in or near Boston (Boston Globe photo). In Texas, the facility is in Austin.

 

[raybateson]

It's the age of cell phones, hipsters (whatever the heck that is)

Hipsterism is the consumer subculture of seeking and flaunting obscure things simply for the sake of their obscurity. The ones you hear misusing the word 'ironic'.

If hipsters start carrying knives, they'll be full medieval replicas, or neo-primitive stone daggers. Until enough of them copy the act, at which point they'll denounce knife-carrying as 'mainstream' and move on.

 

[jbmonkey]

I worked at a CA school for 6 years. I could carry a blade under 3" long; the kids could not. My school had serious gang problems, so I can't fault that policy. What do you tell a parent whose kid got slashed with a knife?

Re: using keys instead of a knife, I gift my coworker a Victorinox classic, and haven't seen it since. He still uses his keys. It works for him, can't deny it.

Understood. Guess my point is learning the usefulness of a knife starts when one is young. That taken away, kids adapt to tools they are allowed to have such as their house keys. Habit is formed by govt run school decrees...or rules. Glad I grew up in a time when not only teachers carried knives...we were allowed to. Wasnt a kid in school who didnt have a knife in their pocket. No one ever stabbed or cut anyone either. Funny how times have changed....

 

[Sulaco]

Well the current generation is a generation of men raised by women. Fathers have been largely absent in the lives of young people for several decades. Sure, there's been pockets of this sort of thing for as long as there's been disease and wars and whatever else might kill off a bunch of men, but this is different. The "metrosexual" term people are throwing around is indicative of it more than anything else.

Men need to be raised with the strong influence of men in their lives. They (we) seek out leadership and if we don't find it in our fathers, we look to our mothers. As wonderful as women are, they aren't cut out to raise men by themselves. God designed the family the way it is because it works. There's no arguing with that.

So in my opinion, the reason people don't carry and use knives, or myriad other things similar to this is not because of convenience or technology making tools obsolete, it's because they are disconnected from things like using a knife and the satisfaction brought from doing something with your hands which produces. Just my two cents.

 

[Kwon Kwang]

the satisfaction brought from doing something with your hands which produces. Just my two cents.

I think that's still alive and well, just not in the way that you mean.

In all seriousness, I don't think women are the problem, at least not inherently. It's entirely cultural. Our culture tells us that men are the people who use tools and do hard work, while women watch the children and bring us a beer after we're done. While much of the world is also like this, there have been social experiments and places which show things working differently.

 

[Fred Sanford]

Well the current generation is a generation of men raised by women. Fathers have been largely absent in the lives of young people for several decades. Sure, there's been pockets of this sort of thing for as long as there's been disease and wars and whatever else might kill off a bunch of men, but this is different. The "metrosexual" term people are throwing around is indicative of it more than anything else.

Men need to be raised with the strong influence of men in their lives. They (we) seek out leadership and if we don't find it in our fathers, we look to our mothers. As wonderful as women are, they aren't cut out to raise men by themselves. God designed the family the way it is because it works. There's no arguing with that.

So in my opinion, the reason people don't carry and use knives, or myriad other things similar to this is not because of convenience or technology making tools obsolete, it's because they are disconnected from things like using a knife and the satisfaction brought from doing something with your hands which produces. Just my two cents.

I couldn't agree more. The need of a good father is HUGE, yet people like to discount it these days.

 

[James Y]

Ok heres an amazing thought , cause they don't want to , you people are taking about how they have brainwashed that knives are bad , no they just don't want to , it's like anything else , some people like knives and others don't ,all this forum about is bitching about how your the only who has a knife

Maybe you weren't around when almost every boy or man carried some type of pocketknife. And it wasn't considered scary or a big deal. Also, nobody I knew of ever pulled one out in a fight. Nowadays, people in general act either afraid when they see a little SAK, or self-righteously ask why you carry it. YES, society in general has been brainwashed in recent decades, especially since 9/11, about how evil knives are. If it's just them not wanting to carry knives, then why is it they also don't like or want anyone else to carry a knife, either??

OTOH, I feel that knife carriers who purposely show off by whipping their knives open with a flourish in public or in front of non-knife people are morons (to put it mildly). I met a guy like that who said, "I don't give a **** about what someone might think. I'll whip my knife open any way I want, anywhere I want. If they don't like it, **** them." Guys like that do more to contribute to the negative image of knife carriers than any movie. They either don't know or care that the majority speak with their votes.

Jim

 

[perado]

I've found that many have, for whatever reason, gotten away from the mindset. In the last couple of months, I've given a small flashlight and a small folder to several people; mostly women. Each and everyone of them have told me that, by having those tools, they use them more than they'd ever imagined.

Invest in the future; give knives and flashlights. Doesn't have to be large or expensive, but decent quality only reinforces the idea.

 

[WJC01]

At the training center I had a couple recruits helping me on a detail. After the detail I gave them each a section of 550 cord and told them I wanted 2 pieces back. You should have seen them trying to saw with keys and gnaw with teeth. I explained their duties may require a knife and they are allowed to carry at our academy. The next day they were carrying.