Why so cautious around non-knife people

[Sep]

I think I just figured it out. What scares people is not quite the knife because most kitchen knives are longer than pocket knives. What scares them is the idea that somebody is carrying a knife at all times without them knowing it.

To draw parallel with firearms, kitchen knives are rifles while pocket knives are handguns.

 

[GrinderMcgee]

After careful consideration of the other people in this world and their sensitive emotions, I have decided to always have a SAK nearby for such public occasions of handiness but I will admit...I sometimes get anxious when others display knives around me.......Mostly it is because I want to either examine the blade or give safety advice though.

All knife users should learn to either be comfortable enough in their carry items to explains themselves clearly or face ridicule.

If you fumble around and act nervous or threatening, it makes others nervous, no matter what hand-tool you are holding.

 

[jackknife]

Basicly it all comes down to this;

Sheeple vote.

Pure and simple. We may not like it, but they do, and if we go around flipping out what they see as weapons, they will vote for stricker laws if it comes up on a referendum. The politians love sheeple, they are very easy to lead. All they need is for the sheep to be frightened. Take some young wannabe mall ninja flipping out his latest tactical knife of the month, and scaring some old ladies, and you have intstant fuel for the law makers. They make themselves look good by passing feel good laws. All because some young punk was feeling macho by flipping out his ninja death blade 2000 in a show off mannor. I've seen this happen.

As knife owners, like gun owners, we are the ambasadors for our fetish. How long do your think guns would last if gun owners were to start shooting thier guns in the air like on the westerns? This is why they passed no carrying of gun laws in Dodge City in the 1870's! The people of the town were frightened and demanded guns be banned from carry.

Same with knives. Start brandishing in a careless way all those one hand flipper knives and see how fast your local county or even state house gets letters demanding that they do something about those evil knives. It happened in 1957, when Senator Keefauver made switchblades illeagal, after the James Dean craze. It can happen again.

As an ambasador of your hobby, you need to be as careful as can be taking a knife out in public. Be low key, even to maybe carrying a sak classic or something on your keychain just for sheeple rich environments. You think of knife collecting as a hobby, but the rest of the sheeple world will not agree with you. This ain't stamp or coin collecting, in thier eyes. You can't kill someone with a Peruvian postal stamp. But people get killed all the time with knives. That sets up apart from the coin collectors. Next time the media goes wild over a story about a young person getting murdered by being stabbed, and then you go flip out your Spyderco Military to cut something, people are going to start bleeting. Dosen't matter if we think it's stupid, like it or not, WE are the minority. They out vote us!

Think about it.

 

[SAKnives]

Sheeple, just like all other small, timid animals, should be led quickly to the slaughter to make room for the responsible, self sufficient true men and women who only wish to work hard and enjoy the freedoms and rewards that they have earned for themselves without having to deal with pointing fingers from wimpy activists that scream every time someone gets mugged or killed by an arab with a box cutter.
Weapons are basic tools when used by responsible people and anyone who doesn"t care for the tools I carry can suck it!

 

[A.P.F.]

After careful consideration of the other people in this world and their sensitive emotions, I have decided to always have a SAK nearby for such public occasions of handiness but I will admit...I sometimes get anxious when others display knives around me.......Mostly it is because I want to either examine the blade or give safety advice though.

All knife users should learn to either be comfortable enough in their carry items to explains themselves clearly or face ridicule.

If you fumble around and act nervous or threatening, it makes others nervous, no matter what hand-tool you are holding.

Point well taken.

Sheeple, just like all other small, timid animals, should be led quickly to the slaughter to make room for the responsible, self sufficient true men and women who only wish to work hard and enjoy the freedoms and rewards that they have earned for themselves without having to deal with pointing fingers from wimpy activists that scream every time someone gets mugged or killed by an arab with a box cutter.
Weapons are basic tools when used by responsible people and anyone who doesn"t care for the tools I carry can suck it!

I like this guy! :thumbup:

 

[James Y]

I agree that it is important to be mindful when using knives around non-knife people. That is *not* the same as keeping your head down and tip-toeing on eggshells; it's simple common sense.

I remember once at a gun shop that carried knives, I was handling some knives (I happend to be looking for a small model). The young guy working behind the counter asked why I was looking at a smaller model. I told him because it would be more discreet around other people at work. He pulled out his large-sized flipper knife, flicked it open, dramatically maneuvered it around in his hand and said: "I don't give a F* what other people think. If people get scared of my knife, tough S*, that's their problem."

Well, no, it becomes everyone's problem, because guys like that make it hard for people like me who carry and use knives responsibly. Technically, his point may have been right, but it's those militant thought processes and actions that scare "sheeple" into believing that anyone carrying any sort of knife is a nutcase. Nowadays, the vast majority of people in the U.S. do not carry any sort of knife, even a tiny pen knife. "They" are the majority, and yes, they do vote. I've even met martial arts practitioners who go all wimpy if they see you opening a package with a Delica.

I usually carry some sort of larger folder; a Pacific Salt, Military, Sebenza, or other. But for use in a potentially sensitive environment, I also carry a small SAK, or a small locking folder on me. And in fact, for most of what I do in a typical day, a small blade will do fine. Why bring out my Military to trim a loose thread off my shirt or cut paper when a small SAK, Cricket or Ladybug will do it easier and more discreetly? I often use a serrated Tasmal Salt, itself potentially scary-looking, to cut plastic strapping, but do so quietly. The people at work have come to appreciate the fact that I have the knife and it saves not only me, but them a bit of hassle as well. I have the larger folder for heavier duties, but in my typical workday environ, I've never needed to pull it out yet.
Jim

 

[Bill1170]

I agree that it is important to be mindful when using knives around non-knife people. That is *not* the same as keeping your head down and tip-toeing on eggshells; it's simple common sense.

I remember once at a gun shop that carried knives, I was handling some knives (I happend to be looking for a small model). The young guy working behind the counter asked why I was looking at a smaller model. I told him because it would be more discreet around other people at work. He pulled out his large-sized flipper knife, flicked it open, dramatically maneuvered it around in his hand and said: "I don't give a F* what other people think. If people get scared of my knife, tough S*, that's their problem."

Well, no, it becomes everyone's problem, because guys like that make it hard for people like me who carry and use knives responsibly. Technically, his point may have been right, but it's those militant thought processes and actions that scare "sheeple" into believing that anyone carrying any sort of knife is a nutcase. Nowadays, the vast majority of people in the U.S. do not carry any sort of knife, even a tiny pen knife. "They" are the majority, and yes, they do vote. I've even met martial arts practitioners who go all wimpy if they see you opening a package with a Delica.

I usually carry some sort of larger folder; a Pacific Salt, Military, Sebenza, or other. But for use in a potentially sensitive environment, I also carry a small SAK, or a small locking folder on me. And in fact, for most of what I do in a typical day, a small blade will do fine. Why bring out my Military to trim a loose thread off my shirt or cut paper when a small SAK, Cricket or Ladybug will do it easier and more discreetly? I often use a serrated Tasmal Salt, itself potentially scary-looking, to cut plastic strapping, but do so quietly. The people at work have come to appreciate the fact that I have the knife and it saves not only me, but them a bit of hassle as well. I have the larger folder for heavier duties, but in my typical workday environ, I've never needed to pull it out yet.
Jim

+1 on the above post. The ultimate NKP-friendly implement is a SAK classic. Especially the scissors on it. Cutting boxes down, then the Delica comes out. How we deploy has a huge effect on perception. Waved deployment alarms almost everyone who sees it for the first time. I generally reserve that for work, and I typically work alone.

That said, you can spot potential knife knuts by the ones who ask to see you wave the blade open in slo-mo so they can grasp how it works. I had this happen recently with my grand-nephew, aged 15.

 

[ASBOB]

SAKnives wrote:

Sheeple, just like all other small, timid animals, should be led quickly to the slaughter to make room for the responsible, self sufficient true men and women who only wish to work hard and enjoy the freedoms and rewards that they have earned for themselves without having to deal with pointing fingers from wimpy activists that scream every time someone gets mugged or killed by an arab with a box cutter.

Just for the record, 3,000 innocent Americans died because of "an arab with a box cutter". Yes, I screamed at that. And cried over the losses. If that makes me less of a man and more of a patriot, I accept. I don't believe either is true, by the way. And I don't believe in slaughtering any group of humans; that's been tried a number of times since the 1940s, and as far as I can tell, it's never worked out that well.

 

[stabman]

Sheeple, just like all other small, timid animals, should be led quickly to the slaughter to make room for the responsible, self sufficient true men and women

Wow, you just made all of us knife enthusiasts seem so reasonable.
Posts like this make it really hard to see why anyone would be nervous around certain knife owners...

 

[SpartanSaint]

SAKnives wrote:

Sheeple, just like all other small, timid animals, should be led quickly to the slaughter to make room for the responsible, self sufficient true men and women who only wish to work hard and enjoy the freedoms and rewards that they have earned for themselves without having to deal with pointing fingers from wimpy activists that scream every time someone gets mugged or killed by an arab with a box cutter.

Just for the record, 3,000 innocent Americans died because of "an arab with a box cutter". Yes, I screamed at that. And cried over the losses. If that makes me less of a man and more of a patriot, I accept. I don't believe either is true, by the way. And I don't believe in slaughtering any group of humans; that's been tried a number of times since the 1940s, and as far as I can tell, it's never worked out that well.

yes it was a tragic event. horribly tragic; i remember exactly what i was doing and what i was thinking at the time i saw it on the news.

however i do believe that they won. the terrorists have won. simply because they succeeded in shaking american courage to the bone, forced some questionable laws and practices into place and have effectively cost us untold amounts of money in the search for justice.

there was one plane that was hijacked the same as the others. but that plane didn't kill anyone other than those on board. does anyone know why? and i think that that is [my interpretation] of what SAKnives was trying to say. the difference between the first three planes and the last one.

 

[ASBOB]

The dirty rotten fact is that the terrorists have been winning for decades, the way you put it. If you go to a country like England security is much higher than in the US; that's what years of IRA bombings will do. Lots of closed circuit cameras, and no garbage cans in public places (bombers dropped their packages in these). Similarly, security in NYC is higher than in any other place I know of in the US (I haven't been to Washington in a few years). Again, the result of 9/11 and subsequesent attempts at bombing, some quite recently.

Every free society has to balance freedom and security. In London the cameras are intrusive to me, but when I was there they enabled police to identify, track down, and apprehend a couple of bad guys whizzing around the country with a car crammed with explosives, looking for a target to commit suicide over. Very, very bad guys.

There is a line, and every society has to determine where it is, and where its best interests lie. I just didn't want the 9/11 deaths trivialized, or the proposed "slaughter" to go uncommented.

 

[Noctis3880]

I think I just figured it out. What scares people is not quite the knife because most kitchen knives are longer than pocket knives. What scares them is the idea that somebody is carrying a knife at all times without them knowing it.

To draw parallel with firearms, kitchen knives are rifles while pocket knives are handguns.

Hmm, I'm not sure that's the thing really. The thing is that knives are associated with criminals, criminal behavior, and the "thug" image. But above all else, folding knives are automatically associated with weapons.

If I were to carry a box cutter around or say, a victorinox swiss army knife:

Nobody is going to bat an eye when I pull it out to cut something open, even in a public place. Those are knives as well, but they're associated with tools and not weapons. The thing being that if I were to slash your jugular with them, you would be just as dead, especially if the knife was properly sharpened by one of us.

Being hidden is only part of it, as nobody would know until you pull it out. It is the folding knife's association with weapons that gets the fear snake slithering around people's stomachs. Ignorance is the culprit here.

It would be nice if the knife rights association could perhaps either get some air time with a talk show host or some form of advertising to "educate" the general public about the reality of the situation.

 

[mk.ultra]

I think I saw somebody else post something like this in this thread, not sure. When I use my knife around sheeple at work, I'm always using it to do something useful, most often opening boxes or coring strawberries or something. I just take it out casually and start using before they even know what hit them. No one has EVER gave me a weird look or anything, they figure I'm just doing my job. All my blades are 3" or under though, I'm not whipping out a huge Strider or something.

 

[smasak]

There are some very good points in this thread.

I agree that we are ambassadors of our hobby. With that come the responsibility of not going out of ones way to make people uncomfortable with knives. Hopefully if we all did that, fewer people would go out of their way to make our lives difficult for having knives.

One other point i want to reiterate is that if we as a knife carrying body start to act like using our knives is a taboo act then it reinforces the pressure that some want on us to end knife use. Our knives should be used proudly, but responsibly!

 

[Noctis3880]

Hmm, I wonder how dedicated "self-defense" knives like Emersons with wave opening fits into all this.

I mean, no matter how you look at it, that Combat Karambit is a weapon, and no matter how much plastic wrap/cardboard/rope you cut with it, there's no questioning what the knife is for. Sure I can keep it in the house, but then, for what reason did I buy it?

 

[swamp]

Hmm, I wonder how dedicated "self-defense" knives like Emersons with wave opening fits into all this.

I mean, no matter how you look at it, that Combat Karambit is a weapon, and no matter how much plastic wrap/cardboard/rope you cut with it, there's no questioning what the knife is for. Sure I can keep it in the house, but then, for what reason did I buy it?

Knives are tools and weapons. That is a fact. Therefore the Second Amendment protects knives, as an arm. Carry your Karambit, I carry a Glock.

Just know the laws, and only use it on someone if you need to. I am sure your smart enough to figure all this out.

I just see all the posts of people trying not to scare the general public with their big knives.

Why not let the general public get "used to" these big knives? The more people see them, (being used in a safe manner) the more people will realize how many people have them, but are not harming others.

Just like they do in states where you can open carry a firearm.

 

[Noctis3880]

Knives are tools and weapons. That is a fact. Therefore the Second Amendment protects knives, as an arm. Carry your Karambit, I carry a Glock.

Just know the laws, and only use it on someone if you need to. I am sure your smart enough to figure all this out.

I just see all the posts of people trying not to scare the general public with their big knives.

Why not let the general public get "used to" these big knives? The more people see them, (being used in a safe manner) the more people will realize how many people have them, but are not harming others.

Just like they do in states where you can open carry a firearm.

Uhh, are you sure about that? I live in Hawaii, and looking at the laws:
http://knife-expert.com/hi.txt

It seems like the Second Amendment only means that I can buy it and have it in my home, but not on my persons or vehicle. Now with a Manix 2 I suppose I could argue that it's a tool. But with say, an Emerson Karambit, it's a little hard to write off that vicious hook looking blade as a mere tool(the irony being that the karambit started out as a tool).

 

[nagod]

having the appropriate tool for the situation works for me.i dont bring a 9 inch blade to slice an apple even if i can legally.

 

[Warp]

Hmm, I wonder how dedicated "self-defense" knives like Emersons with wave opening fits into all this.

I EDC a waved Emerson '8.

Just don't use the wave opening but rather slowly remove it from your pocket and then eitehr two hand open or use the thumb disc to gently swing it open. Problem solved.

It seems like the Second Amendment only means that I can buy it and have it in my home, but not on my persons or vehicle.

Right to keep and bear arms. Emphasis mine.

 

[RevDevil]

+1 Warp