Why So Few Carriers

Hi All,
Here in Minnesota, open knife carry is so common that very few people pay any attention at all. Those that do and comment on the knives are usually "foreigners" from the left coast or like that. Even 'Lefties" and other native political perverts carry knives.
Dan
 
Perhaps I am a little more "weapon observant" than some, being a long time LEO, but it seems as if everyone down here (Alabama) has a knife clipped to his/her pocket! You see a lot of junk, but also a lot of Spyderco, BM, etc. The ones I talk to are very much lifelong "knife-toters".

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"To grow older is inevitable.To grow UP is optional."
 
I'm also in Alabama (Hello, AlaChoctaw. Where in AL do you live? I'm in Montgomery.) I teach at a liberal arts college, and I see knives here somewhat frequently. Some students fiddle with folding knives in the classroom. This doesn't bother me, any more than if they were twiddling a pen or pencil. A couple of these students have identified themselves to me as knife nuts. At least one professor besides myself routinely carries a clip folder (Benchmade) in his pocket and an multi-tool on his belt. Among female students, I occasionally see those tiny SAK Classics on key chains.

Many of you have heard my story about how I used a Spyderco Endura to free myself and a number of students from a classroom we found ourselves locked in. What if there had been a fire, and the professer wasn't a knife nut?

David Rock

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AKTI Member # A000846
"Never carry a knife shorter than your schnoz."
 
In my part of Canada, I would say that about 5% carry a knife visibly, about 15% more not visible (no sheath or clip showing) and about another 25% with a "knife" somewhere in their stuff (like very small pen knives or the swiss army type).

Me, always one, sometimes 2 or 3 plus my multi tool.
 
I see a lot of people, like fishermen, mechanics, carpenters, etc., carrying Buck 110's or similar belt-holster lockbacks a lot here in southern CA. Also a heck of a lot of people carry a Victorinox SAK Classic or Executive on their keyrings.
I rarely spot pocket clips on anyone. When I do it's usually at gun shows. I always carry some king of clip knife, plus a small SAK in the pocket, another keychain knife on the keyring, and a moneyclip knife (CRKT Kiss). The only person I know who carries any knife is a cop friend who retired his old Benchmade Tsunami for a Benchmade CQC7 and a CRKT Kiss, carried in different pockets.
Most people are unaware of legal one-handed knives, period. Opening my Delica once for utility, a friend asked, "Is that thing legal?" Thinking it was some type of switchblade.
Jim
 
I generally carry two clips, Right front pocket, and left hip pocket along with a Leatherman Side clip on my belt. I find that when I am in town I will often unclip the right front and drop it down inside my pocket where it doesn't show so I don't look like a walking ironmonger.

I have several friends who carry Bemchmades but who either do not like or do not trust the pocket clips. One of them just drops the knife, clip and all into his pocket. The other routinely removes the clips altogether.
 
I also get that "Is it legal?" question on one-hand folders. (Yes, it is, even in California!) In "non-knife" circles, a Spyderco Delica is an exotic and expensive knife. The idea of paying a mid two-digit price for a knife is completely alien.
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I also find that in my small and unscientific sample about half of the men and most of the women don't know how to close a lockback. Some think the release is another blade or something, and try to pull it out. A vast majority of the general public has no idea how to close a liner lock.


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- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
 
It all depends on the environment. My civilian job is in a Special Operations unit; everyone carries...even the civilians. When I drill with my SF unit, guns and knives are not only carried, but discussed with great enthusiasm.

Unfortunately, the public tide is turning. There are a couple of guys in my unit that have had compliants at their civilian jobs because of their knife clip showing in their pocket. It creates an "uncomfortable" environment.

Personally, it is nice to be in a place where knives are welcomed and enjoyed.

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Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.
 
Jim,

I think you are right. I have never seen the problem you describe with a lock back, but I have seen any number of mechanically inclined individuals hand back a liner lock open becauce they couldn't immediately figure out how to close it and didn't look any further.

I also handed a M-U.D.T. to several friends in the closed position. All of them tried to open it by pulling on ther blade. Every one had to be shown the release button. This includes one full time police officer.

smile.gif
 
"Most packaging is
designed now to be opened without the need of a blade."

Huh??? My way of determining that a person doesn't carry a knife is to observe them trying to open a bubblepack -- with fingernails, keys, pen, teeth....

-Cougar Allen :{)
 
Well, bubble packs are an exception, and there are some others too, but I don't encounter those exceptions more than once or twice a week in my office environment. Most of the envelopes put in front of me (for example FedEx packs) can be easily opened without recourse to a knife. If that makes my office job "boring", so be it :-)

Of course when I get home, things change. My house is sort of a farm and I use a knife around there several times a day. If you count the kitchen, then its dozens of times a day...
 
I just had a zen flash and realized the definitive answer to the question -- so few people carry knives BECAUSE WE LET THEM BORROW OURS!!!

If we stop doing that everybody will be forced to carry their own knives -- and they'll stop asking us why we carry them, and stop dulling our knives using them for unsuitable purposes, and putting fingerprints on the blades, and bleeding on them, too!

Think about it -- do you know a single person who doesn't carry a knife and doesn't ask to use yours??? JUST SAY NO!!!

-Cougar Allen :{)
 
In anchorage it is UNUSUAL for someone NOT to have a knife or knives. I think once someone in anchorage turns thirty they are issued a leatherman. Anyone over thirty carries a letherman or buck period.
 
Whoa, R.D.Hatch! I've been to the "Pork, Pine, & Peanut Festival" about five times and if you look closely, most of the people there are from D.C., Richmond, Norfolk, and other places along the James River. Just because this thing is held in Surry county (not far from Williamsburg) doesn't mean the attendees are county folk. There were more SUV's, Lexi (plural of Lexus, I think) and other upscale cars parked on the grass than old beater pick-ups. I think this is your answer. BTW, it's a great weekend! Loved the barbecue pork, fiddle music, and clog dancers. One of my military buddies worked on the plantation as a kid--he's from Great Bridge, and showed us the "Gone With the Wind" carriage! Loved my time at Fort Lee!

Bruce Woodbury
 
In anchorage it is UNUSUAL for someone NOT to have a knife or knives. I think once someone in anchorage turns thirty they are issued a leatherman. Anyone over thirty carries a letherman or buck period.
Click to expand...

Do you know me? I'm in Anchorage, over 30 and carry a Buck and a LM
smile.gif
LOL Must be something in the water
smile.gif


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"A knifeless man is a lifeless man"
-Nordic proverb

 
Bruce I suspect you are correct.A lot of upscale SUV's in the parking. I'll go back next year. My secret for the best bar-b-q stand is to follow the gospel singers (big women)to the place they eat. Never fails!!
 
I was at the So. MD Kennel Club dog show a couple of weekends ago, and noticed a guy carrying a CRKT Mirage in a new way (to me). He had the knife clipped on the outside of his belt. It was hanging there like it should have been in a sheath.

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Work hard, play hard, live long.
Outlaw_Dogboy



[This message has been edited by Outlaw_Dogboy (edited 10 August 1999).]
 
I attended a stag party this past Friday, and I noticed that someone was wearing what looked to be a Delica on the outside of his belt, with his shirt tucked in, fully visible. I then proceeded to ask the guy to see his knife. To my suprise, it was a FAKE Delica, with a plastic stud where the hole should be. *shudder*

Although I was filled with disdain (and booze
smile.gif
), I was glad to see that some ppl actually carry. He was one of three I've noticed in the past year and a half.

On another note, I once lent a co-worker my Endura, and almost dived toward him when he tried to close it by grasping both handle and blade in an overhand fashion and hoping for the best. People scare me sometimes.

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Shawn
"Earth has its boundaries, but human stupidity is limitless."



[This message has been edited by swball (edited 10 August 1999).]
 
I live in semi rural Pa. I see Buck110 type knives in belt sheaths fairly often. Multi tools are fairly common also. I see very few pocket clips though. I can only recall seing two lately,one a Kershaw Ti of somekind and the other a Survivor Raider by the looks of the clips. I know a lot of people who carry knives that aren`t visible though (mostly just dropped in a pocket). These are usually small trappers or SAKs. The comments on sheeple closing locking blades made me chuckle. Every year at Christmas it`s my unofficial job to supply something to cut the tape etc. on packages with. Mostly they just use my knife and hand it back without incident but it never fails that my mother in law wil first try to cut stuff open with the spine of the blade and then try to close it with her fingers in the path of the blade! I can`t imagine why she hasn`t lost a couple fingers because of this!
wink.gif
Every year I show her how to use it and every year it`s the same thing. I haven`t figured what to do about her cutting with the spine yet but I started bringing a small FB instead of a folder.
smile.gif
Marcus
 
I live in north Alabama, and around here most folks do carry some type of knife. Just last week while in the hall between classes there were 8 engineering students standing there talking and I noticed 4 of us had clips showing. So I know for a fact at least 50% of us had knives who knows, some of the others might have been carrying?

Lonnie
 
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