Would you still obey knife laws if . . . .?

Erikfsn

Erikfsn

Joined
Sep 23, 2000
Messages
524
There is a recent long and interesting thread here asking if people break knife laws.

I may be moving to Sydney Australia, in New South Wales, where in '97 I believe, in response to increasing rates of crimes committed by people with knives, they have outlawed the carrying of any knives at all.

Would you still obey the law if that were the law?
 
Would ladybug count as a knife?

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"Good tools to sustain life, or at least make life more convenient"
-James Mattis
 
No. That really is the most ignorant thing I've ever heard of. Tell me, have people started carrying around shapened forks and spoons yet?
 
This is a tough question for me to answer.

I have thought a lot about this since I believe that in the future we will all be confronted with this problem.

On one hand, I fundamentally beleive, that we should obey all laws.

On the other hand, I don't agree with this situation and I would maybe be tempted to "break the law".

Maybe you should find out what the penalty is for being arrested for carry of a knife in Australia??
You might be willing to risk it.
If it's jail time, count me out. Money is one thing, but, the big house is another.
*Note- Knives are not allowed in jail.

Good Luck with your decision!!!

--The Raptor--
 
Are you really sure you want to live in a place like that?

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Although it does not mindfully keep guard in the small mountain fields, the scarecrow does not stand in vain
Bukkoku
 
Fudo,
I would not be happy with the knife laws, but, I have visited Sydney, and it is arguably the nicest city on Earth. Very thriving downtown, beautiful waterfront, mild weather year round, fantastic restaurants, close to fantastic beaches and beautiful South Pacific Islands, and very friendly people.
 
Originally posted by Raptor:
*Note- Knives are not allowed in jail.
Click to expand...

With that in mind, were you trying to make a statement about how much the Australian powers-that-be trust their subjects, or is it just me?
 
Heavens to Betsy!

What will happen to Crocodile Dundee?

When threatened by the bad guy with a knife, he doesn't pull his enormous Bowie and say "That's NOT a knife"? Will The Australian Government prevent a National Hero like Crocodile Dundee from carry a knife? And what about the new hero, the Crocodile Hunter? He always seems to have a knife handy whenever necessary.

Paracelsus, reminding myself Again to never move to Australia. Too wild for me. You have to rip and tear using teeth, claws, and nails since Cutting is forbidden for your Own good.
 
I believe the time has come to revisit the benefits of a concept known as civil disobedience.

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Semper Fi

-Bill
 
Now would be a good time to find out what the penalties are, if there's a good excuse that will reliably get you out of trouble, what the law says, exactly, how often or how strictly that law is enforced, how often or likely it is that you will be searched (if you're in your twenties and have long hair like me you'll have a harder time than if you're in your sixties), I would also ask about Crocodile Dundee, would a leatherman wave count as a knife? And, maybe, you don't want to live there.

(BTW: does civil disobedience by carrying a knife entail using that knife to protect your right to carry it?
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)

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Jason aka medusaoblongata
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"I have often laughed at the weaklings who call themselves kind because they have no claws"

- Zarathustra
 
This law only applies to the state of New South Wales, a small corner of South
Eastern Australia.
Apparently the police have been given the authority to do random checks and thousands of knives have been confiscated.
I don't know what the penalties are.
 
Maybe some day i'll totally figure out the answer to that question. But by the time I do I also figured it'll be too late.
I DO know that at times laws are irrelevant, and/or outright wrong.
But in order to facilitate such circumstances, I have decided on a few things. Such as: I have relying heavily lately on my martial art and street smart style of combat (for the defense/offense argument of the knives carry)...I stopped carrying my knives as much and try to stop myself from instinctively grabbing one to put on any time i can. My hands still go to stroke one knife (that isn't there anymore) on my belt by habbit...but that's okay...good to keep instincts like that alive for later usage.
I'm not saying that it's okay to make a law like that, i'm just saying that while i fight the law, i'm still gonna hafta obey it (AT TIMES THIS IS NOT THAT CASE OBVIOUSLY), or else anything i say to undermine the law itself will be thrown away because i'm not a law abiding citizen. This isn't always what i'd do concerning wrong laws of course...sometimes in history outright revolution is necessary, but this hasn't happened yet...we need to fight where we can, and not whine about it in ways that's only going to make our voice UNheard by the morons in charge.

Who knows, when the time comes i'll have change my opinion, and when they come to get my guns, they'll hafta kill me first.
I don't know.
Life is better than death, but freedom in death is better than life in a prison.

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"I wouldn't mind you being inside my head if you weren't clearly so crazy."

"I do not conform according to your opinion."
 
I like what Bronco said. I'd probably carry a knife but etch "peaceful disobedience" or something like that on it so that the "authorities" got the point. Or I'd do things like write politicians and tell them that they were using knives in my favorite restaurant and I was scared so they should be thrown in jail or get petitions signed to ban belts as they can easily be taken off and used as whips or I would...

You don't have to push hard, but if you push a little OFTEN, or get many people pushing a little it can do wonders. Of course, this is easier to do in a country that switches from allowing blades to one that doesn't- there is a precedent of knife carrying that the gov't is trying to get rid of so you jsut have to outlast the gov't and it is easier to do then as the precedent is fresh in the minds of the people. I wouldn't try this if I moved to Australia! Well, maybe a few letters...

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"Come What May..."
 
Another law just to hurt the honest citizen, and will do nothing to stop the criminals from getting their hands on them. Just like the gun laws!

This Country is being taken over by the bleeding heart Liberals!
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us_marine_corps_md_clr.gif
BC... For those who fought for it, Freedom has a flavor the protected will never know... Semper Fi
 
I posted this in the AKTI forum a couple of months ago:

"Here's a brief titled "Knife Offences and Policing" from the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. It's in PDF format. www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/bocsar1.nsf/pages/brief8
I thought that the brief was pretty interesting. It's kind of a "what if" scenario for America to look at.

To summerize it, from 1996 to 1997 there was an increase in knife crimes, specifically robberies and assaults involving knives. So in 1998, the NSW Government made it illegal to carry any type of knife in public "without a reasonable excuse". Plus, police were given the power to search suspicious people for knives.

The paper concludes that, since the laws were enacted, incidents of robbery with a knife have dropped, but the number of assults involving a knife hasn't changed."

So, you can carry a knife as long as you have an "excuse", which is obviously a horrible law, but at least you can try to get away with it. What makes the situation worse is that they don't consider unreasonable search and seizures to be unreasonable.
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If you look on your left of this sentence, you'll see I am from belgium.
The law you described is, and has been, enforced here a long time ago.
It states that any knife, which has some sort of a locking device is illegal if the circumstance does not make you carry a knife. Most polpular circumstances: hunting, camping, fieldtrips.....
Basically, since cops have no right searching you here unless you give them a good reason, this means that criminals are in problems carrying even a SAK, while normal people, like me (I live in a farm-area), can carry a knife at choice, but concealed. If you should carry a sword, they will arrest you.
The same goes in the Netherlands. The circumstances in which the knife is found in your hand or pocket dictate if it's illegal or not.
I have carried a spyderco endura for a few years now. It's an excellent folder for general (hard) use, and an excellent self defense folder too, altough I never used it in combat and hope I never need to.
No-one has even asked questions about the folder.
The only down part is the fact that knives are often looked at as plain and simple weapons. All other functions become obsolete when the illegal aspect is so popular.
That's why you'll find so few knifemakers and collectors in Belgium and the Netherlands, while france has a big reputation in this field.

greetz, Bart.

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"If the world wouldn't SUCK, we'd all fall off !"

member of the BKS
http://www.expage.com/belgianknives
 
Parcelus & medusa:

You can ask Croc Dundee, but you'll need to do it looong distance. He was killed in a shootout with police over there last year when he refused to give up his guns.

Do a search at thefiringline.com, you'll find several threads.

Coming soon to a police state near you !

 
For those of you out there who don't know, the 'REAL' Dundee was killed, not Paul Hogan. Just thought I'd clear that up.
smile.gif
 
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