[OT] Carrying a knife

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Somehow I don't think telling the thread to close over and over is going to help.

 

[Drawmack]

That's a really bad statement of the law. It implies that there is a unified U.S. criminal law. In point of fact, each state has its own criminal provisions. Your jurisdiction may have such a statute, but there's no guarantee that others will.

You may be familiar with this:
Amendment II
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Kept me out of jail for wearing a six shooter on my hip walking down the street while PA state law allows no provision for such.

BTW: before I'm flammed it was and innocent mistake. I was on my way home from hunting and forgot to take off the pistol but had taken off the vest with the hunting license on it.

 

[Teflon Billy]

I'm Canadian (like D20 Dwarf) and am well aware of the knife laws as I have carried one every day for the last 20 years. I literally don't know how I ever got along without it, and on days when I forget it, I feel like I'm missing a hand.

In my neck of the woods the rules are...

• No longer than 6"
• No Double-Edged blades
• No Switchblades (Which is just about meaningless these days, as there are knives that can be opened with one hand easily. Like mine The last switchblade I saw was my Grandfather's from WW2)
• I'm not sure about serrated edges. I've heard two different htings from two different cops.

Anyway, if his knife falls under these strictures, it's legal for him to carry it. Which doesn't mean by anystretch of the imagination that he must be allowed to carry it at his place of work. Think of it like a dress-code. If they (your employers) say "no Cowboy hats" (unlikely in Alberta, I know), then it's No Cowboy Hat time whether it's legal for you to wear one or not.

There is a world of difference between "Not Illegal to Carry " and "Right to Carry Protected by Law".

In practice, most no one cares about my knife. I carry it clipped inside my front pants pocket and use it about a hundred times a day for opening celophane, parcels, cutting things to size etc. I can open and close it so fast (with one hand) that I doubt most people even know it's out before it's put away again.

Just don't be a dick about it. You have no "right" to carry the knife. Don't make a big scene. If you think you need a knife for things, keep one of the myriad utility knives you mentioned are around near your workstation. Giving a big lecture to your employer about the needs of the Mob quashing the needs of the individual will not help

 

[takyris]

I'm only rude when I feel it warranted. Presumably you've never done likewise - oh wait, you did it when you weren't even part of the conversation. Oops. Maybe we can chalk *that* up to a difference of opinion too.

Still waiting.

I'm confused. How was I "not part of the conversation"? It's ENWorld. It's a public message board. We're all part of any conversation we click on. If KB responded by saying, "Hey, Tacky, I can fight my own battles, please don't try to "rescue" me," that would be a completely different manner, as my intitial intrusion was on her behalf. But as it is, the offense of which I stand accused appears to be having asked you to stop being rude.

I have been rude in the past, been called on it, and apologized. I don't believe that I have been rude here, however. Please quote me directly and explain how I have been rude to you. If this is drifting too far off topic, please feel free to do so over e-mail (gpweekes(at)yahoo(dot)com).

In doing so, please answer the following question:

1) Did you initially believe that KB's post was a direct attack upon you?

2) After having asked me to read it, I assume that you have done the same. After reading my interpretation of it, do you still believe it to have been a direct attack upon you?

3) Have I been rude in some fashion above and beyond accusing you of being rude?

4) Since you admit that you are rude when you feel that the situation justifies rudeness, are you admitting that you have been rude here?

Convolutedly put, if you believe yourself to have been rude but justifiably so, you cannot take offense at my characterization of your post as rude -- since rudeness was, in that event, your design. On the other hand, if you take offense at my characterization of your post as rude, you must believe that you were not being rude at all -- but I do not understand there to be any non-rude connotation to, "Besides being rude, insulting and judgemental (what else is new), you are wrong (as often is the case)..." You may believe that you are JUSTIFIABLY rude, but to believe that you are not rude at all is something of a stretch.

If you believe yourself to have been justifiably rude, responding to a supposed attack by KB, then a simple reread of the relevent posts should make it clear that no direct attack upon you was made, rendering the subsequent rudeness the result of simple misunderstanding and hardly a black mark upon your character.

If you believe there to be a deeper meaning to her remarks that I cannot understand because of other posts on other threads that I have not read, then I am, of course at a loss. I was simply referring to the posts in this thread -- people lose their heads in a variety of ways at different times, and I generally try to give most people a clean slate in each new thread. Not all people, of course -- there are some people whose behavior has consistently struck me as coarse and impolite that I no longer give them the benefit of the doubt. If KB has behaved in such a reprehensible manner on many occasions in the past as to merit such treatment from you, then I am simply uninformed, and I apologize for not understanding the larger context of your argument. I was, as stated, referring only to posts in this thread.

 

[Enceladus]

I - I - I - I want the Kniiiiiiiieeeeeeefffe!

 

[DWARF]

Woah, I forget to check my thread in the morning and look what happens!

Alright, if the exact specifications of my knife will help the discussion, so be it.

I'm a big guy, so the blade is maybe a 1/4 of an inch longer than my palm. Yes, the blade is black, but not because of some "I'm a ninja-knife fighter" aspirations. In biology I come into contact with some volatile chemicals and I've had a few blades get discolored or worse due to contact and the coated blades tend to be less reactive with Formalin and other chemicals than the steel in my knife. And yes, the handle is also black because it's Xylex, which is lightweight but doesn't get nearly as slippery as most plastics.

As for the laws in Canada on knives; my knife is legal for me to carry. I don't need a permit or a license, just a little common sense.

And as for my job, It's a full-time summer position as I'm returning to University for my final year. I had been thinking of continuing on part time during the year to make a bit of cash, but after this and the fact that I had to shave my beard since I work with food... I doubt I will be. I'll probably just get a really big student line of credit.

 

[Arnwyn]

I find myself wondering why a 22-year-old adult feels the need to carry a knife around, everywhere he goes, especially in a modern-day city. What are you, Crocodile Dundee or something? (Yes, I'm sure your own knife isn't that big. But, still... )

LoL! That's what I was thinking, too. I had a friend (long since moved away) who also insisted on carrying a small knife everywhere. Weirdest thing, IMO - he lived in a large urban area, and I couldn't figure it out. What, was he hoping to be able to make a bamboo shelter in case of a monsoon in the middle of fricken' Winnipeg?? Always gave him strange looks, and told him to "leave the knife at home/in your car, bozo". He did, after a while.

In any case, to the original poster: no, you're not a criminal here. But you have to abide by any workplace rules, or reasonable requests by your manager/boss. I know that if I carried a knife into my office I'd be chucked out pretty fast, and deservedly so. But I'm an accountant, so carrying a knife to work is just freaky-weird.

 

[Emiricol]

Well, I feel bad that you think I overreacted. And yet again, I'll just chalk that up to a difference of opinion. Still waiting. I'm wondering by what stretch of the imagination you feel this conversation provides anything constructive? I think it's all been said, now let's go play nice in our own corners.

Meanwhile, Kahuna Burger herself has, with admirable restraint, declined to make this a bigger issue than it already was. To you, KB, I apologize for the parts of my original post in perens - I should have left those out, and my being angry at the time in no way makes that appropriate behaviour. I think the rest of the post (from what I remember of it) was fully adequate to show where our opinions differed.

 

[Goobermunch]

You may be familiar with this:
Amendment II
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Kept me out of jail for wearing a six shooter on my hip walking down the street while PA state law allows no provision for such.

BTW: before I'm flammed it was and innocent mistake. I was on my way home from hunting and forgot to take off the pistol but had taken off the vest with the hunting license on it.

That's all well and good. We're not talking about wearing a six gun on your hip. We're talking about carrying a concealed weapon. That's well within the power of the states to regulate. Furthermore, just because PA has one set of rules pertaining to what constitutes a legal knife, doesn't mean that it's the same in California.

There are limits on the Second Amendment.

--G

 

[Emiricol]

That's all well and good. We're not talking about wearing a six gun on your hip. We're talking about carrying a concealed weapon. That's well within the power of the states to regulate. Furthermore, just because PA has one set of rules pertaining to what constitutes a legal knife, doesn't mean that it's the same in California.

There are limits on the Second Amendment.

--G

Heck, there's limits on the First, too. Shouting "Fire" in a theater, buying (and especially using then discarding) patriotic napkins, terroristic threats, the list probably goes on.