Knife Rights (http://www.kniferights.org)
The knife laws in the United States, whatever you think they should be, are a horrible mess. They are a crazy-quilt of federal, state, local and jurisdictional regulations that overlap and contradict each other, most of which are antiquated, some beyond belief, and many of which were driven into law by long-dead political agendas, prejudices and irrational historical trends. The laws, and in some places centuries of interpretation of those laws, have resulted in a situation where nobody, NOBODY really knows what the law is, not police, not prosecutors, not judges, and certainly not the citizens trying to comply with them while retaining some level of capability. A lot of them were written in the 19th Century, typically prohibiting knives with vague language like “Bowie knives, poniards and dirks” without defining any of those terms. In many cases folding knives are prohibited based on how they open for no practical reason, and those laws too are ill-defined and vague in many cases.
Even if you know the applicable federal, state, county and local laws for your location, what is legal still depends on EXACTLY where you are. Are you on someone else’s property? A store, or a parking lot? In a state or local park with its own regulations? In a federal building, which might mean museums, art galleries, even food courts? Near a school with a “zero tolerance” policy? It all changes, all the time.
It’s also a constitutional question- the Second Amendment says “arms”, it doesn’t specify what kind, and it was written in an age when gentlemen still used swords, so the words “… shall not be INFRINGED” would seem to apply equally to knives, and yet it is ABSOLUTELY and routinely infringed on constantly by at least several thousand arbitrary laws, many of them clearly unhelpful to anyone in any way.
Aside from the weapon issue there is a very primal one. Almost unique in the animal kingdom, humans have no armor or natural defense, no talons or fangs, no stingers or sharp appendages, nothing. Edged tools are THE most basic and the very first of human tools, dating back millions of years, to so long ago that the evidence is becoming clearer and clearer that we have actually evolved around our tool use. Taking edged tools away from a human renders him or her completely incapable, helpless and dependent on others for the most basic of functions, including rendering food fit to eat. In a very real sense it is denying a human being part of what it means to be human. If they can outlaw edged tools, they are in complete control and can outlaw ANYTHING.
One man and the organization he founded have taken this bull by the horns and are trying to wrestle it into some form of sanity. The man is Doug Ritter, and he and his organization, Knife Rights, have made some real progress and some remarkable achievements.
I’m going to be writing a lot more about this. Having a blog that tackles urban and suburban survival issues, the subject is absolutely unavoidable, but those who are concerned about it should at least look into supporting these people. They’re the only ones taking on this issue on YOUR behalf:
– Robert the Wombat