Maurice,
The knife I carry is a small stainless lockblade with a two inch blade and as far as a close quarters weapon goes that is all you need. You can really do a fearsome amount of damage with one of these things.
Unless you go through a metal detector nobody would know you had it. There have been two occasions that I can remember when it was discovered, both times in federal government facilities. Once, in a federal courthouse I was asked to put it in a tray and to be held by the door guard until I left. Another time, at I believe an INS office I was told to put it back in my pocket. And of course airports, you must have your knife in your checked bags or you will loose it, that has happened to me a couple of times, back in the 1980's when this silly procedure was begun.
But as far as outright knife bans out on the streets and in commercial establishments, I don't know of any that are being enforced. Here, with the maze of local and state laws I am sure there are a bunch on the books somewhere. When they catch a pothead they pull out laws like that to pile on the charges.
But I really don't think about the thing as a weapon. I use it for everything, to open envelopes and packages, as a screwdriver, you name it. I feel useless without it.
Are small knives really banned in NZ?
On the security elsewhere in the world, in these places like Columbia, security is just not much of a problem for the common people, they, in cooperation with their neighbors provide their own security. This system works really well.
In the rural tropics there is often something else at work that very few outsiders understand: The locals want to keep things just a little bit dangerous to keep outsiders from exploiting their paradise. And I don't blame them a bit.
Slagle |
