Quote Originally Posted by Dreadbelly
I can do more damage with my two fists or my cane than I could with some butterknife stashed in my sock, and there is all this fuss about legality. ARGH! The whole concept is STUPID and it defies logic. If I have a black knife stashed in my sock that is the least of your worries if you are a law enforcement type.
I can see two alternate law enforcement approaches. The police could take issue with weapons (even small knives), or they could assess each individual and make a specific determination. What would an individual approach look like? A baby with a small knife? Not a danger to anyone (leaving aside danger to the baby). So the police don't care about the baby's weapon. An adult with a good (non-weapon) reason to have a knife? Then they may not take issue. And then there is Dreadbelly. A self-professed dangerous person. If the police are to make individual determinations, I would expect them to lock up Dreadbelly because he's a walking weapon and a potential danger to others. As he says, he doesn't need a weapon to do a lot of damage, so in this approach a weapon would not be a prerequisite to detaining him.

I prefer the focus to be on weapons and not the potential danger inherent in people (aren't we all potentially dangerous?), but that's just me.

There is a third option, I suppose, where the police don't care at all about what you are carrying, be that a small knife, an automatic weapon or a ground to air missile, but I'm a Canadian so it's hard to comprehend such unrestricted freedom.

Kevin