Has carrying a sgian dubh ever caused anyone problems?

[Mr. MacDougall]

I'm surprised at USA attitudes - OK to pack a Smith & Wesson there but heaven help you if you have a tiddly knife in your sock.

The thing you have to remember is that the USA is not a monolithic culture. We're the third largest nation in the world in terms of land area, behind only Russia and Canada, and the third largest nation in the world in terms of population, behind only China and India. We're made up of fifty individual states, many of which are larger than most European nations. Each of those states is made up of several counties -- and again, in Arizona, many of our counties are larger than some European nations... and I'm not talking about Monaco. Each of the counties has towns and cities. And at each level of administration, national, state, county, and municipal, there are laws and ordinences regarding carrying weapons of whatever kind.

The laws which someone in the Borough of Manhattan, in New York City, Queens County, New York has to observe are likely to be completely different from those someone in Flagstaff, Coconino County, Arizona must obey.

So you have to know what your local laws are, and how your local officers of the law enforce them. If you're uncertain, ask a cop... most of them would be happy to discuss the matter with you.

[Monkey@Arms]

The laws which someone in the Borough of Manhattan, in New York City, Queens County, New York has to observe are likely to be completely different from those someone in Flagstaff, Coconino County, Arizona must obey.

So you have to know what your local laws are, and how your local officers of the law enforce them. If you're uncertain, ask a cop... most of them would be happy to discuss the matter with you.

I agree with everything Mr. MacDougall said except for two small points. First, Manhattan (what is commonly thought of as New York City) is in New York County, not Queens (I only found this out last week), and two, asking a cop about knife laws. Sadly, public safety officers are often ill-informed as to the actual state of the law where edged tools are involved, but that is another story.

Best regards,

Jake