Thread: What is wrong with people today?

Originally Posted by EisenFaust

Not isolated to your part of the world I'm afraid - the whole planets going to the dogs - hence the small but superb DPx HEST folder that is welded to me at all times

I've taken to carrying the little Yojimbo 2 lately - 3.5" blade, legal almost anywhere in the US:

Originally Posted by Bruno

I have no desire to carry a gun, but I would love to carry a knife.
Sadly, in Belgium that would earn me a conversation with a guy called 'your honor'.
Good that you were armed and unharmed.

Really? Only if they had reason to assume you would use it as a weapon or any knife? I know of quite a few belgians that doe carry knives and never seem to have any problems with the local law.

Originally Posted by HamburgO

I'm shocked. I thought Belgium was such a free society? Can they just search you on the street whenever they feel like it? Anyway, although I always try to stick to local law (blade length, folder or fixed), I have not walked around anywhere in the world without a knife for the last 30 years. As we say in the US: I'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by six. (Means I'd rather go to court, maybe to jail, than get killed by some asshole).

It's not that bad actually. In my entire life I have been stopped by the police twice that I can remember. Once for riding without a helmet (which was fair ) and once as part of a routine traffic control (DUI checkpoint). Both times they only asked for my drivers license, registration and insurance. No searching was involved.

However, carrying knives for purpose of offense/ defense is not legal. For example, if I go fishing or hunting or hiking, it is perfectly legal to have a big knife on me, because I have a good reason. Carrying the same knife just for going in the city would make it illegal, because at that point it becomes a weapon instead of a tool. With a couple of exceptions, Belgian law defines weapons in terms of use, rather than design. A simple hammer is another such example. Based on the where, when, why and how I am carrying it, it gets a classification.

So if I carry a big knife, I'll never get into trouble until I either get searched (which doesn't happen) or until I need to use it.
If I were mugged, and I pulled out a big knife and defended myself, the first thing the police would ask me is why I was carrying an illegal weapon.

I would be ok as long as I had a non-violent reason for carrying the knife (which is not the case) or as long as I never used it (so the police would not know). And that rather defeats the point of carrying a knife.

For the same reason I don't carry a spyderco civilian. I'd love to, but I'd never be able to explain it.
A standard spyderco pocketknife or a pruning knife otoh would be ok as long as I am not entering protected buildings like a court house.

Originally Posted by LX_Emergency

Really? Only if they had reason to assume you would use it as a weapon or any knife? I know of quite a few belgians that doe carry knives and never seem to have any problems with the local law.

that means 1 of the following:

- they were never searched or had to explain the knife to a police officer.
- they have a valid reason for the knife like going hunting, or being a groundskeeper (boswachter) or taking it to a flea market, etc.
- the knife is not deemed a weapon (such as a swiss army knife).

I strongly suspect that the only reason they didn't get into trouble was that noone simply knew.
Realistically, I could carry a handgun and I would not get into trouble either. As long as the police never knew, I wouldn't have any problems.
And given that police searches are very rare here, that could be my entire life.

However, as soon as I used it and the police became involved, the story would be quite different.

Some street smarts:

Brandishing a weapon is Illegal, the only thing that stood between you and being charged was most likely his drug addled brain.. the reality of this confrontation was that he could have shot you and then might have not even been charged, if he claimed self-defense, after all you were armed...
If he was un-armed and you engaged in combat you might have been charged also if you had used the knife or not.. It would have come down to his word against yours, and courts don't look kindly at weapons other than a handgun...
I know that sounds weird but Courts understand a gun and have legal precedence to fall back on, they don't understand knives as a defensive weapon and you will probably not fair well in the legal system..


Think about what a witness out of earshot would have seen, He walks up to you and talks to you, you take an agressive posture and bearing, and then pull a knife on him and threaten him with it.. He steps back and pulls a gun and shoots you...


Edit: In case there is a question of what really happens in court let me explain,,, They Lie, and they Lie Big, so always be prepared for it...
I used to love the court cases we ended up in, listening to all the lies, then finally watching our Attorney's say simply "Your honor we would like these Video/Audio tapes brought into evidence... Oh my god the look on their faces = Priceless

Well...Columbia is getting rougher by the day. It is a great half-way point between KC and STL and a popular place for thugs on the run to hang out and hide (when they get run out of one of the bigger cities).

These guys are setting up shop all over Columbia and getting new recruits.

Never mind...

NEVER bluff with a weapon, if a situation warrants a weapon, use it, if not keep it put away at the ready until needed.

Growing up in NYC I was always taught not to resist in case of robbery. And carrying a knife in NYC is strictly against the law. Probably against campus rules t carry a knife too.

I'm really sorry that happened to you, glad you are okay.

Maybe write a letter to your campus admin about the sorry state of security there. Best of luck.

Michael

Ya'll need to get off the kid's back about HOW he defended himself. I'm sure all of your suggestions were the furthest thing from his mind. He was confronted, commanded w/ imposing posture, and likely threatened. We all need to be thankful for his sake that he didn't just go ahead and gut the worthless piece of crap.