People's Attitudes..

[beermaker]

Very interesting thread, really enjoyed reading it and feeling my bile rise! Totally agree about the demonising of edges and guns by the media - really boils my pee!! I've always hated it when people say "eeeh, guns and knives are dangerous!!" - what ignorant codswallop! Its the person who picks them up that is dangerous. A biro pen can be an offensive weapon and a thing of beauty can be carved with a knife and axe. A gun or a knife are not going to jump up and start killing people on their own, and similarly they should not be blamed for the actions of stupid people as if they'd been possessed by demons the moment they touched said tools.

As for education, my three kids are more than used to seeing my rifles and edge tools around the house and know enough about them to not play with them. If you hide things away and say "don't touch!" it just makes them exotic and desirable for the wrong reasons. In the same vein - I work on a farm-based school and regularly use fixed blade knives, folding saws and air rifles there with the young people. The bosses take on it is "make it educational, hide it when Ofsted come in!" A fair and valid point - people are impressed when I say I teach young people to drive tractors with 3 foot bale spikes on but are horrified when I say I teach them to responsibly use knives and guns in a safe environment.

[Pete11]

Methinks the ''media'' has a lot to answer for as well.

Pete

[shepherd]

Very interesting thread, really enjoyed reading it and feeling my bile rise! Totally agree about the demonising of edges and guns by the media - really boils my pee!! I've always hated it when people say "eeeh, guns and knives are dangerous!!" - what ignorant codswallop! Its the person who picks them up that is dangerous. A biro pen can be an offensive weapon and a thing of beauty can be carved with a knife and axe. A gun or a knife are not going to jump up and start killing people on their own, and similarly they should not be blamed for the actions of stupid people as if they'd been possessed by demons the moment they touched said tools.

As for education, my three kids are more than used to seeing my rifles and edge tools around the house and know enough about them to not play with them. If you hide things away and say "don't touch!" it just makes them exotic and desirable for the wrong reasons. In the same vein - I work on a farm-based school and regularly use fixed blade knives, folding saws and air rifles there with the young people. The bosses take on it is "make it educational, hide it when Ofsted come in!" A fair and valid point - people are impressed when I say I teach young people to drive tractors with 3 foot bale spikes on but are horrified when I say I teach them to responsibly use knives and guns in a safe environment.

reminded me of a story! - i used to go to askham bryan college in york and studied agriculture... once a week we had 'farm duties' which included gettin up early and helping out on the working farm based at the college in any way that was needed... one particular day the farm manager pulled boards off the milking shed wall and us (the students) stabbed all the rats we could behind the boards with pitch forks.... one lad stabbed one with a SAK that he was carrying and everyone freaked out and called him a phyco. the difference being apparently its ok to stab somthing with a pitch fork - which was an actual duty assigned to us students by a lecturer but a knife was seen as totally weird...

[beermaker]

lol!! We play "splat the rat" with the students too! great fun and character building to boot

[MadZ]

it is ridiculous that knives are treated the way they are, what people need are education and with that i mean take them some where with nothing and leave them a while, then go back and leave them again but this time with a knife, then explain politely, see what can be achieved with the thing they consider as a weapon.

personally i respect some parts of the knife laws here in the UK, for example, the parts on not carrying it in places that it has no use, towns, schools, library, courts, council offices etc and i abide by these, on the other hand i can say i honestly do break the law when it comes to the part of legal carry knifes in the uk, 3 1/2 inch blade that folds and does not lock, i carry a 4 inch fix blade when out and about, never take it anywhere listed above and more, keep it securely in its sheath attached to my belt with the sheath in side my right pocket of my combats, out of sight out of mind(to the would be grass), always aim to be seen as using it with good intention and respect if people are around, and never carry it with out a good reason and very good proof of the reason.

i do these things as on a few occasions i have been on both sides of knife crime and feel i have a slightly deeper understanding for a knife, first was as a kid was told never play with knifes etc etc, finally got one for modeling and was excited about having a knife, done the wrong thing, took it out ended up with a kid having 46 stitches in his right bicep because of an accident with the knife and me nearly going to a young offenders institute.

second was on a new years eve party we had coconuts we where filling with drinks, mate was chopping the tops of with a machete and though it would be clever to try and chop the top off of one without telling me while i was carrying it at chest height, end result was a near severed index finger that was put out of action for nearly 3 years.

third was my own fault and made me learn a new found respect for cutting edge implements full stop, and that was a slip with my axe, it rolled out of a piece of wood, nearly lost the index finger again, and this was all because i was being a tool with my tools.

think the moral of my stories are that from personal experiences on both sides it has made me learn to respect what can be deadly tools if not shown the ut most respect and use for the right intentions

and the moral of the story in general is that knifes and guns can be considered weapons in the hands of the uneducated but also as working tools for those who have a little respect and understanding for what they have and the damage it can cause.

hope this post does not upset anyone, its not supposed to, its merely to explain my thoughts and actions on knifes.
also to show that with respect and education knifes are not actually a bad thing.

all the best

Madz

p.s also i would like to add that due to my first experience i have taken it upon myself to teach my three year old son the respect for knifes by making him a wooden knife from an old hickory lump hammer handle, teaching him that blades can bite aswell as being useful, after presenting him with it on his first time to the woods with me and a mate he astounded the both of use by listening, absorbing the information and acting upon it, end result being he now knows how to use, look after and most inportantly RESPECT his knife

[Bushdoctor]

When I was a boy (not that many years ago) I and my mates could carry a knife across town and nobody would bat an eyelid,it was just a group of lads going to the scouts. Lord Baden-Powell (B.P.)
always advised that a boy to be prepared(the scout motto) should always carry a knife,a piece of string and a shilling.Couldnt always manage the shilling as we were always skint, how things have changed in
such a short time.People should read some of the good common sense comments on this thread, they might learn a thing or two.

[shepherd]

.People should read some of the good common sense comments on this thread, they might learn a thing or two.

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