Armed and Safe: When gun bans are not enough--the war on . . . pocket knives?

Armed and Safe: When gun bans are not enough--the war on . . . pocket knives?

Kurt has a fascinating article on, of all things, folding knives. The Citizen's Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms has an alert citing the Customs and Border Patrol's efforts to ban even more folding knives.

I keep a pocket knife in my pocket every hour I am awake. It's an Old Timer built in the three bladed configuration of the old stockman's knives. It's a tool I find a use for nearly every day, and I have carried a pocket knife every day since my Dad gave me my first at the age of 7 years old. I also carry a modern folding knife that can be opened one handed. It too is very useful. There are occasions when you have one hand tied up holding something, and realize a need to cut (usually a string or something.) Pulling out the modern folder, deploying the blade, and cutting is another useful item I do not want to give up because some bureaucrat in Washington, who doesn't know me or my needs, decides I don't "need" that kind of knife.

A little history: pocket knives are often also called pen knives. The reason is that every gentleman carried one in order to sharpen and true up the writing tip of a quill pen. Feather quills were used before steel quills were invented in the middle of the 19th century. It is hard to imagine Thomas Jefferson penning the Declaration of Independence without his feather quill pen and ink pot. Not as widely recognized is that he would also have had a pen knife to keep his quill sharp.