Boy Scouts no longer "prepared"

Thanks to David Codrea and the War On Guns for this article in the London Telegraph by Chris Irvine entitled Scouts to no longer bring penknives on camping trips. Go read the article. These are pen knives! Every boy, and for that matter, every girl should have a knife on his or her person at all times.

"I think it is safest to assume that knives of any sort should not be carried by anybody to a Scout meeting or camp, unless there is likely to be a specific need for one. In that case, they should be kept by the Scout leaders and handed out as required."

Troops leaders however have said the decision is "very sad". Sheila Burgin, from 4th Sevenoaks Scout Group in Kent, said: "Scouts by law are allowed to have Swiss army knives. I think this is going too far – you just don’t know when a Scout will need a knife.

That sentiment, that you never know when a scout will need a knife, could be applied to anyone. A knife is a tool with a thousand uses, and the traditional Boy Scout knife is one I carried for a time instead of carrying a Swiss Army knife. Over the years, though, I have settled on stockman knives. These have the traditional clip point blade, and spey blade, but then also have a straight edged, drop pointed blade that serves very well as a box cutter. I was at a wedding this last weekend, followed the next day by a "day after party" for close friends and relatives. While there, the new bride began opening wedding gifts, with the groom at her side. The groom had to use a key to try opening taped up boxes and such. I was painful to watch, and would have gone much easier with a pocket knife.

"Scouting helps to prepare young people with valuable life skills, while keeping them safe by not carrying knives."

Oh really? So teaching boys to ask "Does anyone have a knife or something to cut this with" is now teaching valuable life skills? I realize this will come a something of a shock to those in the formerly great Britain, but if knives could be effectively eliminated, those who wish to do harm could use pointed scissors, or do like prisoners and sharpen the handles of their toothbrushes. In fact, knives can be made with minimal tools from old hacksaw blades, old worn out files, and other tools. If you have access to a grinding wheel, and a Burnz-O-Matic torch, and have a few finer gradations of abrasives, you can make an excellent blade from old hand wood saws. By the way, screw drivers make excellent stabbing tools, as do ice picks. Are you going to eliminate those too?

The fact of the matter is that it isn't the knife, or the gun, or the sword or spear that causes violence, but the intent of the wielder of the instruments. What we are seeing in Britain is the inevitable result of following the instrumentality theory of violence. First it was handguns. Now it is knives. But it doesn't take much imagination to look down the road and see that when all the tools that can be used to kill another human being have been outlawed, people will be reduced to sharpening bits of rock and lashing these to a stick. But violence will remain. It isn't the instrumentality, but the criminal heart of the wielder that needs to be addressed.