How often would a martial artist carry a weapon?

We train MA but we hope that we will never have to fight. When I was young, one guy told me that next time we met, he was going to kill me. Since he belonged to some gang group and I was not, I had to carry knife all the time. Some people train MA for health, fun, inner peace, ... I train MA for "not to be killed".

 

That might be why you trained, but i trained specifically for sport, and wouldn't really consider myself a martial artist in as much as a competitor, but distinctions aside, why are all these people trying to kill you?

 

I used to carry a Ninja Keychain, but I see no need for it anymore.

 

But, you did not answer my question. (You maybe a single, uncommon case)

Genuine Curiosity; What can someone rob from a homeless person?

I have been around homeless people and volunteered at homeless shelters. Very few had weapons, less of any magnitude

The problem you have, rather you can change it or not, is your exposure to gangs or negative peer pressure environment. This may be the cause for a weapon, but not a general statement that others should follow...am I correct?

 

I suspect the general answer is "whatever they thought they could get away with".

In medieval Germany, it was often illegal for commoners to own swords, so the knives kept getting bigger and bigger until they were as big as you know, swords. But as long as they had a knife hilt and not a sword hilt they could get away with it, and used them for much the same reasons as the bolo was/is used in the Philippines. They were even called "messers" which means "knife". Also Grosse (Big) Messer, Langes (Long) Messer and Kriegsmesser. A kriegsmesser is a "war knife" and is essentially single edged two-handed sword. I've got one... it's 44 inches long.

My point being, if there are rules, people will figure out ways around them. What they were allowed to do and what they actually did might be two different things.

 

Thanks.....

But does it seem odd, that a homeless person has something of value. It does seem odd, that homeless person invested in a weapon instead of a method to get into a better environment, even a shelter.

 

Hi,

One thing that people don't understand is that homelessness has a distinct culture of its own. The habits that people develop to not be homeless are a disadvantage on the street. People on the street develop habits to survive there, and those habits don't change overnight. Adapting from life on the street to life in the workaday world takes a long time: approximately two years. It is absolutely identical to moving to a country with a foreign culture and integrating there.

Some shelters can be very dangerous, so some homeless people don't go there. This highlights the necessity of a "shelter first" initiative to get people off the street. They can't make the changes while still immersed in their current (street) culture, any more than I could just "learn Japanese" in a few weeks and move to Japan and work as a scholar of Japanese literature.

Another thing is the mental health issue. Homelessness and poor mental health often go hand in hand. Places with poor mental health care will have more homelessness. Imagine a homeless person with paranoid schizophrenia. Do you think he's going to spontaneously enrol in community college or get a weapon?

 

Big Thanks for The Details of Your Post

Yes. Part of this I understood from the shelter administrators. And yes, on occasion, we found crude weapons when homeless came to the shelter

 

Even if I was homeless, I did have some money with me. It was the summer time. I worked 2 jobs in those 3 months in NYC.

- From 11 am to 7 pm, I worked in the Zebra Deli in Manhattan, NY.
- From 12 pm to 8 am, I worked in the Ideal Toy Company in Queens, NY (at the end of E-train).

I tried to make enough money so I could pay my next semester tuition of $650 to The University of Kansas at Lawrence. I also need to save some money for my room and board as well.

Since I tried to save as much money as I could. Also since my working schedule won't allow me to sleep properly even if I rented an apartment, to sleep on the grass of the Riverside Park could save me both money and time. I was in "survival mode". When I fed my own mouth, my whole family was fed.

IMO, if you don't

- need to deal with gang members,
- go to bad neighborhood,

I see no reason to carry knife (or gun).

Those guys were gang members and I was not. Since firearm was not available back then in Taiwan, most street fight were knife fight. Believe it or not, I used to carry 3 knifes and I could throw my knife with quite good accuracy. I intended to take care 2 of my opponents before I started to deal with the 3rd one. I also made my own throw knifes.

Back then in 1971, the tuition of the University of Kansas at Lawrence was $650 a semester. The tuition of the University of Texas at Austin was $200 a semester. That was why I moved to Texas.

While I was in NYC, 2 guys tried to rob me while I had $47 with me. I fought back and hurt one guy pretty bad. I didn't want them to find me. I quitted both of my jobs, left NYC 2 days later, and took the greyhound bus all the way down to Austin, Texas. It was fun to be young back then.

 

Just being gang members doesn't explain why they were trying to hurt you, and i am saying this as someone who grew up around gang members.

Austin is pretty far away from Big Bend, so perhaps i should narrow the question to, why would you go to Big Bend if you expected to be robbed and murdered.

 

One gang member and I were dating the same girl. He didn't want me to see that girl any more and I refused to do so. One day we finally met in front of that girl's house. I said, "You said that you want to kill me next time we meet. Now we meet again. Let's take care of this once for all." He said, "John, look at how big and strong you are and how small and weak I'm. How can you take advantage on me." I didn't say anything, turned around, and left. Many years later I met him in Houston but he tries to stay away from me for the rest of his life. Today, I still have to thank him for giving me strong motivation to train MA. Without his life threaten event, I truly don't know that I would still train MA today.

I always want to visit all national parks in US. I was told by my friends that since Big Bend is on US border, it's the only one national park that firearm is a must. In most national parks, you have to worry about grazzly bear and mountain lion, but in Big Bend you have to worry about human being.

I was very good to make my own knife. For the knife handle, I put plastic bags in a milk can, put that milk can on top of fire. When the plastic bags melt into black glue, I then twist those glue at the end of my knife. After the plastic got cold, I could use knife to shape my knife handle the way I wanted. Even today, I still think that's the best way to make handle for any knife or even sword. It's vey tight with the blade and will never come off.

 

Having been born and living in an Asian country (Philippines), I can only speak of my country.

You can look up our weapon laws in the internet. But the reality is that carrying a weapon is prevalent in certain parts of the population. Even if you live in the same city, if you mostly stay in certain parts, you'll probably encounter weapon carriers.

Bottomline is: don't get caught. Most weapons are of the non-gunpowder variety. If you see a person packing heat, be assured he knows others who pack heat as well (i.e. don't mess with him).

Most weapons (knives) are easily concealable. I've met high-schoolers who bring one to school.

The further you get away from the city and urbanized areas, the more prevalent the carrying of weapons happen to the male section of the population. It's a "macho" thing, really.

Most weapons and baggage checks happens in commercial malls and the train system. IIRC, these checks suddenly boomed after 9/11. But most are cursory as some cases slip by. Back when I was carrying, I avoided riding the train for the same reason.

^This. :star::star::star::star::star:

To sustain one's life and lifestyle, one may need to resort to drastic measures, especially if one is in short supply of resources.

I've seen some garbage pickers have touchscreen phones one year after they became popular here.

 

So, you pick a fight with a gang member, but carry a knife to defend yourself? Then, you make up your mind to visit every national park for some reason, even though you are warned you stand a high chance of being robbed or killed at one location, yet you remain determined to go? I can't help but feel you are not armed to protect yourself from tangible danger in as much as a way to counterbalance your tendency to make dangerous and unintelligent decisions.

 

And this is relevant to a perceived need to be constantly armed how?

 

The homeless do suffer a high rate of violence and victimisation, so I can see the need to fell armed, just as I can see the need to feel armed in places without much passing people.

It obviously depends on the country, but given American crime rates its certainly understandable.

 

Yes, depends where you live and where you travel to , but some people are just paranoid and would carry a weapon anyway.