Are there any weapon laws that confuse you in your area? Ones that seem stupid or pointless? my favourite example of such is this one. I cannot walk through the city with my bo staff unless I have it fully secured in a case with no intention of using the weapon in the public area. but I can go into poundstetcher, pick up a metal mop handle which is lighter and tougher as well as sharp at one end(where the mop head joins) and I can legally carry that around twirling away in public. so lets recap, I cant carry a blunt wooden stick but I can carry a sharp metal stick... or try this. its illegal to carry a knife...but not a chisel, errr logic behind that please? a stab with a chisel will do some serious damage.
This thread was running when I first arrived here on MAP and I remember it being pretty good on the subject
It's all to do with the difference between a weapon and a tool. A weapon is designed to hurt people but tools are meant to do something else, but can be used to harm. It all depends on who has the weapon/tool in their hand. I don't see why you would have to have your bo encased as the average guy on the street wouldn't see it as a weapon and be freaked out, a sword on the other hand would have most people running into poundstretcher to buy sharp metal mops to defend themselves with!! I guess martial arts weapons are just lumped together without differentiation to stop people wandering around the street with samurai swords, throwing knives or sai. It is an odd law but be thankful you don't live in the USA, in some states oral sex is illegal. If that was passed in the UK I know I would be one of the first to rampage through the streets with my mop!!!!!!!!!
What I find amusing is that you cant own a pocket knife with a blade longer than 3 inches but you can buy a sword LOL. I work in TK Maxx and legally you can buy like massive kitchen knives and machete type things and all that at 16 and its like, what.
There is confusion here.... The law in Britain (I assume that's where you're from) allows you to carry any weapon as long as it is secured (so that you couldn't just pull it out and stab/hit someone with it). Please note that some weapons are illegal in Britain You are not allowed to walk down the high street with any object that may be an offensive weapon. You would not be immediately arrested, but if police officers saw you they would certainly do a stop/check on you. If you have a martial arts licence, it goes a long way to explaining to police why you are carrying a bo staff. I myself carry around an eight and a half foot pole for wing chun and have never been questioned. A ggod tip for you would be to cover it in black bin liner. The law is flawed, I agree, as you are allowed to carry scissors, gardening shears, screwdrivers, etc, if you are in the handyman business. I would think it was a harsh police officer who gave you a hard time for carrying a blunt pole!! Butterfly knives or samurai swords maybe...
I don't actually know how the laws work in Norway; I think it is like this: Sharp blades longer than 8 (inches/cm?) are illegal. Any weapon that is not a tool (combat-knives, martial weapons) are illegal. Any crossbow is illegal. A bow is legal. Pistols/revolvers are illegal unless you join a pistol-club and aquire a licence from the police. Rifles/shotguns are legal unless you are under 18 years old and as long as you aquire a licence from the police. Automatic weapons are illegal. My experience with Norwegian authorities conserning the law enforcement of theese rules, is that they make judgements; they regard the situation and don't follow the rules rigidly. If you are known by the police as a criminal, you will meet much less understanding from them if carrying weapons. I've on several occations carried longswords, axes, shields, spears, etc around in town centres, and never had anybody reacting(with anything but curiosity); either civilians or police. The few times I've been stopped, I inform that I'm into theatre and that it is theater-props. On one occation, I allmost had a Sami-knife (Traditional north-Scandinavian knife, some 18 cm. long blade) confiscated when I was stopped late at night under dubious circomstances, in my car and had the knfe lying in the car. They asked why I had a knife lying in the car, and I said it was to kill a deer/elk, if I collided with one. They bought that one. (The reason for having the knife there in the first place was really just me forgetting to put it out of the car after using it in a forest-walk some weeks earlier )
Was great, guy from my sword class had his Iaito in a case with 2 bokken and a police guy stopped him and was like 'whats in the case' etc. And they guy says 'An Iaito Katana and 2 Bokken' "Show us these please as they may be classed as an offensive weapon" "Sorry, im not allowed to open the case in public it's against the law" "Do you have a licence for these weapons?" "You don't need one, its legal to poses them and they aren't weapons, they are training aids'" "Sir I think we will have to ..." "No you won't" The police didn't really know what to do, so the guy shows them his record from the BKA with his grading and all that and 1st Dan and the police just walked away because they were too confused.
Thats interesting!! The police in the UK are allowed to search containers / cars, etc, but I imagine they were reluctant in case they cut themselves. Good story. It goes to show how some laws are flawed and that common sense is sometimes better than the rulebook
Everytime I read these threads I find myself feeling very fortunate that I face no such inane laws where I live. (Martial arts license? Wow!) Although I admit it is a rare day that I walk down the street with a sword or spear, but I like the fact that it is perfectly legal for me to do so.
One of my classmates major form of transportation is a motorcycle and I often joke with him about transporting pole weapons to and from class. For example: "So did you find anyone to joust with on the way up?" I know that they won't let us use any type of metal blades in the public parks but they don't seem to have a problem with the wooden weapons.
ANd everytime I read posts like this, I find myself feeling very fortunate that I live in a society where the police have laws that makes it possible for them to shield me from mad people urging to wander the streets flailing their weapons, looking for action
Stole, you forget, laws written to forbid the carrying of weapons are written to protect the government, not the people. There is no duty to protect the people. Mad men and criminals do not obey the law.
The other thing I think is stupid. You aren't allowed to have a penknife with a blade over 3 inches yet any 16 yeaqr old can buy a 16 inch kitchen knife!
Its a little bit odd here in TX.. We're not allowed to carry butterfly knives, switchblades/automatic/spring loaded knives, any kind of knife bigger than 5 inches (almost the width of my palm), a baseball bat in your car without a glove... Yet I can legally walk down the street with a shotgun (granted its not sawed-off). I can walk down the street with my staff (walking stick), and my rope dart as long as the rope and dart are separated.. I had to explain to the cop why I had a length of silk cording (I told him I was kinky) and a plumbers bob (After the kinky part he didn't want to know). Can't carry my 3 sectional staff, but I can carry my wooden taiji blade. Gotta have a permit for a handgun, but I can carry a high powered hunting rifle WITH scope in a gunrack in the back of a pickup truck (within reaching distance of the driver). I can get away with wearing a 9 sectional whip as a belt oddly enough.
Most countries get the laws that they deserve... Whenever a society gets riddeled with maniacs pestering the streets wielding sweedes, you usually end up with a law against it. Whenever a society is filled with shotguns that are sawed off, with 3-section staffs,butterfly knives, switchblades/automatic/spring loaded knives, any kind of knife bigger than 5 inches (almost the width of my palm), a baseball bat in your car without a glove AND NOBODY USE THEM TO PESTER THEIR KIN, you don't get a law against it... Theese laws are meant to go after the intenion inwich the given weapons are meant to be used, the language the impliment talks. A shotgun with a long barrel talks the talk of shooting birds, while a sawed off one talks the talk of bank-robbery; a butterfly-knife talks the talk of ripping bellies, while a sami knife talks the talk of traditional minoritypeople and their national costume, a three-section-staff talks the talk of unserious martialartist and a wooden katana talks the talk (usually) of the serious martialartist (an unserious one don't thave the patience of going through basic training with a bokken, but go straight for the wallhanger/aluminiumkatana )
a lot of weapons laws are ridiculas, cuz if you think about it almost anything can be used as a weapon in some form.
