Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - The Knife Amnesty in the UK....the repercussions for edged weapons collectors

t_c · 29th June 2006, 04:03 AM

I think one of the main problems is trying to educate people who do not collect or who do not practice martial arts, that we (hopefully I can speak a little for all of us collectors/practioners) are not the ones out there committing violent crimes with our weapons. I have been having an OCD (obssesive compulsize disorder) couple of months buying edged stuff on ebay and was recently scolded (albeit lightly) on my shopping habits by one our secretaries who works with abused children through her church. She didn't understand that just because I buy all these vintage/antique knives, it doesn't mean that I am an advocate of violence. Her only point of reference was the violence in the history of the children she worked with and could only see the potential for violence in my acquisitions. It took me until today to articulate to her that people like me (us) weren't the problem. It is the people who are under great stress to just survive that has pushed them away from the social norms we all normally share (and yes there are the simply mis-wired individuals out there). What lawmakers are too naive or don't care to see (disregarding A. G. Maisey's lucid points on State, Control, and The Citizen) is that if you take away the knives, they will use sticks. Take away the sticks and they will use stones. As Rivkin expressed earlier: it's not the tool, it's the intent. As for the people who do partake in violent activties (outside the ring): my own personal equation for the ills of society (to over-simplify) goes like this: economic deprevation = social degeneration. In the end it's all about stress, and money, being the medium for much of our modern world, is the primary source of this (again: over-simplifing). Controlling weapons does nothing to solve the real problems. I have carried a knife on my person for the better part of 14 years and not once have I ever brandished it or threatened anyone with it, and I have been mugged (four dollars and a cigarette is not really worth fighting for) and have had someone threaten me with the threat of a firearm (never saw it - probably didn't have it). My use of the proverbial silver tongue has disarmed another on more than one occasion. The point is that I wish we could find a way to better express to people that we (collectors and practioners) are not the threat: Let us keep these things that speak to our soul for we will not abuse them, and the people that would abuse them, would abuse anything anyways. That's the source of my frustration in these issues.....
And also, it does horify me that someone would make scrap metal out of someone else's cultural heritage (keep your treasures under the floorboards if you have to).

29th June 2006, 04:03 AM	#5
t_c Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: ca, usa Posts: 92	more thoughts.... I think one of the main problems is trying to educate people who do not collect or who do not practice martial arts, that we (hopefully I can speak a little for all of us collectors/practioners) are not the ones out there committing violent crimes with our weapons. I have been having an OCD (obssesive compulsize disorder) couple of months buying edged stuff on ebay and was recently scolded (albeit lightly) on my shopping habits by one our secretaries who works with abused children through her church. She didn't understand that just because I buy all these vintage/antique knives, it doesn't mean that I am an advocate of violence. Her only point of reference was the violence in the history of the children she worked with and could only see the potential for violence in my acquisitions. It took me until today to articulate to her that people like me (us) weren't the problem. It is the people who are under great stress to just survive that has pushed them away from the social norms we all normally share (and yes there are the simply mis-wired individuals out there). What lawmakers are too naive or don't care to see (disregarding A. G. Maisey's lucid points on State, Control, and The Citizen) is that if you take away the knives, they will use sticks. Take away the sticks and they will use stones. As Rivkin expressed earlier: it's not the tool, it's the intent. As for the people who do partake in violent activties (outside the ring): my own personal equation for the ills of society (to over-simplify) goes like this: economic deprevation = social degeneration. In the end it's all about stress, and money, being the medium for much of our modern world, is the primary source of this (again: over-simplifing). Controlling weapons does nothing to solve the real problems. I have carried a knife on my person for the better part of 14 years and not once have I ever brandished it or threatened anyone with it, and I have been mugged (four dollars and a cigarette is not really worth fighting for) and have had someone threaten me with the threat of a firearm (never saw it - probably didn't have it). My use of the proverbial silver tongue has disarmed another on more than one occasion. The point is that I wish we could find a way to better express to people that we (collectors and practioners) are not the threat: Let us keep these things that speak to our soul for we will not abuse them, and the people that would abuse them, would abuse anything anyways. That's the source of my frustration in these issues..... And also, it does horify me that someone would make scrap metal out of someone else's cultural heritage (keep your treasures under the floorboards if you have to).