Legality of knife-wielding

[Gravdigr]

Joking aside, I've wondered the same thing. But, I do have one problem with what you're asking. "8-14 inches"? WTF, are ya a size queen or what?

Seriously, let's say you come across a stab-worthy person. What's that 14 inch blade gonna do for ya? Ya still have to get real up close and real personal with the guy. In my neck o' the woods I don't think it's even considered a deadly weapon unless it's over six inches. (That's what she said, I know.) Pick up a six inch blade. Hold it. Look at it. Now imagine it stuck in your chest. Do you feel any less dead, because it wasn't a foot long?

How deep inside the body is the heart? Lungs? Liver? Any of the various arteries/veins? Even on a fat guy like me (5'8" - 240lbs), you're only looking at five-six inches, max (yeah she said that, too).

Go legal. Six inches is plenty (that's what I told her!).

[Cyber Wolf]

Originally Posted by Gravdigr

Joking aside, I've wondered the same thing. But, I do have one problem with what you're asking. "8-14 inches"? WTF, are ya a size queen or what?

Seriously, let's say you come across a stab-worthy person. What's that 14 inch blade gonna do for ya? Ya still have to get real up close and real personal with the guy. In my neck o' the woods I don't think it's even considered a deadly weapon unless it's over six inches. (That's what she said, I know.) Pick up a six inch blade. Hold it. Look at it. Now imagine it stuck in your chest. Do you feel any less dead, because it wasn't a foot long?

How deep inside the body is the heart? Lungs? Liver? Any of the various arteries/veins? Even on a fat guy like me (5'8" - 240lbs), you're only looking at five-six inches, max (yeah she said that, too).

Go legal. Six inches is plenty (that's what I told her!).

Haven't you heard that longer is better? Seriously though, to me, that's the same as asking someone why they're carrying a regular pistol vs a subcompact, or a .33 over a .45. It's personal preference, personal comfort and, when used in the situations they're made for, both guns will put a hole in whatever they're pointing at. Speaking of hunting blades, the difference between a 8" and a 14" would deal more with it's tool worthiness. You could cut your way through underbrush with an 8" blade, but having that extra 6" (which generally ends up looking more like a machete) makes a difference in effectiveness.

And yeah, 6 inches will reach deep enough in most people to cause a direct problem to the major organs from just about any angle of the core, even on a woman who has extra boob tissue. But, considering how close you'd need to be to someone to hit that, a 2.5" blade (which is allowed on pocketknives in a lot of places) will easily reach the big vessels of the throat, will penetrate both vessel and windpipe or fatally penetrate in the eye. You'd have to be reaaaaally fat around the neck to stop that from happening and there's no protection for the eye, barring goggles held on with a tension strap.

My San Mai blade is 8.75 inches long and I just prefer that blade for general use, from cutting rope to skinning and fleshing to scoring and cutting cardboard. I like wearing it and I'd love to be able to wear it outside the borders of my yard. I do have shorter 'outdoorsman' knives, 5 and 6ish inches long, but San Mai is my favorite. That's purely my preference.

Besides, around here 6" is still illegal for the carrying I'm talking about.

[glatt]

I think context plays a pretty big role too. They sell machetes at the hardware store a mile away from me, so they must be legal in Virginia. You have to get them home from the store somehow. If you walk down the street with an uncovered machete in your raised hand, you're liable to get some attention. But if you are cutting brush by the side of the road, I doubt the police would bug you.

[Cyber Wolf]

Originally Posted by glatt

I think context plays a pretty big role too. They sell machetes at the hardware store a mile away from me, so they must be legal in Virginia. You have to get them home from the store somehow. If you walk down the street with an uncovered machete in your raised hand, you're liable to get some attention. But if you are cutting brush by the side of the road, I doubt the police would bug you.

True. At the same time, northern VA has a couple of gangs whose weapon of choice is the machete, the same kind you can get at the store. So then it comes down to (criminal) intent and it's still different. If I open-carry a .45 down the street I don't have to explain what I'm doing with it to a curious officer. But I don't have an explanation for the brush machete (or hunting knife as I'd prefer) strapped to my person, it could cause Paperwork. That there is the discrepancy I'm curious about.