"Why do you have that?" Parallel to "You wouldn't REALLY..."

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I never have this "problem" with guns. I don't talk about them if the other person is not positively interested in firearms, too.

But I very well know the question why I have a knife with me. I really can't understand it, because the question always comes up when I just used the knife or gave it to someone else. At that moment most people should at least see one reason for carrying a blade.
 
I have carried a knife since I was five.

Now it is two: left and right. Not many years ago, people would gasp when I took one out to open a package or clip a newspaper article. For some reason, for the last couple of years, I have seen less shock or less pretended shock.

Maybe I am just getting to old to be seen as a threat.
 
Ask them why they wear seatbelts, helmets, lifejackets, get vaccinated - keep a fire extinguisher around. Ask them why ships have lifeboats. Ask them why they would not have the 911 feature dropped from their phone service if possible.

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http://ussliberty.org
http://ssunitedstates.org
 
I drug out my Yugo SKS and extended the bayonet, just 'cuz it's fun to shoot that way. Got a lotta wide eyes, which surprised me, since most of them own at least one rifle and one shotgun for hunting purposes, this being the midwest and all. I just laughed and told 'em "Cuz I can."
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Are sure the thought in their head was "way do you need that" and not, "he he, look at the mall ninja"? :neener:
 
:D Zen, such thoughts may well have entered their minds. In my own defense, I don't own a "tactical thigh rig holster", I don't wear camo to go shooting, and I don't own any Rooney guns. C'mon, hasn't anyone here ever shot a rifle with the bayonet on at the range?
 
Happened to me in med school with a pocket knife of all things.
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School. Heh.

I carried an Benchmade folder every day of my life in high school (post Columbine, if I must date myself) in addition to a Schrade multi tool. Used 'em both for utilitarian purposes (even handed off the multi tool to a teacher so he could use it) and never got in trouble for it because I never went around acting like it was anything out of the ordinary. Though I did get a stern talking to in Brandywine for having the audacity to doodle a benzene ring in my notebook. Go figure.

Working the hardware store, I took to carrying one of my better butterfly knives as my work knife (because as "better" it still only cost me five bucks).

Lots of stuff needs cuttin' in a hardware store. Rope, tubing, tape, boxes, packages, you name it. We did get all types in there, from the usual soccer-momish type people ("My word, what you do need that barbaric thing for?") to military vets ("Neato, I got a couple of them.") to the section eight contigent ("Daaayum, dawg!").

I had a few people make a stink about it, but I just shrugged and said, "Hey, it's just a sharp piece of metal. I could have done it with a box cutter but what's the difference?" Most people couldn't come up with a coherent answer to that.

Some said "But that thing's designed to hurt people!" and I'd just reply "Is it? I just used it to cut you your rope. Can't somebody use a box cutter to hurt people?" There was also the contingent of armchair lawyers who felt the need to insist to me that it was illegal (only off of private property, bub) and wouldn't shut up about it.

But when I flipped that thing out, the best customers were the ones who would say "Wow, do that again!" or better still the ones who would whip out something even more garish/slick/tacticool and say "You call that a knife?"

People are weird.
 
I thought you have to have the bayonet extended to break up the air current on the bottom of the bullet for it to travel straighter toward it's intended target. :D
 
"Why do you have that?"
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This brings that question even from "gun people".
Click to expand...

M2, why would you have that? It really doesn't look like it is useful for much of anything.
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.
.
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I think you should get rid of that evil thing. I promise to give it a good home :evil:
 
The question is, of course, the bread and butter of socialists everywhere:
From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.
This is why folks in the former USSR (and Cuba, for that matter) lived such basic lives. Of course, their masters 'needed' much more.
 
Ha. People are weird.

I've always carried a knife, even in High School (Post stupidity of school administrators). A knife is something that I've used almost everyday from the age of 10 or so.

As for the firearms, I just look at them and give a sort of "are you a moron" look and go back to shooting.

If they walk away, fine. If they don't, even better. You fire off the last shot and then reload without charging. Then you look over (if they are still there) and say nicely, "Well, since you are here, want to try it?".

I've spent more dang money on ammo this way and I didn't even get to shot the majority of it. After they finish the mag, they always say the same dang thing, "Can I try it again" :mad: (j/k ;) )

If I'm not on the range I just change the subject and when they start talking about their hobby/collections, I take the chance to interject, "Why do you need so many (insert hobby/collections here)". But most of the time I just ignore the question because all that will happen is that you start a battle with a person that you have no chance of changing their minds or listening to reason so why bother.
 
Other posters bringing up the hoplophobic reaction to knives reminded me of how my coworkers feel about my pocket knife.

I work in a production-oriented environment where we're constantly unloading palettes, opening boxes of material, and breaking down empties. There are two blades in the entire shop that arent attached to pieces of machinery--a single boxcutter (that is always misplaced) and my pocket kinfe. Comments about my knife (a simple Gerber Gator II, not some mall ninja blade) are almost daily occurrences and many are along the lines of "why do you carry a weapon?" The staff where I work isn't terribly large so most everyone has made that sort of remark more than once.

What chaps my hide about their fear is the fact that in my whole time there every last one of them has seen me use my knife for work-related purposes many times a day. Nobody has been stabbed. Yet they still see a carry-knife and think "someone gonna git cudd up." It's baffling.

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As for the classic "why do you have that/those" question as it pertains to my guns, I tend to play that one by ear depending on who I'm talking to. If they're intelligent enough to grasp mid-level philosophy I'll talk to them about liberty, desire, and armed desire. Others get the simple "Baltimore is long overdue for a horrible riot." Still others get the even simpler "that's my Katrina Stick."
 
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chaim
"M2, why would you have that? It really doesn't look like it is useful for much of anything.
I think you should get rid of that evil thing. I promise to give it a good home"
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Oh, it's just a whole lot of fun.:)
 
Clipper,

Hang around a while. The word "sheeple" has a meaning and you either get it or don't want to get it. There are sheep, 90 percent of the population. Good, but defensless. Five percent are wolves who prey on the sheep. The other five are sheepdogs who stand between the sheep and wolves. Sometimes on a payroll, sometimes a man protecting his loved ones or a stranger.

We sheepdogs get annoyed sometimes with the sheep because they equate our capacity for violence on their behalf with the tendancies of the wolf, but nothing could be further from the truth. They are willfully ignorant of the truth.

So, you see, the word "sheeple" has a place and a meaning. It's also efficient at conveying this whole post in one word. The next time you hear people described as sheep, wolves or sheepdogs, I'll bet you remember all you've read with that one word.

Not so silly now, is it?
 
Because I don't want to be zombie chow?

Those SU-16 pistols are just... overwhelmingly an extended middle finger to those who would ask such a question. I kind of want one.

And I'm a guy who is very practical about my firearms. That thing just looks like FUN.

I'm sure that falls under 'pursuit of happiness' right?
 
Because I can....

that's why.

I've had this conversation with friends before. And when they say "what do you need that for?" I state "I don't need it, it's not about need, don't you get it?"

jeepmor
 
Personally, I only wear my seatbelt when I know I'm going to wreck...
 
Some very liberal lady once asked me the famous question.
my answer:
Because it's fun shooting bad people.

The look on her face was wonderful to behold.

AFS
 
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