The LAW and having a sword? (1 Viewer)

[Garrett Lundy]

So I was driving through the bustling city of Watertown NY (pop. @25,000) and walking down the street near BurgerKing was a guy with a samurai sword tucked into his belt!

It was one of those Highlander knock-offs with the white plastic "ivory" dragon-handle. I am not aware of any plastic or wood swords that use this handle, so I have to assume the sword in question had a steel blade.

The guy was NOT dressed in kendo armour, a hakima, or any other martial arts gear, so I will guess he was not on his way to/from a Martial arts class.

A few questions:

1. Is this legal? I've tried looking it up, but appearantly NY's sword related laws are hard to find. I did find a law about folding knives in NYC and Australia is going to ban swords soon.

2. If it is legal...why haven't I done this sooner! Nothing says "Hey! Don't touch me!" like a totally unsubtle katana. You have to conceal your handguns in NY state, otherwise I would probablt be wearing cowboy-style pistol belts to Blockbuster.

 

[James T]

First, isn't it spelled hakama?

Second....your allowed to hold concealed weapons in NY? That's crazy! I know in New Mexico, you can't conceal your gun, but it's okay if it's in your holster and in plain view.

Third, a sword is a large knife. So if you're hiding it under your trenchcoat ala Highlander, you're in big trouble as it is a concealed weapon. Of course walking into a Blockbuster with a sword may raise flags and draw attention of different boys in blue.

 

[Scott L]

I'm sorry, I never point out spelling errors but this made me smile.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

In California the Attorney General's office puts out a handly yearly summary of firearms and other weapons laws in a .pdf document http://caag.state.ca.us/firearms/forms/pdf/cfl.pdf . Try the NY Attorney General's webpage.

 

[Kevin G.]

Maybe he was simply an Immortal on his way to a be-heading...

 

[Lars Larsen]

Hi,

Ok, maybe this is off-topic (sorry), but I have wondered about why it is ok to carry weapons in the open, when it is not allowed to conceal weapons. I mean, what's the philosophy behind it?

 

[Seth_L]

Simple...

A concealed weapon is hidden and people around you aren't aware you have it, so it could be viewed as a danger to them. But if you have it in a holster out in the open people know you have it and they are aware of it's presence.

 

[Lars Larsen]

Hmm, strange. I would rather have people hiding their arms. If you carry them openly they seem so much more intrusive. But ok...

 

[Jay Taylor]

Also consider that many states aren't that far from the days of cowboys & six-shooters.

Jay Taylor
In Oklahoma City
Home of the Cowboy Hall of Fame

 

[Shayne Lebrun]

I had a conversation with a buddy about this, one day, and he pointed out that as far as he knew, in his University town of Hamilton, there were still laws on the books requiring 'gentlemen' to carry a sword with them at all times, in order to defend their honour, the honour of ladies, and to deal with ruffians and scalawags.

He, being a University grad, is considered a gentleman....

That having been said, generally, you're allowed to carry, but you might need to have the hilt bound so you can't actually draw it.

 

[Tim Hoover]

That sort of thing is what's so wonderful about living out in the sticks...my buddy can walk over to my house carrying his brand new assault rifle to show off

 

[James T]

I almost always never point out spelling/grammar errors, but he put hakima in italics, so he wanted that word to have some significance. But I guess I'm glad it made you smile.

And my spelling lapse was probably due to the time I posted it as I should have been a few hours earlier....I swear, I'm usually good with "there, their, they're", "its, it's" and "your and you're".

I guess it's like some of those threads where someone complains about the "grammer" of others.

 

[Mark Shannon]

Where I live (Mississauga suburbs), I'm afraid to even bring my paintball gun out of my house, because a neighbour might think it's something else. My brother has a set of long swords, but those are used only as decoration. I cant see why anyone would want to bring htem outside.

 

[Richard Travale]

I remember a few years ago in Seattle, there was a crazy guy involved in a standoff with Seattle Police with a samurai sword. Is was so funny watching this guy wave it around thinking he was the kid from the Star Wars/Kung Fu video.

 

[Seungsoo Hwang]

I hope you're not talking about the Shawn Maxwell thing, because that wasn't very funny at all.

 

[Leila Dougan]

You certainly can carry a concealed weapon on New Mexico if you have a permit to do so. However, NM does not reciprocate, meaning if you have a permit valid in another state it will not be valid in NM.

Please read http://www.dps.nm.org/faq/concealed_weapon.htm

 

[Scott L]

No he's talking about that clip they keep showing on those FOX scariest police videos type shows. A black guy with a big samurai sword in a black leather trenchcoat and dark sunglasses had a standoff with police. They hosed him down and he clumsily fell to the ground. The water knocked the sword out of his hand and police tackled & subdued him. All this after they kept shooting him with beenbags and other non-lethal weapons.

Now that was pretty funny to watch.

 

[Richard Travale]

I just googled Shawn Maxwell to see who it was and No, that's not who I was referring to.

Scott is correct about who I was talking about.

 

[Holadem]

Morpheus, time to retire man... :frowning:

--
H