Pocket knives at the parks

[HRHPrincessAriel]

Most guys I know do. Some in pocket carry and some on the belt. We live in a fairly rural area so maybe that's it?

Where exactly....I'm in a Houston Suburb. Granted most of the males I know are teachers/football coaches. They aren't allowed on campus but I've never seen any of them carry them in our social gatherings either.

 

[xdan0920]

Because if you are upset that it's a 'weapon' that a single person can use at close contact range, to harm one person at a time... your definition of 'weapon' and what upsets you in the park is going to start including far more than you possibly can exclude from the parks. Where do you stop? Why pick on this 'dangerous object' more than another? Has there been a rash of potential violence from customers carrying their knife?

If anything the last 20 years should be teaching people that if you take away X... someone with intent will find a new Y. You can't keep playing cat and mouse and thinking taking someone away will somehow solve the person wanting to do harm.

No person is going to enter the theme parks intent on hurting people... then steal some innocent guy's pocket knife and then go on a murder rampage.

if that guy exists, and you banned knives effectively, he will simply find another tool you haven't banned or smuggle something in.

Joe from Iowa carrying his pocket knife the same as he does every day of his life isn't causing a risk to anyone but himself. He's far more likely to cut his own hand by accident than any hypothetical risk of someone finding a lost knife and hurting others.

I pretty much agree with all this. Anything CAN be a weapon. And your typical run of the mill nut job intent on injuring people will find a way. But, that's not really the point.

Thank you.. you've acknowledge what I've been saying all along the real issue is. People are uncomfortable about the knives... its not because they are a risk, it's that people are scared of them. And honestly that fear is based in ignorance... generally from lack of immersion.

People fear knives because they ARE dangerous. I can't even begin to see how that is debatable. I have worked in construction, and I have carried a knife. And I'll tell you what, if I saw Joe Schmo pulling out a 3 inch pocket knife on MSUSA, you can bet your I'd be keeping an eye on him. A knife is not useful or needed in a theme park, and someone who insists on carrying one there, makes me uncomfortable.

 

[xdan0920]

The belief that one object is a weapon, and another object is not a weapon is precisely why discussions like this one prosper.
ANYTHING can be a weapon!!!!
It doesn't have to be sharp, pointed, or shoot projectiles to kill a human.

If it's sharp, pointed, or shoots projectiles it sure is a more effective weapon though, don't you think?

 

[Mr. Pricklepants]

I always have my tiny swiss army classic knife on me since it is on my keys. This is a tool, not a weapon. If I tried to use this knife as a weapon it would cause me more harm that my victim due to possible fold back. I can't see that being a problem in the park. I would leave my larger folding lock blade utility knife at home but the swiss army one is always with me.

I have had a pocket knife since I was like six years old in Cub Scouts. I agree anything can be a weapon and there are certain objects used for defense and offense, but a standard pocket knife is not one of them. My keys and key chain would be a better weapon used a flail. Or a shopping bag with a few oranges inside.

 

[xdan0920]

Also, lets NOT bring up firearms in this thread any more please! We have a mod on this form that is apparently vary sensitive to that subject and has closed a few threads when it comes up so lets keep that topic out of here please.

Ugh. Just, Ugh.

 

[flynnibus]

You wrote "Every household used to have guns.. and kids survived." I was merely pointing out that some kids didn't. Just like now. There are plenty of households with guns that don't wind up scenes of homicides, suicides or grisly accidents. True they're multiple times more likely to be one of those things, but that doesn't mean thy will be. But to write "Every household used to have guns.. and kids survived" implies that kids dying from the result of guns being in the house is a new thing. It's not.

It's you trying to make the words into something that isn't there. I said 'kids survived' not 'every kid survived' or 'there never were accidents'. I was speaking to the notion raised here that something people perceive as 'dangerous' can not or should not coexist with something people want to be safe. Presumably everyone wants to believe their home or household is safe.. and yet, we fill them with items that are 'dangerous' and could kill you or any number of people. Yet we do it, and condition ourselves how to live day to day around such dangerous things by learning safety, proper use, etc.

For crying out loud...we pipe flammable gas into our homes and then put a and electronic ignition right there where it could blow up an entire neighborhood block! But we do it and don't think twice about it because we raise our families to know how to use these tools and not be afraid of them.

Constrast this with the mentality of 'bubble world' which is we should remove all possible risks because of extreme corner cases... and in the process no one learns how to properly handle these risks.. instead we just breed more fear through lack of understanding or familiarity.

I'm sure some people would think keeping a 8ft high pile of manure on your property is unhealthy and dangerous to the environment... but that's because they have no experience with composting or using it as fertilzer. People fear what they do not understand.

So if a corporation says "please don't bring knives onto property we own," the response, instead of "what? This little thing?" ought to be "your house, your rules, whatever you say." Anything else is irrelevant. I'm sure the OP who owns the knife is an upright citizen, would only use the knife to do something heroic like slash the seat belt of a person having a heart attack who can't get out of a safey harness. Still irrelevant.

I think you'd find it hard to find any evidence in this thread of people challenging Disney's right to make the ground rules on their property. That isn't what is contested.

 

[slappy magoo]

If it's sharp, pointed, or shoots projectiles it sure is a more effective weapon though, don't you think?

Conversely, the pro-knife crowd could essentially argue "If ANYTHING can be a weapon, why bar weapons at all?"

Seriously, if a woman's heel is just as potentially a deadly weapon as a three inch knife, then why not allow guns just in case a woman takes off her heel? Sure, it's probably because it's asinine to do that much walking in heels, but hey, I gots to stand my ground, yo.

 

[BigTxEars]

The "need" to carry a weapon is the one reason my husband and I keep turning down job offers in the USA. I have no idea why anyone would want to carry a knife or gun in an amusement park packed with children.I'm obviously very soft but it makes me nervous, really nervous. You may be a sensible individual but what about the nutjob who I won't let take my place in a parade spot? We see full on arguments in parks, it won't be long before someone gets injured by a weapon because the big bad wolf couldn't get his spot before someone else. If you're ever in the UK, here is our law on knives:
https://www.gov.uk/find-out-if-i-can-buy-or-carry-a-knife
and our firearms law:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/firearms-law-guidance-to-the-police-2012

I can only speak for my area of Texas since it's all I know personally;

Your laws are oppressive to individual freedom and laws like them would never be put into place here, thank goodness for that.

You trust your government and police to protect you, we prefer to have the tools to do so ourselves. It's in our culture, nature and founding documents for that matter.

And that argument that more guns leads to more violence leads is simply not true. Look at the violent crime rate in L.A., Chicago, Detroit, N.Y., Boston etc and then at their gun laws and you will see more gun laws does not reduce crime. The only one effected by gun laws are those who obey the law, i.e. not the criminals who would use them illegally.

Not trying to offend you but America (at least parts of it) is not Europe, we have a completely different outlook on personal rights, one of those being the right to protect our self, family and property. I do not think you can compare laws there and here and expect them to be equal to each other.

But this is all pointless as we are talking about a pocket knife, which is not a weapon to most people who carry it.

 

[R W B]

Someone can't be seriously injured or killed by Powerade. But you knew that.

Actually they can, could choke, small kids could even technically drown from too big of a sip. Does it happen often no but it has happened. My fiancé and my older sister are both nurses, trust me, people die all the time in the oddest ways we wouldn't even think of.

And which one of the moderators would that be?

If I wanted to publicly say which one I would of but I'm not going to. People in this thread may be making me out to be a nut job criminal for carrying a pocket knife but I'm really not that type of guy to publicly out someone.

Ridiculous is the thought or a need to carry a knife into a theme park.

I'll step out of this one now.

That's your personal opinion only.

And I'll tell you what, if I saw Joe Schmo pulling out a 3 inch pocket knife on MSUSA, you can bet your I'd be keeping an eye on him. A knife is not useful or needed in a theme park, and someone who insists on carrying one there, makes me uncomfortable.

Ill be sure to post up my trip dates in the future so we don't cross paths, hate to make you feel uncomfortable on vacation.

Anyone who whips out a knife on MSUSA as busy as it is is not the smartest one.

 

[BigTxEars]

A knife is a knife. No need for one in a theme park.

Even if you don't think so, loosing or dropping it and having someone else take possession could be worse.

It's a knife, heck I could get a bigger one at one of the many restaurants at WDW if I wanted to

I understand people fearing guns because many do not understand them properly....but a knife?

 

[LucyK]

I carry a swiss knife everywhere I go, it's inside my purse and it has been useful in a dozen different situations. If there's a law against carrying one inside a Disney park I'd abide by it but since there isn't I'll keep on carrying it.

 

[flynnibus]

Actually, I most disturbed by somebody who feels that they need to bring a weapon to a theme park. It's not the actual weapon, it's the person who has that mentality that they need one.

Well there you nailed it... its what the person's INTENT. If I bring a leatherman because I want to have a screwdriver and a blade... its because I want the tool. It's not a weapon to me. And as we've demonstrated, the chances of this tool becoming a weapon because someone else now and their intention is harm it is comical.

So if the leatherman in my pocket is a tool, and the reason I have it is because it's a tool... does it really matter if in the hands of some criminal it could be used as a weapon? Because the chances of it getting out from me are minor, and the chances of having someone with criminal intent being there waiting to find a leatherman to pursue their crimes is effectively zero.

If the person brings in a pocket knife because they want to defend themselves... you would be right for concern. But who in their right mind wears a pocket knife for self-defense??

 

[xdan0920]

Actually they can, could choke, small kids could even technically drown from too big of a sip. Does it happen often no but it has happened. My fiancé and my older sister are both nurses, trust me, people die all the time in the oddest ways we wouldn't even think of.


If I wanted to publicly say which one I would of but I'm not going to. People in this thread may be making me out to be a nut job criminal for carrying a pocket knife but I'm really not that type of guy to publicly out someone.



That's your personal opinion only.

Ill be sure to post up my trip dates in the future so we don't cross paths, hate to make you feel uncomfortable on vacation.

Anyone who whips out a knife on MSUSA as busy as it is is not the smartest one.

That'd be great. One less whack-a-doo to have to be on the look out for.

 

[BigTxEars]

Where exactly....I'm in a Houston Suburb. Granted most of the males I know are teachers/football coaches. They aren't allowed on campus but I've never seen any of them carry them in our social gatherings either.

An hour+ south of Houston. Most pocket knives are not visible when carried, not to be a smart butt but thus the term pocket knife.

 

[BigTxEars]

I carry a swiss knife everywhere I go, it's inside my purse and it has been useful in a dozen different situations. If there's a law against carrying one inside a Disney park I'd abide by it but since there isn't I'll keep on carrying it.

I support you, unless it's that one with the corkscrew, you could really mess someone with that corkscrew

 

[BigTxEars]

Me I conceal carry two firearms at the parks and y'all hippies will have to pry them from my cold dead hands.

Hippies, now that's funny

 

[IWantMyMagicBand]

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/faq/parks/restricted-personal-items/

I can end this thread with one sentence:

Regardless on where you stand on defining knives being "tools" or "weapons", small folding pocketknives (less than 4" of blade) being carried by the average guest are not a real security issue at Walt Disney World.

I don't see a problem with bringing a wagon, nor do I see the harm in an adult dressing up in a princess dress but the rules are there for a reason. I don't allow people to bring dogs to my home, my kids aren't used to having them around so wouldn't know how to react properly. My house, my rules. It's amazing how lots of people are pushing others to see their point of view yet fail to comprehend why others refuse to. But as we say here "only in A'me'rica"

 

[UncleMike101]

If it's sharp, pointed, or shoots projectiles it sure is a more effective weapon though, don't you think?

Nope....
Effective merely means it functions well as a weapon.
A rock is every bit an effective weapon as a sharp or pointed object, plus, it doesn't rely on shaping or sharpening to accomplish the task.
Nor does it misfire, or run out of projectiles, as some other objects do.
A weapon is ANY object that can be picked up by a human being.
That's how we bested the other beasts in the battle for supremacy of the food chain.

 

[BigTxEars]

Except the ones that didn't.

Seriously. You can't believe there was never a gun-related accident before the 21st century, can you?

You might not have heard about those fatalities as much, probably because we either weren't born yet or were paying more attention to Sesame Street than the 6 o'clock news, but they happened.

And they still happen now. I won't post a link because, you know, politics, but over at the DailyKos website, they have a weekly compilation of "GunFails" in the US. Many of those GunFails come from legally owned guns from supposedly responsible gun owners who, for a moment, were not. Some of those gunfails are injuries or fatalities from the gun owners ironically in the process of showing others how to fire or care for a weapons. And sadly there are almost always instances of children getting access to a gun and either playing with them or trying to use them to intimidate someone else without really udnerstanding the consequences of their actions and firing.

Mind you, the gunfail column is not a column where every shot fired in the nation is documented. They don't bother with the times when, say a cop was being fired upon by a criminal and responds in kind...unless he winds up shooting an innocent victim along the way. These are just most of the whoopsy-daisies that happen in the course of ay given week in America.

Kids getting ahold of guns and having accident is in direct relations to the fear we as a society have of exposing kids to guns. They are curious when they find them, they don't understand them and then you get an accident. I di not know it was loaded being the most common occurrence. Or I took the magazine out but I did not know there was a round chambered. I thought it was on safe, etc. All of these are basic mistakes easily resolved with just minutes of training.

I have kids ranging from 11 to 19, not a day have they lived in a house without a lot of guns. They all learned to shoot early on in life. I do not fear my kids finding a gun because they fully understand them and what they are capable of.

Most fear of guns if from people who do not understand them in my experience. Like I said earlier I can understand that, but knives I have no ideal how people eat dinner with them and yet still fear them.

 

[marni1971]

It's a knife, heck I could get a bigger one at one of the many restaurants at WDW if I wanted to

I understand people fearing guns because many do not understand them properly....but a knife?

You're right. It must be a cultural thing.