The Right to Bear Arm(y Knive)s

One of my earliest memories of my grandfather involves a knife. We were on one of our many forays into nature when he stopped to cut a piece of willow branch with the multi-blade pocket knife he always carried with him. He cut a small piece of branch, then sitting down against a tree, he skillfully used his knife to cut away and shape enough of the branch for it to produce a distinct whistling sound. Grandpa was never without his knife, always carrying it sharpened and ready for whatever need may arise. Sometimes he would wittle, but mostly he used it for cutting string and rope, and an occasional hunk of salami or an apple that would need slicing. I never saw or heard of him needing it to defend himself, but if the necessity arose, the knife was sharpened and ready.

My brother and I eagerly awaited the age where we would be deemed responsible enough to ask for our own pocket knives to carry around. We each eventually acquired our knives, though it has somewhat complicated our lives as we have faced an increasing number of security check points that have appeared in recent years. Airports and court houses have caused rushes back to the car to stash our precious knives in some hidden corner to await our return.

It was no accident, then, that I married a man who also carried a pocket knife. Our children grew up watching Dad open boxes and packages with his knife. Our five year old son, seeing an adult friend struggle with opening a box at his home, inquired as to why he just didn't use his pocket knife. The friend said he didn't have one. Our son pondered this incredulously, finally saying, "Oh, you should really get one. My dad has one! It's really useful." Like my brother and I, the kids also looked to the day when they would be old enough to have pocket knives of their own. In turn they each got one, usually by the time they were in high school. We became a family of knife bearers.

Perhaps it is my love of knives that has led me in part to be anti-gun. As a child, I knew several people who were accidently killed by guns. As an adult, I've seen the national escalation of mass shooting incidents and the increasing number of gang-related shootings in cities across the country. Having lived outside of Chicago for over thirty years, I had a front row seat to the nightly shooting/killing tally on the local news, the staggeringly high numbers in the Chicago shootings rarely making national news. When 23 people were killed in a Walmart in El Paso in 2019, I watched the national news coverage in sadness, of course, but I found myself thinking "Hey, that's just the death toll of a long holiday weekend in Chicago."

Much has been talked about our gun violence problem both on the local and national level. More social programs, more jobs, better economic opportunities, more police presence, better parenting programs, more community involvement, stricter gun control and more enforcement of existing gun laws – so many suggested remedies to the gun problem but many fear to mention the elephant in the room – the guns themselves. Why? Because we as a nation worship the Second Amendment. This relatively simply stated piece of our constitution says:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.

No mention of guns here. Intrigued, I sought the dictionaries for the definition of arms. Again, no mention of guns. Words like "weapons," "ammunition," "armaments," "any implement or device that can be used with the intent to inflict damage or harm" appear in most definitions, but rarely the word gun. Yet we assume, for good reason, that our right to bear arms necessitates our right to have guns. Guns are powerful, efficient weapons of defense as well as offense. And, hence, the problem with guns. They make it too easy to kill.

Because I am both so fond of knives and so dislike guns, I've imagined an interpretation of the Second Amendment that our founding fathers may or may not agree with. They wanted us secure in our right to defend ourselves, but I can't imagine that they imagined the use of the automatic rifles and assault weapons we see today. I suspect they would be appalled at the random mass shootings facilitated by so many insisting on little or no restrictions to their Second Amendment rights. So in my perfect Second Amendment world, there would be no guns. None. Instead, like my brother, my husband and myself and my children, everyone gets a knife at an appropriate age. Granted, the knives would probably be a bit more substantial than my family's go-to classic Victorinox Swiss army knife. But we would learn to take care of it, keep it sharp and clean, learn how to cut rope and open boxes and slice apples with it. We'd learn to appreciate it as a tool as well as a weapon. We'd learn how to defend ourselves with it, learn to slash to discourage, stab to kill. If we find ourselves in a position that requires us to take another life, we'd do it at arm's length. Imagine a culture where killing of all forms requires killer and victim to see each others' faces, look each other in the eye. It's doubtful that the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooter knew the gender, much less the hair or eye color of most of his 867 shooting victims.

Of course, there are many pitfalls in my vision of a knife-based Second Amendment world. There will always be better and weaker knife fighters. There will always be those of us who become proficient at throwing knives and therefore maybe won't have to look our victims in the eye. There are those of us who will come up with our own version of a multiple knife thrower automatic weapon. But in this knife world, we would not see the massive carnage we see in our assault rifle world. And the carnage we do see would be close up and personal, and hopefully, a deterrent to future carnage.

Yesterday, a Danish citizen in Norway killed five people with a bow and arrow, injuring two others. At present, he is believed to have been a radicalized Muslim convert out to make a statement. Five people lost their lives and that cannot be minimized, but I couldn't help but think how many more would have died in the same situation had the "shooter" had a gun, and how many fewer had he had a knife. And I know that even in my imaginary Second Amendment knife culture, we would still be living in a fallen world. Sadly, that means there will always be the mental breakdown mass knifer, the radicalized terrorist knifer, the disgruntled employee knifer, and the racially motivated mass knifer, but I sincerely hope the number of their victims would be a fraction of the victims we see today.

Guns don't kill people.  They just make it easier - Anonymous