Jury duty


weekendskp

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My wife told me that I wouldn't be allowed to carry my 2 1/4" Victorinox Red pocket knife with me into the court house, but I pushed the issue anyway. "Empty your pockets, take off your belt." said the officer at the check-in counter. "Take that back to your car", he said. I huffed out. Huffed back to the counter and plopped my things back in their tray. This young deputy says, "calm down, take a deep breath." I said, "We're not flying the unfriendly skies here. Why the strip search?" "Just calm down", was all he would say.

When did it become necessary to prevent a person from carrying a 2 1/4" freaking pocket knife? I cut myself more often with a safety razor. I could inflict more damage with the car keys, and the shaft of the car key is longer than the blade of a pen knife! This wasn't Federal Court; just some tiny little county courthouse in southern Missouri. There's no common sense left in the world.
 

Did you actually think you would prevail? It's been that way for years in the courthouses I personally know of. Too many courtroom incidents. In the right (or wrong) hands a penknife could do some serious damage. I don't like being disarmed, but it forces me to think creatively, which is good.
 
Security Theater

Yet more "Security Theater".

I don't know about Missouri, but in Oregon, firearms are only barred "In any courtroom, jury room, judge’s chambers or areas adjacent thereto that the presiding judge determines." (To quote my local sheriff's office.)

Of course, many court HOUSES term this to cover the entire courthouse, and put a metal detector right inside the door. I don't know if I'd want to argue with them just to wander the hallway armed.

(I like my sheriff. I'm in the county that contains very liberal Portland, yet my sheriff makes a point of denying the commonly-attempted "no concealed carry in schools" as well as "no carrying in the airport". Doesn't mention schools at all in the 'banned' section, and says "For information regarding the Portland airports please contact the Port of Portland legal department" aka: "We don't agree with it, so we're not going to tell you NOT to carry here, but here's what the airport has to say about it.")
 
Yet more "Security Theater".

That's a good term for it. I'll have to remember that. It's the David Copperfield kind of security; one gets the illusion of security, but the beautiful assistant really doesn't get cut in half. I've been saying for years that social norms are like pendulums, swinging one way for awhile, then swinging back. For example, when I was in school the teachers or principal could swat unruly students. And I believe that one day, after years of coddling and non-discipline are found to be ineffectual, that the pendulum will swing back the other way. Same goes for "security theater". One day, people will wake up, discover that the tree of liberty has been chopped down to make the paper for the endless tome of tax code.
 
2 1/4" Victorinox Red pocket knife

Heck they stopped me with my 1-1/4" Victronix Red pocket, I hate to call it, knife. I use it for the scissors and tooth pick more than anything and carry a small buck knife when I want to cut something.
 
Its very simple. No weapons are allowed in the court rooms for the safety of all involved in the court. A small knife may not be much of a weapon but it could definitely scare or intimidate the witnesses or anyone else.

Imagine you were on the witness stand testifying against a gang member and all the other fellow gang members sat in the audience making threatening gestures with small knives that obviously represent large knives outside of the court room.
 
Actually a better threat would be to simulate a gun pointed at them with your index finger extended & your thumb in the air. Simulate firing at them, blow the "smoke" away from the tip of your finger, & smile evilly at them.
 
At a Court House why cause yourself problems?

What are you, a sheep? What laws have been broken? What danger does it pose? This is the whole point I have been trying to make!
why cause yourself problems?
Because stupidity rules. We can only take back our country from the purveyors of "security theater" if you protest; if you vote out of office those that would subject you to this retarded infringement on your rights. If nobody questions why you are not allowed to have a 2 1/4" pen knife with you, then the herd mentality has won. They make it look real nice, down at the Post Office, and the bank; they have a chrome pole, and a velvety rope, but it's just a corral for making you moooooove.
 
Heed your wife's advise

Heed your wife's advise next time. If you do not trust her, call before court and ask about restriction. Anytime you are in the vicinity of prisoners, law enforcement restricts the availability of weapons. Some prisoners are violent persons. The Bailiffs only want to worry about unlawful weapons.

PS, If you mention that you routinely carry a firearm, you might be challenged as a juror. If you want to serve, keep quiet unless asked.
 
Actually a better threat would be to simulate a gun pointed at them with your index finger extended & your thumb in the air. Simulate firing at them, blow the "smoke" away from the tip of your finger, & smile evilly at them.

I'd be more intimidated by a guy holding a real knife and slowing sliding it across his neck from one side to the other.
 
Its very simple. No weapons are allowed in the court rooms for the safety of all involved in the court. A small knife may not be much of a weapon but it could definitely scare or intimidate the witnesses or anyone else.

Imagine you were on the witness stand testifying against a gang member and all the other fellow gang members sat in the audience making threatening gestures with small knives that obviously represent large knives outside of the court room.

Just curious how do you define "weapon" for humans can use their limbs as weapons. And this is were the problem lyes everyday objects and items can be used as weapons if one should chose to use them as a weapon.
 

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