I recently asked a Baltimore County police officer to check out the pocket knife I carry to determine if it fit his department’s guidelines for a legal carry. I lifted up the bottom of my shirt to show him the clip on my front pocket.
“Could I see it, please.”
With my index finger and thumb, I pulled the clip knife from my pocket, palmed the knife, opened my hand with the knife in the open palm and extended the hand.
“Thank you. It’s not oversized, not a dirk, not a sheath knife. All that said, the most important thing is that you seem like a decent guy. I haven’t arrested you, haven’t served you a peace order or a warrant. I haven’t had to remove you from a bar or tell you to get off a corner or stop disturbing the peace. You don’t fit the description of anyone that’s on my radar for recent felonies. You see where I’m going here, right? So, if you don’t mind me asking, why do you carry a knife?”
“Over the past year I’ve been threatened and even chased by eight groups of young men, some of whom appear to be carrying weapons, three groups right around the corner from here at the liquor store. I have no intention of going to the knife for a first response. I can take care of myself with my hands. But if their knives come out, or I’m getting bricked, or I’ve gotten the short end of an ambush and I’m headed for a stomping, I don’t want to go out that way. I think of the knife as my nuclear option if it seems hopeless.”
“That’s reasonable…and on the QT…every cop out there will tell you, that in the end, you should fight for your life and not let yourself be taken. We’re also supposed to tell you not to go to those areas where you are being threatened. But then again, where is a safe area now? I had some Brazilian in a Beamer try to start a fight with me at a traffic light right in front of the courthouse while I was off duty.”
He further examines the knife and points at it with one hand while it lays open on the other hand.
“Now, if I know you’re a problem guy, this is a way to maybe get you off the street for the night, maybe save both of us some trouble in the long run. You know, there is the camo paint on this thing, what are you going out to get Rambo tonight? In the end, do I get a court commissioner to charge you, probably not unless this knife is part of a pattern of aggression on your part and in your case, I just see a guy minding his own business and avoiding trouble. So no, you’re good to go.”
Closes knife and returns it butt first.
“Be careful out there, my friend and I hope you never have to use that. That’s what they drill into us about our handgun and is the mindset—I believe you have—that will serve you well in your travels. We’ve been dealing with knuckleheads around here for a long time and it keeps getting worse and there seems to be no inclination, on behalf of some people, of stepping away from the violent option. So, as they say, better to be judged by twelve than carried by six.”
Thriving in Bad Places
James making friends with a cop, what is this website coming to? End times are upon us!
Don't worry dear, I did hit him. I actually coach this fellow. He's a good guy and often makes me feel guilty for feeling as I do about others in his profession.
Interesting. The cop's honesty is extremely refreshing. However, as a rule I would counsel against saying that you carry a knife for self-defense. No matter what size or configuration it is. It is very likely that the authorities will interpret such an admission as an indication of "a premeditation toward violence". That is to say they will suspect that you are just looking for trouble. After all most criminals are wont to claim they acted in self-defense when they assault people. Rather it is safer to say that your knife is a tool and only a tool. Say that you are carrying the knife for some utilitarian purpose: cutting string, opening boxes, slicing summer sausage or as a rescue tool to free yourself from dangerous entanglement in machinery. dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2550111/Pictured-The-woman-killed-horror-accident-scarf-trapped-escalator.html. If you happen to have that tool on you when need it to save yourself from a cripple-you-for-life beating, it's all to the good. Nothing against this cop, but I would also be wary of advice you get from cops. Over the years I have heard some very bad advice legal dispensed by law enforcement officers. For example, many people in my area have been told by cops that if they "shoot someone on the doorstep, just drag them inside and put a knife in their hand". I can only imagine that any cop who said such a thing must have been joking because in suggesting such a course of action he was suborning perjury and obstruction of justice. It would be exactly the wrong thing to do because once investigators discover that you have moved the body and altered the evidence they are likely to suspect you of murder. They certainly won't believe anything you tell them after that. Like they say, honesty is usually the best policy because if you tell the truth you will experience much less difficulty keeping in your story straight under interrogation. Also keep in mind that no matter what any particular cop tells you in conversation, the opinion that is really going to matter is the one held by the cop who stops you on the street.
I was being honest with Dave in order to get an honest reply.
One of the hazards of this site is I've lost any potential legal defense through the exploration of such questions. But I can't help being a writer.
I understand James. You were doing research when you spoke with Officer Dave. That can be used as a legal defense. But you will need better than a public defender to represent you to make that work for you. All a PD will do for you is plea bargain your prison sentence down. Since your writing and research puts you at some risk of facing a trumped up charge your friends and family need to set up a crowd fund to pay for your subscription to a self-defense insurance service. Services such as the US Concealed Carry Association (USCCA), www.USCAAInforrmation.com and the Armed Citizens' Legal Defense Network, armedcitizensnetwork.org. Both organizations will pay your bail and send a lawyer experienced in self-defense cases to represent you. The USCCA Self-Defense Shield service has three levels of protection that will cost from $13 to $30 a month for 300K to one million bucks in coverage. The Legal Defense Network has Massad Ayoob (a knife guy as well as a gun guy) on its board of advisors and says in its literature that it "extends benefits after ANY self-defense incident, not just those involving a firearm". Having a high-powered lawyer show up to represent you at your arraignment can have a very favorable effect on the subsequent disposition of your case. Like the Paulist Father's say, "Better to light one candle than to curse the dark". Being the jingoistic myrmidon that I am, I do both.
Jeremy, thank you.
I really appreciate the thought.
If I fail in my ongoing quest to avoid violence of this type and end up using lethal means to facilitate my survival, I will make no attempt at a legal defense. It would compromise my writing, which is the only reason why I remain a prisoner in this ape pen.
"Fight by any means that can achieve victory" - General Vo Nguyen Giap
“The aggressor always sets the rules of the conflict.” - Rush Limbaugh
Very well James. I understand and respect your decision. If it should come to pass then that we cannot save your ass from prison then we shall have to make you our “Joe Hill”, the official martyr of the white cultural resistance movement. We’ll sing folk songs about you. youtube.com/watch?v=_f2J4ceCikI (Joan Baez sings Joe Hill); youtube.com/watch?v=gASpL4DyZng (A Country Boy Can Survive-Hank Williams Jr.). Unlike Joe Hill, who was executed by the State of Utah, you are likely to still be alive for interviews. So much the better.
Anyway, the information about these legal services is out there for everyone reading this who believes himself to be at risk to make use of as well. Since the enemy is using “law-fare” against us we must be prepared to respond in kind in order to survive and thrive. Whites must learn to game the legal system just as the dindus have learned to do. As you say James, the powers-that-be seek to make self-defense illegal. If you should defend yourself too successfully from dindu aggression you are liable to face trumped-up criminal charges, and/or predatory lawsuits. So you must not only be prepared to win the fight on the street but also to win in court as well (or better yet learn how to avoid being taken to court). What is really needed is an organization that will provide pro bono legal defense for poor whites in places like Harm City who are unjustly prosecuted or frivolously sued for defending themselves against minority aggression. But we’re still a long way off from that.