Sometimes even better than shiny!
It was a gift from Mr. B. from Cold Steel knives that arrived in an "easy open" package. I've not tried any of their products but this one looks interesting. It's a hairbrush
But it's a hairbrush that's illegal in Illinois. . . . .
This would be illegal to take into the secure area of an airport and beyond or those buildings where you can't carry a concealed weapon, even with a concealed permit. Remember -If you carry a knife for utility or defense, make sure you check the State laws for where you live or travel. States vary greatly. Illinois laws are both convoluted AND vague, other states are much more succinct.
Thanks you two. It will be a great little item to have around even if the only time I use the pointy part is on one of those Easy Open packages that you need blasting caps and a light saber to open.
I do not love the bright sword for it's sharpness,
nor the arrow for it's swiftness,
nor the warrior for his glory.
I love only that which they defend.
-J.R.R. Tolkien
That's a pretty neat piece of toiletry equipment! :)
ReplyDeleteDixie needs one of these to go with her pen knife. Posted.
ReplyDeleteCool!
ReplyDeleteThat is one brush I need to get! I have the "Taticool pens" but I find that interesting and your disclaimer on convoluted laws is spot on.
ReplyDeleteSince I live close to another State border I guarantee that I will get questions on SC laws this weekend. My classes are full, both new shooters and Concealed Carry Handgun (CCH as it is called here). Woot! A busy weekend that will leave me tired, barely able to speak and yet I will feel fantastic!
How wonderful for you to have friends that send such thoughtful gifts!
Husband looked at it and offered to buy me one.....
ReplyDeleteGuess that is one way to make sure that a bad guy gets the point.
ReplyDeleteJust hope the handle never gets loose, or brushing one's hair could be a bit too much of an adventure.
That's neat! You should get someone (one of your secret squirrel associates, perhaps?) to X-ray it and see if it looks like a regular hairbrush on a scan. I bet it would sneak right past those idiot goons -er- dedicated officers at the airport. :)
ReplyDeleteNYEMT - I will bite my tongue on the TSA thing. ($200 of Chanel cosmetics stolen from a bag of mine coming through the U.S.). "they fell out". Sure, they did, and all the cheap cosmetics stayed behind.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine had one of those and they are indeed nasty buggers. That would indeed come in handy and I'd love to see the look on the bad guy's face.
ReplyDeleteI expect the folks at Cold Steel are wondering why they suddenly got a flurry of sales ...
ReplyDeleteConvoluted, mildly put. Yet it is a law in Illinois, that has not been challenged by the gun people. Why is it they let laws like this take effect?
ReplyDeleteThe story behind the story, there be chickens wandering abouts.
I hate Illinois Nazis.
ReplyDeleteI was going to make a comment about the big hair days back in the eighty's... but we'll leave that one alone... I mean you do have have a dagger handy...
ReplyDeleteDann in Ohio
Awesome sauce.
ReplyDeleteJust ordered one for my daughter.
Darn it! I just cut my hair! :)
ReplyDeleteYour own Tactical version of Buffy's "Mr. Pointy" :)
ReplyDeleteOrdered one for my other half :) A small start on her Birthday gifts.
ReplyDeleteWhat a perfect disguise for a weapon! Wow!
ReplyDeleteSuch things cause me to wonder what sort of person Brigid is IRL.
ReplyDeleteI know that she does some sort of law enforcement/investigations from reading this blog.
If she sees a fellow gun blogger with an injury-producing item that happens to be illegal in some states, localities or countries, is she likely to:
1. Make the arrest.
2. Warn the offender to keep that out of sight.
3. Ask where she can get one.
4. Confiscate the offending item, issue a warning to the offender and store the item at her house "for safe keeping".
Brigid -
ReplyDeleteI saw this mini poster and thought of you...Funny stuff.
Hope you enjoy it.
http://pinterest.com/pin/114349278008944095/
Mrs. MJ cooked up another batch of the " Flaming Meatballs " and they are now a fav here at our place
Best,
Middleboro Jones
LOL, nice :-) And that could sit in the shower too!
ReplyDeleteOld NFO: that is exactly why I bought it for her....SHe liked the plastic knives in our showers here at home.
ReplyDeleteStealth security is cool. IMHO
What!? This is awesome. I must put this on my wish list for Rambob to get me
ReplyDeleteProf. Hale, I secretly discovered Brigid's ID a while ago. :) She is Bones and works with Seeley Booth in the FBI...though the TV shows writers don't do her justice in the sense of humor department ;)
ReplyDeleteI love those, though I broke my comb. Pity! that was a pointy bit that made me grow out my hair, so I'd have an excuse to have it in my back pocket! Best damn covert letter opener I ever owned!
ReplyDeleteYou guys don't mind if I do one of those pedantic "Well, actually" things, do you?
ReplyDeleteWell, actually, the law in Illinois is convoluted enough that it's actually not illegal (according to my best efforts to find a statute that prohibits it) to carry most knives that people assume are illegal in Illinois, including that one.
See, Illinois has only one statute that refers to blade length. That statute puts "dirks, daggers" and knives with "blade length over 3 inches" along with lots of other fairly random things into "Category I." But "Category I Weapons" are only prohibited for use in the commission of a felony--they enhance the sentence if you're caught in possession of one while committing a felony. There's no statute prohibiting their possession if you're not committing a separate felony.
Illinois also has language referring to knives in its "Unlawful Use of Weapons" statute. There's no reference to blade length (though most people, including police officers, are firmly convinced that there's a prohibition on blades greater than 3", greater than 3.5", or even "blades longer than the width of the arresting officer's palm.") It does prohibit the carrying of "dirks" and "daggers," along with the carry of a "dangerous knife," BUT ONLY "with intent unlawfully to harm another.
In other words, while "dangerous knife" is not defined and could conceivably be stretched to cover everything from your hairbrush to a Swiss Army Knife on a keyring, it's not actually illegal to carry it unless you can be proven to have intent to commit a violent crime with it. Presumably that doesn't technically mean that you have to have been convicted of the violent act, but in practice, it would be hard to use it as anything but a way to pile on a UUW charge on top of whatever other crime. If you don't commit any violent crimes, you can carry it.
Now, there ARE weapons that are simply prohibited. Loaded firearms, firearms outside containers, "switchblade knives" (defined as knives that can be opened by pressing a control that's not on the blade, so Kershaw/Onion SpeedSafes and the like don't count.) Brass knuckles and a few others, too.
Knives are not, even knives that are over a given length or could be called 'dangerous knives," whatever that is.
HOWEVER. . . . I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice, and if you speak to a few cops in Illinois you'll quickly realize that none of this understanding of the law will keep you from getting arrested. The average cop on the street knows about NONE of this research. I carry a knife daily in Illinois, along with pepper spray, but I long ago resigned myself to the fact that if I encounter the wrong guy on the wrong day, I'll go to jail and have to negotiate from there.
If anyone would like to check my work on this, the Illinois legislature has a searchable index of all Illinois laws. Go to http://www.ilga.gov and click the link at the top of the page: "Illinois Compiled Statutes."
Also, the reasons we haven't repealed the knife laws are several:
ReplyDelete1. As outlined above, it's a complex issue, and once you get into it, you find that you'd be arguing that people who carry knives while raping, robbing or killing shouldn't have enhanced sentences. That's a tough sell, and I've spent the last ten years just trying to spread the word about what the law actually says without much success.
2. We've been on the defensive since the 1960's dealing with registration, proposed bans every year . . . . politically, we all live in the Chicago suburbs. It's on the list, but it's a LONG list.
3. Over the last ten years, we've largely narrowed our focus to staying on offense, hunting a shall-issue right-to-carry law.
Don: actually:
ReplyDelete720 ILCS 5/33A-1... A person is considered armed with a
dangerous weapon... when he carries on or about his person
or is otherwise armed with a category I or category II
weapon. (b) A category I weapon is a [firearm or] a knife
with a blade at least 3 inches in length, dagger, dirk,
switchblade knife, stiletto, or any other deadly or
dangerous weapon of like character.
You raised some good points though, Thanks for the insight!!
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs4.asp?DocName=072000050HArt%2E+33A&ActID=1876&ChapterID=53&SeqStart=80900000&SeqEnd=81300000
ReplyDeleteThat's the link directly to (720 ILCS 5/33A-1). As I noted before, it does define what it means to be "Armed with a dangerous weapon." But it does not prohibit you from being so armed; if you read it all, along with 5/33 A-2 which contains the elements of the offense, you find that it only deals with being "armed with a dangerous weapon" while committing a felony. Again, if you're not committing a felony, this statute does not apply to you.
"Armed with a dangerous weapon" is not a crime in and of itself. The crime of carrying a weapon in Illinois is UUW or Unlawful Use of a Weapon, and carrying a knife of whatever length simply does not qualify. There are certainly parts of 720-5-33 that overlap with the UUW statute, but the mention of the knife does not.