OK,

[dancerjodi]

How does buying/using a sword differ from buying/using a Henkel's knife? This is in regards to this article found on the New England Rennie's LJ:
http://cbsnewyork.com/topstories/local_story_132070112.html

Any reputable business will not sell weapons to minors - so why is it wrong to be selling pointy things that are perfectly legal to adults?

People need lives, really.

Comments

Re: Business

[dancer.livejournal.com]

"Bottom line, I think that this particular article/story is just pandering to people's fears and it has absolutely zero journalistic value, but from what I saw in the article, I'd be reluctant to trust that specific guy and I certainly wouldn't buy a $1200 $800 sword from him."

Well I'm at work, so I haven't seen the video clip yet - so all I know is what I read.

If he's violating local zoning laws or something sure, throw the book at him. But I don't think it should matter if he's making pointy things or other things. The tone of this article is just really silly - swords are legal to own, so why all the "oooh, bad swords" stuff?

As for making food - Ken (our realtor) owns a side business making pies for Waltham restaurants. His business *is* out of his house (I swear, the man does everything) :)

Re: Business

[dragonvpm.livejournal.com]

If he's violating local zoning laws or something sure, throw the book at him. But I don't think it should matter if he's making pointy things or other things. The tone of this article is just really silly - swords are legal to own, so why all the "oooh, bad swords" stuff?

Yeah, that was basically what I was trying to say. It does sound like he might be doing something a little shady and/or illegal but that has nothing to do with what he's selling, that's just the way he comes off.

If anything that's more ammunition for the "this is a stupid article" camp. It seems that the arguement they're making is: "Look here's a shady guy selling dangerous weapons in your neighborhood. Aren't you scared that this shady guy is selling dangerous weapons near you?" and since the allegation that these are "dangerous" weapons is pretty weak (I'd like to see a kid tuck a sword into his pants and sneak it into school), they focus on the fact that the guy selling them comes off as a being a bit shady.

I don't think I explained myself clearly though because when I read this stuff I thought that it looked like he might be doing something non-legit in how he ran his business, but I more or less completely ignored the whole "Oh no! Dangerous weapons" bleeting.

As far as the food connection goes, I bet that Ken has to jump through a fair number of hoops to legally run his business and that he'd have to deal with things like the health department no matter where he ran it from. Food seemed like a good analogy since all of us are familiar with cooking and most of us are aware that places that make a business out of selling food are supposed to meet certain minimum standards that we don't worry about when we cook for ourselves. Same goes for this guy, I wouldn't care what he's making, I'd just care that his opertaion follow the relevant rules for whatever it is that he is doing.