So, there’s one day left in the Bay Area Maker Faire and it’s been going pretty well. It’s always cool when I get comments like “It’s important that you are here” to balance out the “There’s a knot tying guild???” On the continuing promotion front, at least 3 libraries are interested in getting some knot tying type activity/class to offer and at least one school plus the Bay Area Bead Extravaganza offered the guild a free booth at their upcoming event in November.
While talking with knot tyer who had moved down from Washington (I was sure that it was Washington the state and not the district, but now I’m not certain anymore??) who commented that monkey’s fists are considered weapons and can be confiscated by the police at whim (he was friends with police officers who made this comment when he showed them his keychain). Anyone know the details on this? Is it true throughout the US?
A fun scene occurred early today: a man with a group of perhaps 6 teens passed by the booth and did a double take and called them all back, I think they were some form of sea cadets based on one shirt logo, then had them go to work on my knot demo table. He would bark out knots for them to tie, one after the other. I mentioned to him the guild’s speed tying challenge…
It is a State by state thing. In many states monkey fists are classified as a SAP and therefore illegal. In some states it must meet a certain size or contain a “weighted metal core” or simply a “weighted core” to be considered a SAP. But simply put, yes it’s true, but you should check with your local state laws as it does vary state by state. That skaid, in most states as long as it’s small enough to be a keyfob / zipper pull (or smaller) or way over sized that it just looks like a door stop or bigger they are fine. To be safe, check your local laws to find out.
I’m not sure what “SAP” is supposed to stand for, but any US state or locality that violates the individual right to keep and bear arms should be sued for billions of dollars in punitive damages until they learn their lesson.
Sap is a historic North American term for a billy club or bludgeon.
Historically, Monkeys Fist knots where used as a heaving ball, and were designed to attach a line to an appropriate weight that a seaman could throw with some accuracy. That is also a similar in size and weight of a billy club, and they were probably all over the place on the docks before steam. In a way, they became a symbol of the rough environment around docks, and were rumored to have been used in some confrontations.
I have a hollow Monkey Fist on my table top display made with stiff polypropylene. The kids love to pick it up thinking it will be much heavier. Really, anything can be a cudgel, it’s how you are using it. On a display table of knots, it’s a hands-on link to the past. In the back pocket of a nee’r-do-well at some places on the planet, it could be considered dangerous. I like to keep an eye on the stuff I let people touch, and consider the audience. I also have a belaying pin in my presentation, and nobody has ever given me any grief about that, and it looks more like a police baton than historical artifact.
In the UK the monkey’s fist in the video could certainly be classed as an “offensive weapon”! The following is a quote from a Home Office advice page:
“Section 1 of the Prevention of Crime Act 1953 provides that an offensive weapon is any
article made or adapted for use for causing injury to the person, or intended by the person
having it with him for such use by him or by some other person.”
Perhaps it’s actual monkey fists attached to ends of the arms of actual monkeys that the police are worried about. There may be people using pet monkeys like attack dogs to beat up their enemies.
The fists themselves if severed from the arms would be harmless, so that may be why the police are trying to limit the right to bear arms.