The laxity on airlines lasted quite a while for knives.

I routinely carried a Small Sebenza on trips to DC once or twice a week...until the beginnings of the clampdown. Before 9/11 they installed magnetic detection, still let me carry the knife and a small pepper spray for a long time.

When they started cracking down, I got to the airport, the knife got their attention, so I took it to the airline service counter and they put it in an envelope to hold it for me. Picked it up with no problem when I got back.

Once had a small pepper spray clipped to the inner pocket on a rain parka. Going through the conveyor belt it got caught and sprayed the line inspector and his supervisor...who exclaimed "Get that thing out of there!" and waved me through to get rid of me and it!

Why carry those things?

Different people from the company had been robbed in DC. Hoping to never have a gun pulled on me.

One of our senior marketing guys walked into my office one Monday with a large bandage on his head.

I asked, "Manny, what kind of door did you run into?"

He explained he had been to DC, walking back to his hotel after the restaurant some guy jumped out and pointed a .45 at him. Manny had big cajones...having flown 91 B-17 missions in Europe.

But, when he tried to take the guy's gun from him, he got hit on the head and then taken to the ER.

The closest I came to "trouble" was when a young stud physically blocked "and old bald guy" (me) three times from boarding the Metro at Rosslyn station one afternoon as I was trying to make a flight.

I resisted temptations, he backed down, and continued on the train to I suppose the Navy Yard.

Larry

Hey--I know, no BB guns here. Delete if appropriate.