at home i try to keep some sort of melee weapon near me at all times (yes a chair does count) in case we're robbed by people with knives at bats. Banning knives will just lead to them having to ban things like chairs (which my brother, who's 8 years old, has demonstrated can be used as a weapon), monitors (also can be used as a weapon; hey it hurt my hand once ok), plyers (long island frankfurter...), ice picks (Trotsky style!), plastic bags, baseball bats, cricket bats for you non-Americans, television, dogs, cats, fish, albatross, puffed rice, cds, piano, toilet paper, etc. Damn, sounds like the USSR on crack!