When I was a kid, I always thought switchblade knives were cool. I read The Outsiders and they were featured heavily in the hands of the greaser subculture. I'd always known of a kid somewhere that had a cool knife, be it a switchblade or a butterfly knife. During that whole time, I'd always known they were illegal and I would probably never get to have one.

I never really questioned why. In my younger days, I just kind of assumed everyone knew best and just dealt with things being illegal. As I got older and the stereotypical teenage angst had set in, I failed to see the true reason why really cool knives were illegal.

Most states outlaw switchblades because they were in the hands of criminals. That much is true. The true wording of the laws are something along the lines of "knives not for use as a tool" and "knives designed to harm others." There is some truth to that; I couldn't really see a practical use for a butterfly knife other than flipping it around and doing tricks, or using it to threaten people. Same deal with a switchblade.

The only thing that bothers me about that is that these knives don't have to be for attackers. This imagination of a rough-looking man with a switchblade threatening an old lady with a cool-looking knife isn't always true. Like with small handguns, spring-assisted knives and butterfly knives can be used for personal defense through concealed carry.

We all know that handguns are pretty much designed for personal defense. In this personal defense, you'd probably shoot someone to protect your own life. So why not carry a knife specially designed for self defense? You're allowed to carry concealed knives if they're of the tool variety, but this seems kind of backwards. By this logic, people should be allowed to carry over-under shotguns without a permit because they're designed for duck hunting. They're tools, not specifically designed for killing people.

So these knives supposedly made for threatening old ladies are banned, but if they were made under the premise of self defense, most people wouldn't have an issue. After all, it is impossible to know if something is made for self defense or attacking, because the design would be the same. Either situation would call for the same knife. Something quick, something that's easy to handle, and something that can easily be concealed to not draw attention to oneself. A switchblade or butterfly knife is all of these things. The only reason they are illegal is because at one point, they were favored by criminals who didn't want to carry guns because they didn't want to kill people.

Small knives can't travel all the way through someone and hit an innocent person, obviously, because they're knives. There's not a whole lot of collateral damage with knives. The main issue with a knife instead of a gun is that a person with a knife stands little chance against someone with a gun unless the knife-wielder catches them completely by surprise. The same could be said for a less experienced knife carrier if the attacker had a blunt weapon like a baseball bat.

Knives aren't necessarily ideal for self-defense, but they're better than nothing. In a country where violence is more than common, I'd rather have a knife than nothing. One has to be at least 21 to own a handgun, so that leaves people ages 20 and under either unarmed, illegally armed with a handgun, or with a pocket knife that has to be considered a tool, as not to frighten people. We can do better than that. Scary, cool knives need to be in the hands of people to protect themselves and others.

Even though these knives are illegal, as I said before, some kid always had one and showed all his friends. Clearly the dumb laws against them don't work, and unless you're already being arrested for something, a police officer probably won't confiscate your cool knife, probably because the police officer also thinks your knife is cool.

In short, legalize cool knives. No one can deny that they're cool. Your state government can be cool, too, if they show off their butterfly knife tricks. After they've made them legal, of course.