Only 2200 Members? That's Embarrassing.

The organization Knife Rights, which advocates for the rights of knife owners in much the same way that the NRA does for gun owners, is hampered by a much smaller membership than its more famous sister:

Doug Ritter was carrying two pocketknives and a Leatherman on his belt as he entered a suburban barbecue restaurant near his home in Gilbert, Arizona. "If we were in New York City right now, I could be arrested and sentenced to a year in prison for carrying these knives," he told me as we stood in line at the counter.

Sitting down to carve into a big platter of pork and brisket, Ritter, the founder and chairman of Knife Rights Inc., laid out his arguments for restoring our right to carry switchblades, double-edged daggers, combat knives, bowie knives, stilettos, and cutlasses on any street in America. "Knives are essential tools used by millions of Americans every day, at work, at home, at play," he said. "And on rare occasions, they're also used as an arm in self-defense, or to defend one's family. When the Second Amendment talks about the right to bear arms, it doesn't specify firearms in particular."

I'm embarrassed to admit that I'm not a member of Knife Rights. I'm a member of the NRA, but I carry and write about guns much less than I do about knives. Here on my desk as I type this I can see 7 knives, and there's a couple more in the desk drawers. So I really have no excuse not to join Knife Rights. And those of my readers that carry a knife regularly, you should consider it too. 2200 people are small in the scheme of things when it comes to standing up for rights in the halls of Congress: one million people is another matter entirely.

I'll be joining Knife Rights on Friday when I get paid. Here is the Knife Rights website.