The Exit

[JustADude]

Wing Chun is illegal to teach in the US for a similar reason. The core concepts of the style can be boiled down to two sentences: Avoid fighting if there's any way possible. If the confrontation is unavoidable, cripple or kill them.

You pretty much nailed my ideas on violence cold with that summary of Wing Chun.

I will NEVER start a fight, and I will only get physical first if a weapon has been drawn on me or I'm stepping in to stop someone attacking another person. That means that if things come to violence I will put the person down hard and fast, using every bit of force at my disposal. Any injury they receive is the price they pay for starting things.

[tendomentis]

I checked, for the record....and the law in my area (Metro DC) for collapsible batons is pretty strict.

Washington D.C. - completely illegal to carry
Baltimore - completely illegal to carry
MOST other counties in Maryland - legal to carry if you have a concealed weapons permit and have had formal training (with license to prove)....and you can only get the permit if you have police reports proving that you need it to survive your daily life

When I moved back to this country, I lost a german made, gold plated, full 440 stainless steel, serrated butterfly knife to a security guard at a theme park too. It was in a farking ankle holster concealed under my jeans for fark's sake.

In Budapest, I could carry my sword under my backpack with no problem when I was in the less savory parts of town. If you thought a baton opening was an intimidating sight, imagine the effect of a long-haired maniac weilding a 20" Ontario blackwind katana. But in this country, I feel my only options are to learn some Destruction magic (or displel maybe) or to discover that I have the latent power to bend time and space (Hiro forever ).

The irony is that in Virginia, it's legal to carry your licensed GUN (so uncivilized) on your hip...in fact it's against the law to ask someone to leave a public area because they have a gun on them. At what point did the people in charge in this country decide that the human race is "mostly harmless"?

Unless of course the people in charge are also employed by the great publishing houses of Ursa Minor...

[OfficeSlug]

That is an AWESOME story!!!

(edit)
And tendomentis - I love the Snowcrash reference!!!