I profiled the Viper in today's Hero Profile. The Viper recently had a run in with the police in Columbia, TN who found that he had shruiken, more commonly known as "ninja throwing stars" in his car. Ninja throwing stars are disc shaped, edged weapons that are thrown as a projectile.
I have not done thorough research on shruiken laws, but a basic google search shows that California and Indiana have laws specifically against carrying them, and other states have laws that might include them by the nature of the wording (laws against bladed weapons).
Most RLSH I have talked to about gear do NOT carry ninja throwing stars, but at least a few do- Viper is not the first RLSH I've heard of who has some shruiken handy, I know of at least two or three others.
I decided to do a poll and share the results in a week. The poll is open here on the right of the blog and I've set up an identical one at therlsh.net.
Please comment on why you voted the way you did.
I voted "dangerous liabilities", because there was no "no one is going to take you seriously if you are brandishing king-size confetti" option.
ReplyDeleteThe weapon/no weapon debate usually boils down to two sticking points: 1) brandishing a weapon will (theoretically) intimidate criminals so you never actually have to use it, and 2) weapons are ultimately a defensive measure (so hopefully you'll never have to use it).
The problem with the intimidation argument is that in the hypothetical dark alley, shuriken are SMALL, have a COMPLEX OUTLINE and are almost always DARK. Even if it's chrome-plated shuriken, it will only be reflective if it picks up on a light source, and even then it would be "what's that shiny thing?", not "oh crap a weapon". It wouldn't even look like a shiny gun. It will look like cheap jewelery.
If the Cape produces a throwing star under defensive circumstances, the response is probably less "oh crap it's a martial arts badass I might as well turn myself in" and closer to "I'm going to do everything in my power to make this guy use that because watching him miss me entirely and hurt himself in the process will be HILARIOUS".
Of course in the RLSH mind, the latter would be a crowning moment when the throwing star embeds itself in the thigh of the big scary criminal who is running straight at you and he instantly falls to the ground once he's hit.
The problem is that metal that's sharp enough to embed itself in flesh when thrown isn't actually going to *hurt* very much. It's true! If you keep your kitchen knives sharp, you know that if you accidentally cut yourself you notice the blood before you notice the pain ("Why is my watermelon seeping blood? Whoops.")
Bad guy is still coming after you, and now his thigh is fully armed. Pray he doesn't knee you in the crotch.
Well, the perps just need to arm themselves like Spartans, because we all know that Spartans can beat Ninja, at least according to Spike TV.
ReplyDeleteTea Krulos,
ReplyDeleteOnes Holdfast is one of those states where you can find and purchase shuriken (there are even Ninja schools - literally). So, naturally, with the principle "know your enemy" one has experimented with shuriken.
One determined that in fact, one would make a terrible ninja. The shuriken are dangerous, somewhat unpredictable (they react ununiformly to different surfaces and surface angles, punch unsightly holes in everything you don't mean to hit, but somehow do, and draw blood with even the slightest mishandling. Their flightpaths when thrown differ from time to time, and because of their flat surfaces move through the air not only directionaly, but also in a skipping behavior.
One believes this weapon should be left to the more capable hands of career ninjas, and removed from use by weekend ninjas.
-Lord Malignance