Per Christum Catholic Blog

Once, when riding a MUNI bus in San Francisco, I noticed a group of blue-turbaned fellows getting on with their kirpaans. I immediately thought, “Ah, Sikh transit! Gloria MUNI.”

- Tim Ferguson in the combox over at The Cafeteria is Closed.

A great deal of misinformation has been circulating about the web as to the nature of the kirpan that Sikhs wear about their person… Lest people think of modern Sikhs as some wild armed faction, it might be good to talk about the kirpan…

The ceremonial dagger is, as often as not, small enough to fit in the palm of your hand and is worn underneath clothing on the thigh. I knew a gent when I was in college who gave a lecture in a sociology class about his Sikh faith… It was revealed he wore his underneath his clothing and it was rather small. When asked if we could see it, he smiled and declined… he was not interested in undoing his pants, and showing us his drawers to access it…

In all actuality, if someone had started some trouble, for him to reach for this would have entailed dropping his trousers to access it before taking on some miscreant with a small knife and his pants around his ankles.

Not very threatening is it?

In all reality most are about as dangerous as the pocket knives every red-blooded American school boy would have ALWAYS had on them in the 50s & 60s (before they would have been arrested for possession of a weapon!)… A practice my father - who never leaves the house without his altar boy rosary, wallet, and pocket knife - carries on today.

(I used to keep a small Swiss Army knife in my wallet… I lost the wallet. Now I am mostly known to travel with a wine-key/bottle opener for party emergencies…)

It is worth noting that well before 9/11 it was the practice of any Sikh who was flying to simply pack the ceremonial dagger in his checked luggage, and confirm that he had done so with security who were trained to know about this custom and were respectful of it.

So as a radical moderate on this one, let me point out that NO, they are not sword wielding extremists with daggers stained in blood like wild-eyed soldiers of fortune… and NO it isn’t that unreasonable for the Secret Service (the party responsible for US security) to ask that they check them at the door before a 45 minute meeting with the Pope in the same fashion they get check them at the airport for 10+ hour flights overseas.