Hopefully you don't travel through Oakland... A knife 3 inches or longer is classified as "a dangerous weapon." It's quite ridiculous considering people with the right permits can bring guns on BART, but it is the law and probably not good to go around bragging about breaking it.

It really doesn't matter. I carry a multi tool that would be illegal in my backpack and a set of lockpicks which are probably illegal too.

> As an American ...

You are welcome to your perspective, of course, and many other Americans have other perspectives. It would be interesting to see the distribution of opinions and analysis of where the variations are (by country? by region? urban and rural?). But I wouldn't call the POV 'American'.

> on BART

Interestingly, the places in the U.S. with more per capita crime, cities, have stronger support for gun control. However, crime is historically low nationwide, which may affect the relative distribution of gun control support/opposition in ways I can't predict.

A spokeswoman for the NRA saying that one should be armed to defend against police didn't make me chuckle, it made me think: https://www.newsweek.com/nra-dana-loesch-botham-jean-dallas-...

Attitude on the old continent towards weapons is different, as is conflict resolution, police legitimacy and expectations on government itself.