Visiting Scotland: Sgian Dubh's and Do(bh)n'ts

**KiltFitz** · 9th July 13, 07:18 PM

As the original post was concerning legality, it may help to clarify: As previous replies have demonstrated, it is not illegal to wear it as part of national dress. Police officers in Scotland are well aware of this clause in the legislation as is any 1st year student of law or legal studies for that matter. I am confident that merely wearing a sgian dubh with your kilt will not lead to arrest in Scotland (or the rest of the UK for that matter).

Brandishing a sgian dubh in any reckless manner however, may lead to the police responding to a breach of the peace, and it would hardly matter whether there was a blade displayed or hidden within the sheath or no blade at all if the people around you were alarmed by it.

Just because it is not illegal doesn't mean to say that places that have some kind of general security concerns won't refuse access. They will have the right to refuse service or admission entirely at their own discretion and this would be as good a reason as any.

I wear my sgian dubh to black-tie events, traditional events such as highland games, weddings etc. It wouldn't normally accompany me to a rugby or football match or an away trip with the lads. Hope this was helpful.

**unixken** · 9th July 13, 07:53 PM

Well, my concern is not the awareness of the law by a policeman, or a first year law student. It's the non-legal-minded, non-kilt-wearing person who is as unfamiliar with the "national dress" exemption to a law they've never bothered to research for themselves as I am of laws concerning something I myself don't deal with in my everyday life. Let me put it this way...

"Hello... 999? Yes, I'd like to report a man with a knife..."

I highly doubt the 999 dispatcher is going to ask "Is he wearing a kilt?"

At the very least, your quiet evening dinner in a restaurant is going to be interrupted. Yes, you are completely legal. Yes, you will be allowed to go on your way without another word being said about it. But you'll still have had to deal with the police, due to someone ELSE's ignorance of the law. That is my point. Me, I prefer to eat my meal while it's still hot. ;)

**KiltFitz** · 9th July 13, 08:31 PM

[QUOTE=unixken;1180876]
"Hello... 999? Yes, I'd like to report a man with a knife..."

I highly doubt the 999 dispatcher is going to ask "Is he wearing a kilt?"
QUOTE]

I live in Scotland. I wear a kilt quite frequently along with a sgian dubh. I have many friends who do the same.

The above scenario is not impossible but extraordinarily unlikely unless the call were placed by someone who had inexplicably found themself in Scotland without any prior notion that there is a form of traditional dress here.

As someone with experience as an emergency call handler (my part time job during my law degree) the 999 dispatcher is merely a telephonist, the police operator however would ask firther questions such as:

"what is he doing with it?"

"Well he appears to be wearing it in his sock."

"His sock? Is he wearing shorts?"

"No, some kind of skirt"

Realisation might dawn here...unless the police operator had the same level of inexperience with highland dress.

Possible but doubtful. Just my opinion. :-)

**unixken** · 10th July 13, 03:43 AM

Here in the states, such happens far too often. I can not cite examples of this without violating rule #11. Dispatchers are not trained to determine what laws (or what exemptions to a given law, if any), apply.

What you and I might consider common sense, in the handling of such a call... just simply does not apply. But that the call occurs at all, is the problem, and is totally outside of any control the affected party might think they have over the situation.

If you think you can control whether someone else calls, or think you can control what questions a dispatcher would ask the caller, or think you can control the adrenaline level of the responding officer (maybe the call was "HURRY! HE'S GOT A KNIFE!"... not "Yeah, this guy, see... he's got a knife in his kilt sock... and he's just casually sitting down enjoying his ice cream desert, not bothering anyone..."), then perhaps you have a super power. I, as a tourist traveling in a foreign land, would rather do everything possible to minimize or prevent any interaction with law enforcement. Relying upon other people to exercise common sense is not how I'd go about that.

**Liam** · 10th July 13, 06:59 AM

[QUOTE=KiltFitz;1180887]

Originally Posted by unixken

"Hello... 999? Yes, I'd like to report a man with a knife..."

I highly doubt the 999 dispatcher is going to ask "Is he wearing a kilt?"
QUOTE]

I live in Scotland. I wear a kilt quite frequently along with a sgian dubh. I have many friends who do the same.

The above scenario is not impossible but extraordinarily unlikely unless the call were placed by someone who had inexplicably found themself in Scotland without any prior notion that there is a form of traditional dress here.

As someone with experience as an emergency call handler (my part time job during my law degree) the 999 dispatcher is merely a telephonist, the police operator however would ask firther questions such as:

"what is he doing with it?"

"Well he appears to be wearing it in his sock."

"His sock? Is he wearing shorts?"

"No, some kind of skirt"

Realisation might dawn here...unless the police operator had the same level of inexperience with highland dress.

Possible but doubtful. Just my opinion. :-)

I find it hard to believe that someone who is not familiar with a kilt would even recognize a sgian dubh sticking out of one's hose as a knife, unless, you were to unsheathe it in his/her view.