No matter how you answer, the problem is the same. Swords are weapons. They may be harder to kill with than a gun, but they ARE killing weapons. Even a soft steel or aluminium "wall hanger" can be a lethal weapon. Custom blades made as object'de art have been used to commit murders causing great anguish to their makers. It may not have been the swordsmith's fault but they DID make the weapon.

Do not deny it. It is your nature. It is why there are 10 - 12 accidental gun deaths of children every day in America. It is almost always boys handling the gun and the victim is almost always their best friend or neighbor. Swords do not kill quite as easily as guns but dead is still dead.

You may be into Dungeons and Dragons or the SCA ( Society for Creative Anachronism ). You think a sword shouldn't be too hard to make. You will want to play with it. Perhaps mock combat with one of your friends. You haven't thought about the fact that you or your friends could be, maimed, blinded or killed "just playing".

You are a young male (99% of you and under 30). You are fascinated by weapons of all types. You like the movies Conan the Barbarian and Highlander (I, II, III. . .) , and watch the television shows Highlander , Zena , Hercules and The Immortal (among others).

Most of the time I know the answers to these questions, perhaps better than you. But, do YOU know the answers?

A sword is a weapon. Like a Bowie knife or gun they are a weapon designed for one person to kill another. Do you intend to kill someone? Are you playing games? Or do you just think it would be "neat" to have a sword hanging on the wall?

We are going to answer these questions one last time. But we are also going to pose some questions of our own and perhaps give the reader something to think about.

This is the only subject we have gotten more than one complaint about the way it was responded to. Often there was no way to reply to the complaints without insulting the respondents further so there have been no reply. If you are so thin skinned that you cannot take the truth or have no sense of humor about your lack of knowledge then please leave this web site NOW. ( Email reply to one guru page respondent. )