Blunt religious object about as dangerous as a crucifix

A guy goes to court to testify in a trial.

He gets stopped at security because he's a Sikh carrying a kirpan.

The religious dagger carried by Sikhs is one of the tenets of their faith.

Generally, kirpans are little and dull.

If you wanted to take a life with it, you'd probably be better off with a spoon.

In our security-mad world -- thanks, Osama -- we've become excessively paranoid, which is one of the things 9/11 was supposed to accomplish.

The Sikh in question, Tejinder Singh Sidhu, asked if a sheriff could escort him to and from court and was refused, so he walked without testifying.

Sidhu's got a valid point -- which is something a kirpan doesn't.

You can spend a lot of time in newspaper archives and on the Internet and not find a single incident of a Sikh using a kirpan to stab somebody. [Link]