You Don't Have to Ask "Why?"

Clay Cramer found a gem.

A bowie-knife, dirk, or pistols, commonly occupy the desk-drawer of Congressional members; who, as a close observer remarked to me—"not only look four ways at once, but in manners and deportment strongly remind me of runaway convicts." [Henry Cook Todd, Notes Upon Canada and the United States: From 1832 to 1840 2nd ed. (Toronto: Rogers and Thompson, 1840), 181]

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if MC's still have self-defense weapons nearby.

And we all know why.......