The Outdoor Wire's Jim Shepherd reports that politically correct British Boy Scout officials have turned their thumbs down on scouts carrying a pocket knife.

What? No Scout knife in the official shorts of the lads? That's like saying mountain climbers can't use ropes, or the Lone Ranger has to walk instead of ride his horse, Silver.

Shepherd said the traditional pocket knife will be restricted on scouting trips because the British Scout organization said it had to be done to "reduce intimidation and bullying among its members."

A Boy Scout spokesman told the London Daily Mail that, "Scouting helps prepare young people with valuable life skills, while keeping them safe by not carrying knives."

If the latter part of that sentence doesn't qualify for one of the dumbest things ever uttered by a human, what does?

Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of the Boy Scouts, must be spinning in his grave. Whatever happened to the scouts declaring that they will "obey the Scout Law, help other people at all times, keep physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight"? Has that gone down the drain with charges that the boys intimidate and bully their fellow scouts over in Britain?

This wimpy attitude toward all things that could conceivably hurt a youngster when used wrongly is permeating not only British society, but also other "civilized" lands. The Swiss and Germans don't want you to practice catch-and-release fishing the way we do it here because a person should fish only if he/she wants to eat a fish.

In fact, some of the screwy laws that are in effect over in Europe would have an American burst out in laughter. But don't snicker. There are forces at work right here in the U.S. that would quickly join the Brits and their Scout movement in the prohibition of pocket knives. Our own politically correct crowd already forbids school children from having nail clippers in their possession because they  might "harm a child."

And I don't have to tell you how the wimp crowd feels about youngsters and adults going into the woods to convert a deer into edible venison to feed the family.

Heck, we have animal rights advocates in the U.S. who believe the life of a rat is as important as that of a human. Hoo, boy!

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