Hi Soldier,
I understand your analogy, but the fact remains that a samurai would not be allowed down the street with his swords.
I agree that the fear is not rational. Right now western governments seem to be promoting all kinds of fears in their populations for the sake of gaining more control over them. Have a look at this discussion:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...=Knife+Amnesty
Ideally, the host society would indeed learn about the customs of the immigrant group, and the population would learn that a Sikh man wearing his kirpan in public is safe and acceptable. Unfortunately, this brings the issue of precedent: other groups with different motives will argue that they should be given the same right and should be allowed to carry weapons publicly. In the case of an incident, the trouble of uncovering the truth behind one's motive in using the knife would be too much. Thus I think, some governments legitimately outlaw the wear of weapons, especially in a society that already has a specific "caste" with the responsibility of protecting society, namely the police. I do not want to sound offensive here, but perhaps - just perhaps mind you - in western society the wear of the kirpan is simply obsolete, regardless of the wearer's way of life.
This went on quite a bit
but I just wanted to give you a view possibly held by some people in the west.
Since the issue of education came up, I will try to go to the Gurdwara in my neighbourhood and ask some more questions.
Best regards,
Emanuel