In response to your second set of queries, I think A and C can be answered together, with B being nearly the same.
Swords in general, at least here in the US, are currently in a rather unique position with a fairly large portion of the blue collar class currently showing more interest in them than at any time since the birth of our nation, largely influenced by the motion picture industry to the point that they are being sold en masse on the Home Shopping Channel.
To a lesser degree, historical and ethnographic swords are also experiencing a heyday due to the popularity of Rennaissance Fairs and educational television among some of the more intellectual circles as well.
The first and third questions, however, are in direct conflict with the views just given, particularly among the female members of society, as well as the pseudo-intellectual and passafistic portions of society, where they are viewed strictly as weapons of war and symbols of barbarism.
I singled out an extremely large portion of the female gender for a reason that's probably unconscious to most, that being bladed weapons, knives in particular, and with swords often seen as nothing more than exagerated knives, are the weapon of choice for rapists, thus have become a symbol of violent masculine aggression that I feel actually transcends the logical mind and hits directly at the subconscious in American women.
As an ex-police officer I think I can state almost categorically that swords and knives are not only condemned but are actually abhorrent, thus despised, to a much larger percentage of the public than many can even begin to comprehend.
If one looks deeply into this, the amazing part is that only bladed weapons in sporting, hunting or military dress inspire this insidious dread, with cutlery often exempt, due to their familiarity with the steel in this incarnation.
Surprisingly, women often seem much more willing to allow a firearm into the home rather than a knife or a sword, even though fatalaties in children are almost insignificant compared to accidental shootings.
Mike
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