The sgian achlais would be considered a weapon due to its concealment. The little sgian dubh was never a weapon, but rather a skinning knife - stuck into the hose top for convenience. Later it became the decorative item it remains today (right around the same time that the dirk degenerated into a silly be-jeweled gimcrack). There were no knife bans after any of the Jacobite risings, and I don't buy the "courtesy display of weapons" myth, either....
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