But why would you need one?

So I was browsing the sporting goods section of Wal-Mart in the (vain) hope that they might have a telescope.

Camping/hunting aisle (hope is growing fainter).

Pocket knives. Sporks. Cast-iron skillets. Waterproof matches. Tin plates/cups/bowls. Axes for chopping fire wood.

Machetes.

Yeah. Machetes.

They weren't locked in a case. And though I didn't check, it didn't seem that they were even locked on their display hooks (like electronics stores do for high-priced things like memory cards or iPod accessories and such). They were just there, in the aisle, scaring the bejebers out of me. Seriously - if there's an axe available, why the bloody heck do you need a freaking machete?!? There is no jungle here in wide-open Wyoming through which you need to hack your way. And prairie grass doesn't count.

It brings to mind jungle warfare; Dian Fossey; and people who kidnap little kids in Uganda and do horrific things to them to turn them into child soldiers.

When I think "camping," I don't think "machete," and I'm rather scared of the people who do.