There are those (myself included) that think a practical martial art that does not include weapons training is lacking. Historically, practitioners of various sorts of weapons training thought of themselves as practicing "martial arts".
Also, what we think of today as (mostly Asian) MA usually includes some form of weapons training, if only at the upper levels of instruction. Even judo included instruction with various sticks including the "hanbo".
As I said earlier, a contemporary, practical course of study would include not only weaponry but training in the legal aspects of self-defense.