Category: Knife News (page 5 of 8)

When burglary suspect Jeremy Olson kicked open the door to someone’s house late at night, he probably never expected to have the epic battle that ensued.

As Olson was rummaging through the house looking for valuables, a teenager who had already pushed the alarm’s panic button was patiently waiting in his room armed with a sword

While the kid was undoubtedly frightened at what was going on, it’s great to see someone take the initiative to do everything to defend themselves.

Here’s what happened next according to Tulsa World:

The 17-year-old victim hid in his bedroom until the suspect entered the room, at which time the victim used a sword to try to stab the intruder, said Cpl. George Frye.

Frye said the altercation moved into the living room, where the victim smacked Olson in the head with the sword, causing a gash.

Fortunately, for the burglar, the sword was an imitation and was likely very blunt. Had it been a real sword, the intruder would probably be in a box somewhere. Still, despite being an imitation, his mugshot shows a pretty bad cut on his head.

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Some 1,800 years before the production of the first official Swiss Army knife the Romans built their own multi-tool that both stands the test of time and is really cool.

Many times people (myself included) get so pumped up and excited about latest and greatest inventions that we fail to reflect on history, but this ancient knife is truly something to marvel at.

This multi-tool, which dates back to sometime between 200 AD and 400 AD, features a spoon, fork, blade, spike (probably for eating snails), toothpick and spatula. The surprisingly well-kept tool is made entirely from silver except for an iron blade.

According to the History Blog, multi-tools like this one weren’t uncommon in ancient Rome, but they were typically made from bronze and had significantly fewer parts. That’s why it appears as though the owner of the knife was probably much wealthier than others at the time and may have even been a traveler.

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A while back, I took an informal survey on Facebook of whether there should be any laws restricting the use of knives in the United States. While a couple people thought there should be none, a large number said that schools are among the few places that should have restrictions on knives (for obvious safety reasons). However, no one could possibly support what happened to a boy at a Georgia school.

According to WSB TV, seventh grader Jack Persyn was suspended for accidentally bringing a 1.5-inch knife to school. Here’s a description of the incident from the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

Jack Persyn discovered a pocket knife in the military-style backpack his aunt had bought second-hand at a yard sale and had given to him for Christmas. The teen reported the knife and turned it in to his teacher.

But even though the 7th grader admitted having the knife, and his parents contend it wasn’t his fault it ended up at school, the boy was given a four-day in-school suspension for violating the Gwinnett school district’s policy on weapons.

Knife groups are up in arms over what they’re calling a zero tolerance policy gone awry. It’s hard to disagree with the knife groups.

Had the boy knowingly brought the knife to school, things would have been different. Had the knife been discovered by a peer or a teacher, it might have even been different. However, it was an accident and he did the right thing by turning it in to school officials. Punishing him for telling the truth  is simply wrong.

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Imagine this scenario. You wake up from a coma in an abandoned hospital. You can’t tell how long you’ve been out, but things seem to be completely different from what you once knew. As you’re exploring, you come across a group of hideously decomposed bodies. The only problem is these dead guys aren’t really dead at all. They are actually flesh-eating zombies looking to kill you. What could you possibly do?

Well, in the likely event of a zombie apocalypse (2012 is just a few weeks away, you know), Gerber is selling an Apocalypse Survival Kit, which comes equipped with three types of machetes, an axe, a fixed blade knife and a folder. Gerber knives, which is a brand that’s no stranger to exposure on television (see Bear Grylls), supplied these items for the season opener of AMC’s hit series The Walking Dead.

Since Gerber was able to help out the characters of the show with some amazing tools, they figured it would also benefit the greater population to offer the tools as a proactive measure for that inevitable zombie invasion. Unfortunately, the kits sold out quickly, but you can still buy each of the tools individually. For example, no apocalypse survivor or self-proclaimed zombie hunter should go without this badass Gerber Gator Machete Pro or awesome Survival Series Bear Grylls Parang.

If you’re having any doubts about the usefulness of these tools against an army of undead, check out the descriptions found on Gerber’s site.

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For most knife enthusiasts, careful attention is paid to the physical knife itself. They focus on what type of steel the blade is constructed from, the durability of the handle, blade thickness, etc. However, an important aspect of the knife involves the convoluted state of affairs in the political and governmental spectrum because they determine what people can buy and own. It’s times like these when we can be thankful for those who fight the good fight for knife rights.

Few groups are doing more of the dirty work to protect our rights than Knife Rights. Founded with the intention of stopping the United States taking stances against knives similar to countries in Europe, Knife Rights has gone on a crusade to defend the rights of knife enthusiasts through legal channels.

Recently, Knife Rights and the American Knife and Tool Institute (AKTI) went up to Boston to advocate against a law requiring convenience stores to get a license to sell knives. While this might not seem like a major deal, this is a political move to demonize knives and gain points from constituents for being “tough on crime.” There is really nothing in the new legislation that would make Boston any safer from crime. There seems to be a concern that minors get knives from these stores to use with criminal activity, but there is already an ordinance that prohibits the sale of knives to minors. This new legislation is redundant and will only inconvenience small business owners.

Knife Rights and the AKTI offer a glimpse into the complex world of government by going to hearings and voicing opinions. Take the recent hearing in Boston for example. Only two councilors were at the hearing and they were the sponsors of the anti-knife bill. They contradicted their own statements and cited inaccurate news, which is very telling.

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After posting a question to our Facebook page about whether it’s ever a good idea to have restrictions on knives, there were a variety of responses with some people arguing there should never be restrictions and others arguing there should be a few, like no knives at school and no knives longer than 6 inches for everyday carry. All of these are valid statement and a point of contention within the knife community.

However, one thing nearly all knife aficionados can agree on is that current knife laws should not be skewed or interpreted to crackdown on perfectly legal knives. Fortunately, Knife Rights is constantly running campaigns to defend knife owners’ civil rights and encourage safe use of knives. Knife Rights’ current lawsuit against New York City is the most important case the organization is working on, but the city is not going down without a fight.

In case you haven’t heard about the lawsuit, there’s been a crackdown on knives in New York City at the bequest of District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. A number of people have been arrested for carrying knives that should not be considered gravity knives, which are illegal in New York City.

DA Vance recently filed a suit to dismiss the lawsuit on the basis that there is lack of standing and failure to make a claim. Although these motions are simple formalities, Knife Rights came back with a scathing response. Here’s part of what it said:

It is literally possible for one knife to be simultaneous legal and illegal, and a person has no means of conforming his or her conduct to the law’s expectations. While the DA’s motion necessarily fails because it relies on selectively construing the facts in the DA’s favor, rather than in the Plaintiffs’ favor (as Rule 12(b)(6) mandates), a consideration of the merits shows how far off the mark the DA’s self-serving characterizations are.

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In events reminiscent of the gun control hearings of the 90s, council members in Boston are considering putting more restrictions on the sale of pocket knives to fight the high rates of knife crime in the city.

According to Knife Rights, which sent a representative to speak at the hearings, Boston lawmakers are thinking about licensing the sale of knives because there have been more than 1,300 knife attacks over the past two years. Instead of going after the criminals, the logic here is to go after the “weapon” and make it harder for people to get.

Here’s an excerpt of what Knife Rights representative and Executive Director of Gun Owners’ Action League Jim Wallace said at the hearing:

“I urge the City Council to review what it is about to do and reflect on the failures of gun control,” said Wallace. “Over a decade ago I had to testify before committees in the state house with grieving families in the background. Now I sit before you a decade later with grieving families behind me again. If you proceed down this path and get it wrong again, ten years from now we will likely repeat this scene yet again.”

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It’s tragic when there’s an article in which a pocketknife could have led to the story being featured in our Knives Save Lives series. Unfortunately, what happened on a Los Angeles Freeway a week ago did not end as well as the other stories.

According to the Los Angeles Times, which we found via Knife Rights, an 11-month-old girl died in a burning car Aug. 28 after no one on the scene had a knife to cut her out of a car seat.

An SUV crashed into a stopped Nissan Altima on the freeway, which caused the vehicle to burst into flames with a woman and child inside. Nearby neighbors heard the crash and screams, so they immediately headed over to the area that sees quite a number of accidents.

According to the article, Salvador Martinez went to the scene and saw a curly-haired child in the backseat with flames quickly growing. Others tried to help out by tossing buckets of water on the flames and looking for a water hose, but it was to no avail. The fire was not dying.

Martinez broke the window and tried to pull her out, but the seat wouldn’t budge and the fire was searing his arms. He yelled for a knife or scissors, but no one on the scene had anything. By the time someone came back with a knife, it was too late.

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A Chicago elementary school teacher is being charged with possessing a weapon at school after he was teaching his class about garden-variety tools and displayed a box-cutter and small pocket knife to students, according to The Rutherford Institute.

The story, which was brought to our attention courtesy of Knife Rights, is an example of the “zero tolerance” policy gone too far. The public school teacher was giving a lesson to his second graders on “tool discussion,” which is part of the curriculum, when he showed the class examples of such tools as a 2.25-inch pocket knife, box cutter, screwdriver, pliers and wrench.

There’s no doubt it could have been a potentially dangerous and irresponsible situation if he passed them around to students, but he kept them out of students’ hands and merely displayed them as part of the lesson. Doug Bartlett, a 17-year veteran teacher, now faces strict disciplinary action and even possible termination because of his thorough lesson on widely used tools.

Attorneys of the Rutherford Institute, which is a strong advocate of free speech and constitutional rights, sent a letter insisting that disciplinary action against Bartlett be stopped immediately.

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Beef. It’s what’s for dinner, or in the case of competitors at the Texas Roadhouse Meat Cutting Competition, it’s their life’s work. Each year, the Texas Roadhouse Meat Cutting Competition hosts meat cutters across the country in a series of competitions to pick the nation’s best meat cutter.

In the video below, which was filmed at a semifinal event in Louisville, KY, earlier in the year, contestants had an hour to carve four muscles up into nine different cuts.  Many confessed to having butterflies and being flustered by the high-intensity event, which will feed into a final competition where the winner will walk away with $20,000.

Check out the video below.  Do you think your meat carving skills would match up to this crew of carvers?