Swiss army knife now available without the knife | Hacker News Reader

Swiss army knife now available without the knife

bloomberg.com

I object to the characterization of a pocket knife as a weapon. They are tools first and foremost. First of all they are pretty much useless as a self defense weapon and going around stabbing people is already illegal.

I used my pocket knife three times today.

1. Cutting open that thick packing tape that you cant just rip off.

2. Cutting an apple into slices (to make sure its not a grenade) because I like apples in slices

3. Shaving off some excess paint on the edge of a light switch because it was annoying and gummy

Not being legally allowed to do these things because 80s gangster movies convinced people that criminals carry knives is just ridiculous. Donate to KnifeRights !

Tell that to Mohammad Metin Mladen Murat 'Messerstresser' !

( https://www.deepl.com/translator#de/en/Messerstresser )

I broadly agree with you, but all of those things are generally done inside the home, and I don't think anywhere legislates that you can't have a knife at home.

The first and third examples were in the office and the second examples was on a hike on a public trail.

https://archive.ph/39R8w

It would be great to have one that could pass through TSA. I use my Victorinox Rambler daily and it’s amazingly useful while traveling.

When I was about 15 I took a proper sword on a bus. The bus conductor looked a bit uncomfortable. No lives were lost.

The laws about this are weird in many places. I’ve been on the subway in New York with Coney Island sword swallowers and martial arts practitioners openly carrying swords, but the switchblade laws are strict enough to encompass a lot of normal tools nobody would bring to a fight, and a lot of people do get charged under them.

Countries banning a basic tool of civilization. It's a pretty pathetic state of affairs.

My pocketknife gets used literally every day, for one thing or another. Am I supposed to go knap some flint? Or will they outlaw rocks, next?

Maybe. My guess is that next they will outlaw the word "knife" along with all its synonyms.

A surgeon or chef will say ... hand me that thing, the they, that has sharpness.

Really? Because if government listened to surgeons and emergency docters then roller skates and trampolines would be the first in line to be banned (ESPECIALLY the ones that only encompass the feet, and don't have reinforcement going up to the knees). They have a nasty habit of causing incredibly bad injuries, often in kids.

> My pocketknife gets used literally every day, for one thing or another. Am I supposed to go knap some flint? Or will they outlaw rocks, next?

In most countries the rules seem mostly reasonable (on paper atleast) - In the UK you can carry a pocketknife if the blade is less than 3" (and its not a flick/quick open knife) and larger knives if you have "good reason" - a chef going to work, carpenter, workman etc. but not for defence when going to a night club in the city at night.

> Or will they outlaw rocks, next?

If there was an increasing spate of rock attacks on city streets, they would probably be outlawed unless you had good reason to be carrying them with you.

If you lock 1000 people in a building with nothing but bananas and hammers, no guns or knives, there would still be murders and they would all be by hammer.

There is always a most-selected tool or means, regardless what objects you try to control, regardless what the menu of available tools is. Removing the top of the list today does not change the murders.

It's completely stupid and only disadvantages the victims and good bystanders, and does not disadvantage the violent.

So why do violent murder rates vary so much then?

> Removing the top of the list today does not change the murders.

The UK has .99 homicides recorded per hundred thousand population.

The US has 6.4 homicides recorded per hundred thousand population.

Your assertion doesn't match reality.

I once asked a friend of a friend (who did graphics for the local birdseed press) to produce a map of homicides committed by children (up to the age of 5?), broken down by local political division.

She presented me the expected map full of blanks (along with a comment that luckily 0 is the same even without correcting for population, which would've been the proper way) and asked why I'd want such a silly thing.

Then I showed her the same map of the US by state, complete with non-0 data.

Hour ahead of you [0] (3 points, 3 comments)

[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40282281

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