Today's Wall Street Journal Article

[Appler]

Section B, top story: "How New, Deadly Pocketknives Became a $1 Billion Business."

Not flattering, and disappointing from the Journal.

First draft of my letter to the Editor:

"Ok, now I am worried.

When the Wall Street Journal, one of the last enclaves of common sense, begins to fan the flames of safety paranoia, it is time to worry. Regarding your article on new and "deadly" pocket knives, I am saddened that it was never once mentioned that much of what earns a pocket knife the foolish “tactical” label are the things that make it user-friendly. Pocket clips replacing belt sheaths, one-hand-opening replacing microscopic nail-nicks, and high-tech composites replacing fragile, heavy, and possibly in-humane natural materials (bone and antler, for example) are all evolutions the have helped make humankind’s oldest tool into a better tool. Ask my co-workers who are rendered helpless in the presence of a simple sealed box if a knife is ever helpful.

The fact is, rarely is a folding knife used for premeditated offense, at least no more than a hammer or bare hands. Frankly, if you were raised wrong and want to live a life of crime, you use something a little bigger, a little more menacing, and something that is a little less intimate.

There’s a wagon going around of people who wish to eliminate every possible way for us to hurt ourselves or each other, even if that means making life harder than it once was. If they get their way, the citizenry will be eating smashed tomatoes on their salads and everything will be held together with glue. It certainly saddens me to see the Journal hop that bus.

This pervasive fear of everything and each other is suffocating our dignity."

[rcbalt2]

I like how they have to add the word deadly. Sure its not really needed, but it makes for a hell of a read. Its just sensationalist journalism at work. Good reply by the way.

[brainus]

Good letter, make sure to send it in.

[Ruud]

Before I decide to make up my mind about this article, has anyone actually read it? As I haven't, could someone who has read it give some sort of summary of what is said?
I mean, it seems a bit foolish to get all excited about something you haven't actually read. So for now I'll reserve judgment.

Best regards,
Ruud

[markg]

I once heard that screwdrivers were the most common stabbing tool...

I say we do this...

-Let's all take some golf clubs, and go out and beat at least 2 people with them... Maybe they will ban the "sport"

-I am sure I can find something from Pampered Chef to stab or slash someone with... Dear God!!! Imagine all the terrorists that are planning Pampered Chef parties!!! Ban them this instance!

-Don't terrorists use transportation for their terrorists acts. Let's ban planes, trains, cars, and buses. When was the last time you heard of a "horse bomb?"

-If we banned hip-hop, MTV, Video Games, and the Maury Show... I think we just might save society.

Just remember, I have a Spyderco Cricket... Be afraid, very afraid... :rolleyes:

[Lost Jaguar]

Appler--superb letter! I think that the term "nail-nick" might be a little esoteric, but I can think of no better alternative.

I haven't read the article, but if you describe it correctly, it's part of a worrisome trend that has washed onto our shores from some fearful and tyrannical cultures abroad.

Or it's another domestic manifestation of the dreadful, universal human tendency to seek safety in the refuge of an overlord's castle.

Didn't the majority of our ancestors come to this land to get away from lords and barons, despite the risks inherent in self-sufficiency?

[rcbalt2]

Why are we so worried about knives its the carrots that we shoud worry about
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=413975

[SoCal Operator]

Does the article mention that a lot of knife attacks are done with kitchen knives? Think about it from a thief's standpoint: their big, pointy, and in every house in the country. If they ban pocket knives because of this, I'm going to start carrying a kitchen knife. Thumbs down to the Wall Street Journal for scare tactics and back-asswards thinking.

[FRIZ]

The Wall Street Journal
July 25, 2006; Page B1

How New, Deadly Pocketknives - Became a $1 Billion Business
By MARK FRITZ

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115379426517016179.html

A decade ago, Jim Ray brought together a champion martial artist, a former Navy Seal and a police-weapons specialist to draft designs for what he hoped would be the perfect pocketknife.

But the high-tech knives the team created were never meant to whittle sticks. Instead, the team produced knives whose blades could be flicked open with one finger faster than the widely outlawed switchblade -- but were still perfectly legal. "Nobody wanted to call it a weapon" at the start, says Mr. Ray, a former proprietor of a North Carolina tourist shop. But eventually, he adds, "that changed." And soon Mr. Ray and the company he formed, Masters of Defense Inc., were marketing the blades' utility when "shooting is just not appropriate."


The knives have ergonomic grips and are compact -- and they can inflict deadly damage.
Mr. Ray was a pioneer in a technological revolution that has transformed "tactical" knives -- originally used in military combat -- into a $1-billion-a-year consumer business, aimed at just about anyone in the market for a small knife. These 21st century pocketknives, with their curved, perforated or serrated blades and ergonomic grips, can inflict deadly damage, but they are also compact, easily concealed and virtually unregulated.

In March, a monthly FBI bulletin alerted law-enforcement agents nationwide to "the emerging threats" posed by the knives. Though there are no statistics on how many crimes have involved tactical-style knives, the FBI says knife-related crimes have edged up, to 15.5% in 2004 from 15% in 2000. In that time, violent crime in general dropped 4.1%.

The knives' popularity has been a boon to some retailers. Mike Janes, owner of Second Amendment Sports, a hunting, fishing and camping superstore in Bakersfield, Calif., says that knife sales have been climbing an average of 25% a year in the past decade and that 75% of the pocketknives he sells are tactical. "Are you tacti-cool? That's what we say down here," Mr. Janes says.

Dave Vanderhoff, who runs U.S. Martial Arts in Clifford, N.J., recently taught a knife-fighting class that included a judge, a banker, a nurse, a young woman with a belly ring and a French chef from Manhattan. And Spyderco Inc., for example, makes a tactical knife that, when folded, masquerades as a credit card.

But the marketing techniques for some of the new pocketknives aren't so mainstream. Cold Steel Inc. makes the ¾-ounce "Urban Pal," which has a 1.5-inch blade. "The Urban Pal should be standard equipment for survival in today's urban jungle," its Web site says.

Lawyers for the tactical-knife industry have persuaded government officials that even minor manual movement -- no matter how enhanced by levers and springs -- separates the knives from switchblades, which require pressing a button on the handle to flip open the blade. "We have to resist the application of the 1950s switchblade laws to the new technology," says lawyer Daniel Lawson, a knife collector in Pittsburgh who represents the tactical-knife industry. Thirty-seven states now outlaw switchblades, partly because they developed a cult following among teenagers in the 1950s. But, says David Kowalski, a former knife magazine editor and a spokesman for the industry, tactical knifes have remained legal because "the laws across the U.S. are a mishmash because [legislators] really don't know anything about knives."

Modern tactical knives are rooted in the 1980s, when some martial artists in the U.S. became practitioners of a Filipino style of knife-fighting. An early innovator was Ernest R. Emerson, a martial artist and custom knife builder. In 1995, Oregon's Benchmade Knife Co. collaborated with Mr. Emerson to mass produce the Closed Quarters Combat 7 knife. It opened quickly, locked in place and could be closed with one hand.

Mr. Emerson, 51 years old, says he insisted on selling that knife for $159, believing the high price, performance and custom look would give it cachet. The knife was a hit, and competition got hot. Mr. Emerson formed his own company in 1997 and says annual sales rose to about $10 million last year from $800,000 at the start.

Worried that they might face regulatory scrutiny, makers of the new-style pocketknives formed the American Knife and Tool Institute. The trade group credits U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, with persuading U.S. Customs in 2001 to stop seizing shipments of one-hand-opening tactical knives that some investigators considered switchblades. A spokesman for Sen. Wyden, Andrew Blotky, says he can't confirm the senator's involvement.

Soon the upstarts who dominated the self-defense market were jolting the traditional knife industry. Buck Knife Co., a staple among sportsmen; W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery, famed for its collectible pen knives; and Leatherman Tool Group Inc., which makes pocket-sized tool kits, have all introduced tactical knives since 2003.

"It's a testosterone thing," says Buck's chairman, Charles "Chuck" Buck, 75 years old, who estimates the retail market for tactical knives at $1 billion.

Leatherman Tool Group jumped on the tactical-knife bandwagon in 2005, introducing a full line of tactical-type knives. The most prominent feature on its knives is the "Blade Launcher" mechanism, which lets the user flip a menacing-looking blade out of its handle with lightning speed. Yet it also has a bottle-cap opener, a nod to Leatherman's heritage.

Not all makers of tactical knives agree on how to market them. Buck, for example, boasts in marketing materials about the "stopping power" of its tactical knives and bills its "Bones" knife as "bad to the bone."

But Tom Arrowsmith, chief executive of W.R. Case, accuses competitors of "weaponizing" the pocketknife and says it's an approach his company won't take. He does concede, though, that customer demand has prompted his company, a 117-year-old maker of pretty penknives, to offer a line of one-hand-opening knives with tactical features.

The blades on most of the new pocketknives are less than four inches long, the maximum length that passengers were permitted to carry onto U.S. airlines before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In 2004, the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks concluded that the hijackers in those attacks used short knives -- not box cutters -- to seize control of the planes. At the Pennsylvania crash site, 14 badly damaged knife parts were collected, and at least half have tactical-knife characteristics. But the FBI cautions that it can't be sure those parts are from knives that belonged to the hijackers.

Technology has made blade length almost irrelevant. The city of Atlanta prohibits people from carrying pocketknives in public with blades longer than two inches. Yet, in a widely publicized case, ex-Marine Thomas Autry used a two-inch blade in May to kill one mugger and wound another when he was confronted by five assailants armed with a shotgun and a .38-caliber pistol.

"Clearly we are seeing wounds you would expect from a bigger blade from what victims say was a small knife," says Andrew Ulrich, a Boston Medical Center emergency-room doctor.

Mr. Janes of Second Amendment Sports is one of several retailers who have added knife training to their businesses. He says "this large influx of people carrying 'tactical folders' didn't know how to use them."

Nicholas Nobella, 25, took a four-hour class at the Bakersfield shop. Several months later, he admitted to police that he stuck his tactical knife into stripper Edward Pedrosa, 24, during a melee that broke out when men attending a bachelor party raided a bawdy bash for the bride-to-be, says Kern County, Calif., Deputy District Attorney Matt Magner. Mr. Pedrosa died. Mr. Nobella's lawyer says his client was acting in self-defense.

Mr. Janes says Mr. Nobella isn't typical of the students at his knife classes.

Meanwhile, in the race for the next big thing, some companies are competing to make more durable ceramic and plastic knives that can pass through metal detectors. Plastic "assisted-opening" knives that flick open with a slight nudge of the blade can be purchased on eBay for $20.

Cold Steel sales director Rick Valdez describes the company's $15 "Night Shade" plastic knives as "letter openers." Nonetheless, the company's Web site has a film clip of men attacking slabs of meat and decapitating plywood people, and it notes that the knives can be "taped just about anywhere" on the body.

Write to Mark Fritz at mark.fritz@wsj.com1

[The Mastiff]

Not to be alarmist but our congressmen aren't always exempt from sensationalist trends about anything from Steroids in sports to the latest "we must ban..." idea. There is always one around. An example was the switchblade laws in the 50's that were rooted in fear produced by a few movies about bike gangs terrorizing people with switchblades.

Not always logical but we vote these guys in office. The newspapers can't hurt us. Our congressmen can. Think before you vote, and send letters when they displease you.

To be honest I think they'll go after .50 caliber rifles, "assault rifles" again, high capacity pistols, body armor in civilian hands and a few other things before they get to lock blade knives.

Us gun collectors have been reading these type articles for years. No big deal IMO. Joe L.

[argyll]

Did you catch this line:


Spyderco Inc., for example, makes a tactical knife that, when folded, masquerades as a credit card

WTF? Oh yeah, it would be so easy to mistake one for the other :mad:

Best regards,

Argyll

[Puyallupknifegu]

Appler,

I like your reply. It is a good way to show the Wall Street Journal that the knife collecting/carrying community are intelligent members of society and that we don't disagree with someone by sticking them with our "tactical" pocket knives.

I live in Washington state near Tacoma, an hour or so south of Seattle. The local newspaper just in the last two weeks had an article about the City of Tacoma trying to ban the sale of automatic knives, (currently illegal in WA to posess unless military or LEO), butterfly knives, (illegal to carry, but not to collect), and "waved" knives, although they didn't exactly describe the wave correctly. They described it as being able to open from a sheath. I don't believe there was any mention of a pocket.

My question is this: If they are trying to ban "more dangerous guns", and tactical knives etc..., how long before the teaching of any martial art becomes illegal??? :eek:

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Tim

[STR]

My letter went like this:

Mark.

As a knife maker I am a bit upset with your one sided view of one hand opening pocket clip equipped folding knives. The one handed opening folder is not something new or even from the 80s. Its been around much longer although it picked up popularity during that time. I made my first one hand opening folder in the early 70s.

There are plenty of 'working men and women' out in the public that carry and use a one hand opening and closing convenient to carry folder for daily work tasks and not for tactical reasons or self defense. For people like myself that often get into situations where one hand is tied up or holding a piece I'm working on it is a necessity these days to be able to pull out your knife open it use it and close it before slipping it back on or in your pocket. Going back to the old way of having to get your knife out and open it with both hands or give it to your partner to open it for you would be like trying to go from high speed cable back to dial up connections on the internet. The one hand opening folders have their place and not all one hand opening pocket clip equipped knives are tactical or sold as tactical.

If you are going to write an article showing one side of the coin to the readers by showing what companies like Cold Steel are doing to make a sale you should really include views from the other side for the readers also and make as much of an attempt to be even in your scrutiny on both sides. The obvious leaning slant to your take on folding knives says loudly and clearly that the Wal Street Journal is taking an anti knife stance here. I for one find that completely unacceptable and to be perfectly honest surprising. What next? I guess we can expect some anti gun articles from you too then? .

Steve Rice
Bartlesville Oklahoma

[riot77]

I once heard that screwdrivers were the most common stabbing tool...

I say we do this...

-Let's all take some golf clubs, and go out and beat at least 2 people with them... Maybe they will ban the "sport"

-I am sure I can find something from Pampered Chef to stab or slash someone with... Dear God!!! Imagine all the terrorists that are planning Pampered Chef parties!!! Ban them this instance!

-Don't terrorists use transportation for their terrorists acts. Let's ban planes, trains, cars, and buses. When was the last time you heard of a "horse bomb?"

-If we banned hip-hop, MTV, Video Games, and the Maury Show... I think we just might save society.

Just remember, I have a Spyderco Cricket... Be afraid, very afraid... :rolleyes:
That was one of the funniest damn threads I think I have ever read!!!

[riot77]

DARN :eek: threads!!! Sorry families out there :confused:

[Senate]

the only shocking thing for me was :

Mr. Emerson formed his own company in 1997 and says annual sales rose to about $10 million last year
holy cow, I got to start making knives!!!! :D

[markg]

What I find most troubling about the story, is the idea that someone has created a "tactical blade" that is around 2 inches, yet inflicts wounds far graver than a larger one?!?!

Does the man have some snake oil to sell us?

[JD Spydo]

This is just another clue that the main thrust of the "Powers That Be" have a long term goal of disarming all of us. England for instance is in some kind of legislative battle over kitchen/butcher knives. I have even heard that there is talk of licensing such knives over in the British Isles :( .

I agree with what Mastiff said about the fact that this is in one respect nothing more than a re-hash of anti-weapon sentiment that all of us have been fighting for several years now. These trends are not going to die out anytime soon either. We as Sportsmen/women and hobbiests/afficionados are just going to have to get organized. So many of these current groups who claim and pretend that they are lobbying for our cause are nothing more than "controlled opposition" and I think most of you know exactly who I am referring to. If not PM me and I will share it with you.

Another disturbing thing about this is that most people think because we have a quote/unquote conservative president who a lot of us think is automatically on our side>> that is the furtherist thing from the truth. To prove it just ask yourself what if anything has his administration done to "UN-DO" some of this draconian legislation that the previous administration perpetrated on us.

We have all been lulled to sleep to large degree ( present company included) and we all need to get active. I plan on E-mailing the leadership of the AKTI which is a "Pro Knife" organization I belong to about this atrocious article. I encourage all of you to immediately write them if you feel led to and if nothing else just simply cease to purchase their rag ( newspaper). If enough of us put the pressure on our representatives in this election year I think we have an opportunity to be heard and hopefully stymie some of this insanity. I am so thankful that our good brother discovered this article and called it to our attention. With our precious liberties being whittled away constantly when we the people never did any of this recent terrorism to begin with. We need to be proactive and try to get active in at least one area of this fight to keep what liberties we have left. It's up to us the people to bring this to the forefront and get in their faces. If we lose all of our GOD-GIVEN rights to self defense and the rights to bear arms of all types then this place will turn into a cesspool in short order. GOD help us all :(

[Manix Guy 2]

Sad so sad , but expected as well . We see a lot of over the top advertising in the knife market that can frighten non knife types and and for lack of better words disgust users . Positive rebuttal is the only answer . As some one has already said the most common knife used in an attack is most of the time a kitchen knife , I read about it all the time . The stats would show it also , funny there was no break down of knives used when committing a crime . Just like firearms , lowlifes do not go out and spend a lot of bucks on any weaponry unless stolen .

[STR]

This way of thinking has no end in sight. Its gotten to insane levels in Europe already and to a large extent in Australia also. If we are going to be so ridiculous now in the USA to hop on that same train, to stoop to this kind of idiocy in our leadership, our society and our media then we may as well go all the way and ban forks and spoons and all other kitchen wares because everyone knows that they are the direct cause of obesity.

STR

[David Lowry]

Here's the letter that I just sent to the Editor and the writer of the article.

------------------------------
Mark,

I read your article. First off, I'd like to say it's a very good and well written article.

It would be nice to see the WSJ write an article showing the good side of cutlery.

I'm 33 years old, and am a husband and a father of a 3 year old daughter. I have probably about 20 Victorinox Swiss Army Knives and 5 of what you may call "Tactical" knives. I prefer the models that Benchmade and Spyderco make.

Cold Steel sometimes overdoes things a bit when it comes to using knives for self defense. I don't own a knife to use for self defense. The Benchmade knives that I do own have 3" to 3.5" blades, and can be opened with one hand. Each knife however costs about $115 each. I love the craftsmanship of the knives. I love the type of steel used in the blade and seeing how each type performs differently. Some of the common types of steel are 154CM, CPMS30V, VG-10, ATS-34, H-1, 440C.

Knives are one of the first things that man ever created and mastered. Forbes recently had an article on the top 20 most important things ever made. The knife was in that list. I carry a knife with me every day. My knife may look different than my father's knife or his father's knife but I use it the same way. I open boxes, peel apples, open envelopes, whittle, carve wooden spoons, cut plastic ties, cut open those hard clam shell packs surrounding everything that you buy these days, and so on. I could compose a list of about 50 things that I use my knife for regularly. None of which involve harm to other people.

I don't hunt, I'm an animal lover and I don't own a gun. I am a network analyst working for a large hospital in Ohio. The guys I work with often want to borrow my knife for their daily tasks because they now see how useful it is. I am not sure what has happened to our society but 20 years ago everyone carried a knife. It was no big deal and people used them as the tool that they are. That's all I use mine for too. I just like mine because it looks and feels nice and it fits my hand better (because it's a little bigger than the older type slip joint knives). I have cut myself with slip joints (that don't lock) which is why I prefer trusting my fingers to a blade that locks when I need to use it.

I fail to see how average people can function without a knife. I have seen people on a daily basis trying to bite packing tape in half or open boxes with their keys. Good luck opening those hard plastic clam shells that are form fitted around everything you buy these days. Sometimes those things are so hard that it's difficult to cut them with scissors.

A lot more people than you might realize carry and use knives daily. It's part of my "EDC" (every day carry). I'm civilized, and advanced, and since God didn't give me claws or sharp teeth I carry a knife. He gave me a brain and I choose to use tools that make my life easier. A knife is one of them. If I wanted to use or carry something to defend myself I would get a concealed carry license and carry a gun. I don't however. I don't want to defend myself with a knife. I want to use it as the tool that it is.

I have had LEO's (law enforcement officers) ask "is that a knife?" when they see one clipped to my pocket and I'm out in public. This has happened a few times and every time the officer just wanted to see it and ended up admiring it. We would then talk a bit about knives and then each would go our separate way again. This was just in a casual environment where I would just run into an officer. Mostly it's when I attend our local Irish festival or October fest. It's all about how you carry yourself. If you are brandishing a knife and looking for trouble you'll find it quickly. If you take a knife out to use it and then put it back like the tool that it is you'll get no trouble at all.

Please make some effort if you can to shed some light on the good side of knife owning and cutlery. I do believe that most knife related crime is also committed with kitchen knives. Nobody ever seems to be too worried about the 9 inch chefs’ knife sitting on kitchen counter tops in a wooden block.

I challenge you to carry a knife, even a Swiss Army Knife, for 2 weeks and see if you don't find it useful. I'll even send you one if you will take up my challenge and give me an address to send it to.

I wish you a great week and I hope you can see knives a little differently after reading this.

Sincerely,
David Lowry

[smcfalls13]

Well said David.

[ronin203]

I agree with you 100%. Great letter. I need to get the journal to read the whole article. Maybe we all should write letters. ;) :spyder:

[Blades]

I'm going to send an email asking how many people die in car accidents. Do they ban cars?? I'm going to ask if he knows how many people have been saved when they had a knife to cut something free/loose/off??
Just an idea.




Blades

[riot77]

Good job David! :)

[Blades]

I just sent a nice quick email, and asked Mark for his address. I have a knife I would like to send him. I told him to carry it for 2-3 weeks, and then send it back to me. We'll see what he says. Now I have to decide what knife to send if he says yes. :)



Blades

[Vincent]

Knives will be illegal everywhere pretty soon, Im guessing witin 20 years even kitchen knives in the home will not be allowed.

but I will always carry

[SoCal Operator]

And Spyderco Inc., for example, makes a tactical knife that, when folded, masquerades as a credit card

Yea, my credit card is a completely unmarked piece of metal with a friggin' hole in the middle. What kind of moron does their research?

[David Lowry]

I just sent a nice quick email, and asked Mark for his address. I have a knife I would like to send him. I told him to carry it for 2-3 weeks, and then send it back to me. We'll see what he says. Now I have to decide what knife to send if he says yes. :)



Blades

So my offer to him wasn't good enough? ;)

[Axlis]

Great responses from those who've sent letters, God Bless You All!

I would hate to commit a crime by carrying a knife if it ever became illegal in our country, but oh well...

I am far too irritated/tired to pour my thoughts into a letter right now, and it would be quite nasty. :mad:

Don't worry though, they'll get one from me too.

[rcbalt2]

Yea, my credit card is a completely unmarked piece of metal with a friggin' hole in the middle. What kind of moron does their research?

I was thinking the same thing. And if its in your wallet how could you actually get to it fast. That and its not even made anymore

[peacefuljeffrey]

That is a phenomenally good letter, Appler. Quite worthy of being published, that's for sure. And even though it's a bit longer than the standard letter to the editor, The WSJ is known for giving extra space to the good, articulate ones.

I don't get the opportunity to read the WSJ every day. Mostly I enjoy their editorials/letters more than any other part (I'm not much into business). They're sort of good for watching upcoming technology, too. Was it Bill O'Reilly or Neal Boortz who said recently on the radio that the WSJ has a conservative-leaning op-ed page but overall the paper is left-leaning... Oh well.

Could you send me the text of the article somehow, like in a PM? I'd appreciate the chance to see what they said.

Once again, very nice job on your letter.

-Jeffrey

[David Lowry]

....Could you send me the text of the article somehow, like in a PM? I'd appreciate the chance to see what they said.....

FRIZ posted it here:

http://spyderco.com/forums/showpost.php?p=272384&postcount=9

[peacefuljeffrey]

These 21st century pocketknives, with their curved, perforated or serrated blades and ergonomic grips, can inflict deadly damage, but they are also compact, easily concealed and virtually unregulated.

I thought that at this point, Fritz would trot out the old line that, "teddy bears are under more consumer safety regulations" than these knives. :rolleyes:


In March, a monthly FBI bulletin alerted law-enforcement agents nationwide to "the emerging threats" posed by the knives.

Oh, perps with knives is a new thing, and cops won't know about it unless the FBI sends out a bulletin? :rolleyes:


Dave Vanderhoff, who runs U.S. Martial Arts in Clifford, N.J., recently taught a knife-fighting class that included a judge, a banker, a nurse, a young woman with a belly ring and a French chef from Manhattan. And Spyderco Inc., for example, makes a tactical knife that, when folded, masquerades as a credit card.

What?! A judge and a nurse took a knife-fighting class?! You'd better strip them of their licenses to practice! They're obviously menaces to society!! :rolleyes:

And yeah, I'll bet this moron Mark Fritz, the article's author, is a sissified NYC sheeple who probably wouldn't have enough brain to tell a Spydercard from a credit card.

This kind of abject idiot probably wrote that line without ever having held, or seen in person, a Spydercard. Remember when lying idiot safety-nazis wrote that the GLOCK pistols could be taken undetected through airport metal detectors -- despite each one having over a pound of steel in them?! That kind of thing gets stated in articles for one of two reasons (or both): the author is utterly unfamiliar with the item about which he's writing (and thus has no business writing about it) or the author is pushing an agenda and has no problem lying about his subject to do so.

This POS Fritz is no better than Jason Blair of the New York Times. He should never be allowed to work in journalism again for this piece of fear-mongering trash.

Not fit to pick up dog crap. :mad:

-Jeffrey

[peacefuljeffrey]

Steve Rice
Bartlesville Oklahoma


Steve, your one mistake is telling this effete, elitist sheeple Mark Fritz that you are from anywhere but New York City, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. or Chicago.

You're from Oklahoma. You're an uneducated, unrefined, dangerous hick. Didn't you know? :rolleyes:

There's not much chance Fritz will consider any random three words you wrote once he realizes where you're from. :(

-Jeffrey

[peacefuljeffrey]

What I find most troubling about the story, is the idea that someone has created a "tactical blade" that is around 2 inches, yet inflicts wounds far graver than a larger one?!?!

Does the man have some snake oil to sell us?

I think the doctor who was quoted saying that went to Upstairs Medical College like Doctor Nick on The Simpsons... :rolleyes:

I'm no doctor, and I know that the stab wound inflicted by even a very short knife can penetrate a good number of inches of flesh due to the compression of the tissue as the pressure from the stab is applied. A two inch knife could easily penetrate 4, 6 inches of flesh if thrust hard, yes?

Sounds to me like the doctor is just ignorant, or trying to be alarmist.

-Jeffrey

[bpfsu]

Okay, I've just been all over Leatherman's website looking for the "menacing" bladed knife but can't seem to find it. Will somebody please be kind enough to help find this for me. I would like to add it to my collection along with my "lethal, tactical, deadly" Jester. Oh, and while I'm at it, I think I'll go blind somebody with the Photon attached to it.

BP ;)

[The Mastiff]

In honor of the author of the article I went out and bought another Spyderco. The Centofante 4 (66PBK4). A very nice knife I might add. Funny though, I can detect no emissions of evil emanating from it. Hmmm. Joe L.

[peacefuljeffrey]

I'm going to send an email asking how many people die in car accidents. Do they ban cars?? I'm going to ask if he knows how many people have been saved when they had a knife to cut something free/loose/off??
Just an idea.
Blades


There was that guy in Utah who had a boulder fall on him. He used a crappy multi-tool that had come free with a flashlight to sever his own arm to get himself free!

And it was discussed in articles I read, that the knife was crappy and dull. Imagine if he'd possessed a decent knife. Probably could have done the job with a lot less trauma, pain and mess if he'd had a Spyderco Military or some other "menacing, deadly" knife.

-Jeffrey

[peacefuljeffrey]

I just sent a nice quick email, and asked Mark for his address. I have a knife I would like to send him. I told him to carry it for 2-3 weeks, and then send it back to me. We'll see what he says. Now I have to decide what knife to send if he says yes. :) Blades


Please, people, let's not all start a stampede to send this guy a few dozen knives.

You don't get an article that ignorant from anyone who is anywhere near on the fence about knives, guns, weapons, self defense, etc. He is sure to be a rabid liberal who thinks anything more pointed than a chopstick is deadly and ban-worthy, and he was probably raised to ask a policeman for help to open a blister package from walmart. After all, the average citizen should not have access to anything sharp and dangerous.

The most likely thing that would happen would be he would bring the knives you send him to the nearest "buy-back" or other weapon destruction event, and they'd be melted down to make playground equipme... oh, wait, I forgot, they're pulling that stuff out of the schoolyards for being too dangerous, too. :rolleyes:


-Jeffrey

[STR]

If he is living in NY he should be more than aware that you can't judge a person by the address they give. I only live in Oklahoma. Settled here after being in the service and living in several states before this one. I'm from Maryland originally and grew up on the border of the Potomac River where it separates Maryland from West Virginia.

STR

[Dr. Snubnose]

All I can say about this article is PURE POPPYCOCK Somebody from the Wall Street Journal should interview Me! I'll tell em a thing or two....Doc :D

[Zac]

I feel that article is poorly researched and only the negatives displayed. I decided to write my own opinion and I think all of those in favor of preserving our rich hobby should by all means write.
My letter:




Dear Mr. Fritz;

Upon reading your well written article on 'tactical' knives, I have a few problems with it.

First, in my opinion, you do not clearly define what is a tactical knife. Does tactical imply combat ready? Does it imply one handed opening (these knives have been nicknamed 'gravity knives' which in my opinion is a poor idea as there are so many different opening and locking mechanisms)? Does it imply strength? There are in fact ratings on knives. MBC means Martial Blade Craft. This does not imply defense or 'deadliness' per say, but the strength of the locking mechanism itself that keeps the knife extended open from the handle. In the case of heavy knife users, a strong lock a must have, premium steels are a must too.

Second, you may have fallen somewhat for the marketing gimiks of a few companies, especially Cold Steel Knives, who has a DVD with the owner cutting huge chunks of meat to show the 'wrath' of the knives. These are rather cheaply made knives that are not designed for utility usage and even in real self defense situations, these scenarios are unlikely to unfold. The video can make these knives seem like offensive weapons also. Most respectible knife makers call their knive's tools, as do responsible users. 99.99999% of the time, a knife is a tool, and a very useful one at that. It is important to keep in mind that any object can become a weapon, and usually the knives that are offensive weapons are cheaper, Chinese made, and often illegal push buttons (AKA Autos or Switch Blades) bought at flea markets or on the black market. Criminals are not going to invest $200+ into a quality knife, especially given that past articles have reported that black market guns are cheap to purchase.

Thirdly, I feel you did not honor those in service. Firefighters and EMTs carry rescue knives, a tool designed to break class and cut seatbelts without harming the rescuee. They are fast and effecient. Fisherman and sailers carry hawkbills, often a scary looking knife, to make controlled and predictable cuts on rope, especially in emergency situtations. If you have ever had a rope caught around you, it becomes apparent how fast a knife needs to be accessed in order to cut a rope. Police, Armed Forces, and other Law Enforcement Officers carry knives that can be used from cutting a steak to being used as a life saving instrument. Many respectible knife companies make lines of knives designed specefically for those in service, give our men and women in service tremendous discounts, and even have drawings for free knives. Ask someone in Iraq about the importance of a good blade, and they will most likely give you a speech.

Finally, knives do save lives, and knives can be used for proper, fair, and legally established self defense. Recently, a skydiver had a problem with their main parachute and needed to cut through ballistic nylon which is a very tough material. The knife he chose to use it was the Spyderco Military, without a doubt this is a high end tactical knife, and the knife did exactly what it was made to do; cut. Nylon cut, life saved. While I would prefer not to go into deeper details, I work in a department that will often put me in harm's risk. Had I not have been carrying a knife this past June, I would be dead and not writing this letter.

In conclusion, a knife is one of the most basic tools, and it has evolved to a technological mountain in the past 25 years. Rarely does the public ever see the positives of these designs. Displaying knives in a mostly negative manner is something that will only reinforce negative stereotypes. Obviously, an unhappy response from knife collectors, like myself, will occur. I do not know if this letter will ever be read, but if it is, I appreciate it and would love to hear a response.

Sincerely;
Zachary P. Nickey
University of Maryland, Baltimore County

[dedguy]

i'm a 25 year old graphic designer and illustrator, i'm about as typical young crazy liberal as you could find. i have long hair, i like music no one else likes, and i hate the president. if i carry a knife every day as a tool then maybe there's hope eh? then again i do live in florida and most people 'round these parts i've noticed seem to have knives.

anyway that article at first i thought, "well okay they're doing an article specifically about the market growth of tactical knives. the title was just an attention grabber." upon reading the article i realized i'm a bit nieve at times. i do believe someone else already said poppycock, and that's exactly what that nonsense is. i remember when i first found out switchblades where illegal when i was about 15. i was floored, it made no sense to me. you can't even buy a switchblade legally unless you're an LEO (as far as i know) and yet you can buy a gun. never made any sense to me.

it's after 1am and i'm rather tired, sorry if i rambled on a bit or didn't make any sense.

night all!

[Zerileous]

heres mine

Mr. Fritz,
I am very disappointed in your article about folding pocketknives. Any knife is a tool, and most tools can be used to kill someone. Screwdrivers, hammers, crowbars, and just about any other tool can be used violently, but this doesn't negate the usefulness of the tool for benign purposes. Further, violent people will be violent regardless of the "weapons" available to them. Surely you realize the impracticality of banning any potential weapon.

One handed knives with pocket clips are exceedingly more practical than traditional pocket knives. These knives are also generally safer to use because of their ergonomic grips (which prevent a user's hand from slipping onto the blade), and locking mechanisms that prevent the blade from closing on a user's hand. Features such as curved blades and serrations are very practical aswell. Serrations allow a knife to stay sharp longer, rarely a concern for criminals looking for a disposable weapon. Curved blades are about the best thing out there for opening plastic packaging and give the user significantly more control of the cut; making the knife safer to use.

I use a Spyderco knife every day at work to break down boxes. Compared to a swiss army style knife, this deadly weapon defeats boxes with significantly less effort while requiring less time. Since I work in fast food, I rarely have time to waste breaking down boxes with an inferior tool (the food isn't fast on its own). Its large blade (over 3"), one handed opening, and carefully engineered ergonomics mean that I can break down a box in seconds instead of minutes. Further, since my hands are often slick with grease (not blood), I consider a secure grip mandatory for the safety of myself and my co-workers.

I urge you to portray the whole story next time, instead of the one that turns the most heads.

[Tohatchi NM]

I'm surprised no one pointed this out, but the "Tactical Knife" pictured at the beginning of the article is a blue Buck Metro :rolleyes:

For those of you not familiar: http://www.islandtactical.com/browseproducts/Buck-Metro--Whittaker--Blue.HTML

This would be hilarious if it wasn't so tragically ignorant. A $20, 1.13 inch borderline POS keychain knife is the evil tactical blade terrorizing out streets. I can't fathom the "Deadly Pocketknives" headline being matched with this picture. They could at least have had the decency to come up with something suitably pointy, black, and menacing for the article, and maybe even a muscular thug to wield it. Instead, they used a glorified bottle opener?!?!


Good letters, from all who wrote them. Just a personal quibble - education is good and getting even moderately technical is bad. This guy probably doesn't know a nail nick from the nick in his posterior and would run screaming if you pulled out your "deadly" Buck Metro. Second, make sure to spell check and grammar check anything you send in. No sense making a silly error and reinforcing the hick stereotype for some Manhattan editor or the Wall Street Journal readership.

Looks like we still have some work to do on spreading the EDC gospel!

[smcfalls13]

I'm surprised no one pointed this out, but the "Tactical Knife" pictured at the beginning of the article is a blue Buck Metro :rolleyes:

Are you kidding me? That's a novelty knife, not a weapon of mass destruction:eek:

Welcome to the Forum. :D

[Ruud]

@ FRIZ: Thank you very much for posting the actual content of the article. Now at least everybody can make up their own minds on this without having to guess what is said in it.

My .2 EUR:
I agree wholeheartedly with Manix Guy2. This article can come as no surprise to the knifebusiness. There simply are too many brands that use too much overhyped, overblown and completely ridiculous marketing bs to flog their knives. It's been annoying me ever since the start of the tactical knife selling pitch. It's not surprising that eventually the main stream media would pick up on this. And this is what you get for attracting attention to certain 'features' of knives.

If you're going to market a particular knife specifically as a weapon instead of a tool, and claim that it is intended for use by professional soldiers, law enforcement and what have you, highlighting certain features of that knife as making it a more efficient and 'deadly' weapon, don't be surprised if people start treating owners of such knives in the same way as a person wielding a 'real' weapon in a public place would be treated. That's what happens if marketing is succesfull. You get painted by the same brush. In fact, don't be surprised if some of it rubs off on all knife owners, even the ones with small harmless utility knives.

Marketing for some knives wants you to believe they are 'deadly weapons'. People then fall for this bs, buy the product, and then are surprised when other people, who have never seen anything larger than a SAK act scared or apprehensive about people carrying those black-coated-super-tactical-tanto-ninja-used-by-SEAL-'operators'-and other agencies-so- secret-we-are-forbidden-to-even-speak-their-name-in public-but-you-can bet-they-have-used-them-to-'covertly de-animate'-type blades. I would too. And I'm a knife person.

All in all, I can't say I found the article that offensive really. Apart from missing some of the subtleties that we 'knife people' pick up on, (such as Cold Steel marketing is a load of rubbish, and should in no way be considered representative for the business as a whole), it stated mostly facts, and very little 'opinion'. Sure, it presented facts in a way that would make you question the current trend, and maybe even question the need for regulation, but it did not explicitly make a case for any position. It presented the views of people from 'both sides'. And even Tom Arrowsmith of Case was quoted as being opposed to 'weaponizing' the pocket knife.

Maybe some makers would be wise to use this article to take a hint, and tone down some of their more offensive marketing. You can't seriously expect to be able to use these kind of selling strategies and then, when called on them, switch to the "oh but it's just a tool' defence without seeming a bit of a hypocrite as well as making all responsible knife owners and manufacturers look bad.

End rant.

All the best,
Ruud

[Ruud]

Steve, your one mistake is telling this effete, elitist sheeple Mark Fritz that you are from anywhere but New York City, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. or Chicago.

You're from Oklahoma. You're an uneducated, unrefined, dangerous hick. Didn't you know? :rolleyes:

There's not much chance Fritz will consider any random three words you wrote once he realizes where you're from. :(

-Jeffrey

edit; and I seem to have overlooked "moron", "sissified NYC sheeple", "abject idiot", "POS" and "not fit to pick up dog crap".
edit 2; missed "rabid liberal" the first time around.

Jeffrey,
Don't construe this as a personal attack in any way please, but I have to ask you;
Do you think it is wise to
- resort to namecalling when you disagree with someone, even if you have never met the guy in person?
- when it is unclear what, if any personal opinion on the subject the guy you attack has, and
- assume the guy will disregard anything somebody is going to say, based on the characterization you gave him earlier, again never having met the guy?

Somehow I don't think that acting this way is going to get you much respect from the guy on the opposing side, and it is - in my opinion - very doubtful if carrying on a discussion in this manner is going to create much respect, let alone acceptance for 'our' side of the story. It might very well do to the opposite.

Assume, for a moment, that this guy also has access to the Internet, and decides to do a little additional research, because he got so much letters from readers. Assume that he stumbles upon the Spyderco forum and reads your post, calling him - in effect - a snobbish nancyboy from the big city, who by definition won't take anything somebody from a less 'sophisticated' background says seriously. If it were me, that kind of personal attack would mean the discussion would be pretty much over, if that reaction was typical of the average person from the knife community.

The only way one can change someone's views, if at all, is by convincing them with arguments that they have it the wrong way, not by calling them names. And certainly not by anonimously doing so behind their back. At least, that's what I think, but I might be wrong.

Oh, and on a final note, it makes the forum look bad. I remember something was mentioned in TazKristi's Forum Rules about "you will not post any messages that are obscene, vulgar, sexually oriented, hateful, threatening, or otherwise violate any laws." And that's just the third paragraph. If you take the trouble to read a little further, you'll come across some other qualifications that apply to your postings.

If you care to comment, I am willing to hear your views on this.

Regards,
Ruud

[FRIZ]

Hi Ruud:
You are welcome.
Regards,
FRIZ :)

[Tohatchi NM]

Thanks for the welcome Scott - I realized that was my first post, even though I registered in '04. Go figure.

I agree that "tactical" marketing will come back to bite us in the a**. Good "tactical" features - ergonomics, one-hand opening, strong lock, cutting geometry, quality steel, blade length, etc. - are really more important general knife features, but you wouldn't know it from the ads. Unfortunately, I guess it's easier to market a tough image than ease in slicing cardboard or watermelon. I want a knife that's easy and safe to use, and well built enough to not fall apart when I really need it. I think those are basic requirements whether you're a SEAL, LEO, nurse, or kindergarten teacher. It makes sense when you hold and use a knife, but you can't really get the same info from an ad or even a demonstration (like the Cold Steel videos).

The part of the article about the ex-Marine is a bit sad, though. He's attacked by a well-armed group, and defends himself. This is not an example of "deadly" knives terrorizing the streets. Nobody should be in that situation, and he had the right to defend himself with whatever was at hand - be it a knife, gun, or #2 pencil. I'm sure skimming even a few weeks of police reports could've come up with an actual fatal knife attack (rather than self-defense) by an actual criminal. The stabbed dancer is a bit more in line with the article tone - dumb John on a testosterone rush gets carried away with his pseudo-army knife, but even there the circumstances aren't clear. It's quite possible that self-defense was justified, but we don't have enough information. More examples of poor research by this reporter.


<edit> By the way, I didn't mean to disparage the Buck Metro. Never used one, so I can't really condemn it. The bottle opener looks pretty functional, and there are plenty of sub-$20 gems out there, a la Ladybug or Opinel.

[boxer93]

Now I have to decide what knife to send if he says yes. :)

Blades
Calypso Jr Ltwt PE or the Walker Blue Alimite. If you need one let me know. I'll send you whatever color you want.
Chris

[SoCal Operator]

Good pick up about the Buck, Tohatchi, and welcome to the forums, again.
I don't know about you guys, but I had to change my pants after I saw that Buck. It just looked so deadly! I've already posted twice in this thread, but both times I had neglected to read every post, so I'd like to say now that I'm really impressed with the amount of action being taken here. Keep writing letters! Let's not take this sitting down!

[markg]

I would suggest not only sending letters to the author (that does little if anything), write letters to the editor. If the story is not well researched, or too sensationalized (keep in mind this is not the "Weekly World News" we are talking about) then the editor might think twice about this author or type of story.

On a related note... If this is a $1 billion dollar industry, and many of the companies he cites, make a lot of their product here (USA)... Then heck, why not drive another industry into the ground... Heck we have pretty much not actually made anything in this country for years anyway. I am sure the Spyderco, Benchmade, Case, Buck, Camillus empolyees would rather have nice jobs at Wendy's anyway... :rolleyes:

It might, however be a pain to cut the buns with a popcicle stick...

[Zac]

I'm surprised no one pointed this out, but the "Tactical Knife" pictured at the beginning of the article is a blue Buck Metro :rolleyes:

For those of you not familiar: http://www.islandtactical.com/browseproducts/Buck-Metro--Whittaker--Blue.HTML

This would be hilarious if it wasn't so tragically ignorant. A $20, 1.13 inch borderline POS keychain knife is the evil tactical blade terrorizing out streets. I can't fathom the "Deadly Pocketknives" headline being matched with this picture. They could at least have had the decency to come up with something suitably pointy, black, and menacing for the article, and maybe even a muscular thug to wield it. Instead, they used a glorified bottle opener?!?!


Good letters, from all who wrote them. Just a personal quibble - education is good and getting even moderately technical is bad. This guy probably doesn't know a nail nick from the nick in his posterior and would run screaming if you pulled out your "deadly" Buck Metro. Second, make sure to spell check and grammar check anything you send in. No sense making a silly error and reinforcing the hick stereotype for some Manhattan editor or the Wall Street Journal readership.

Looks like we still have some work to do on spreading the EDC gospel!

ROTFL!!! 420HC!!! OMG you have discovered Jurassic Park!

Our entire community puts that man's article to shame.

[Capt. Carl]

I had to change my pants after I saw that Buck. It just looked so deadly!

It might, however be a pain to cut the buns with a popcicle stick...

Hahaha. This thread is a goldmine of comedy! :D

[Blades]

So my offer to him wasn't good enough? ;)
:)
Your offer was fine. :) I just think we should all offer to send him a "test" knife. Or everybody can toss a knife in, and we will mail a box of knives to him to pass out around the staff at the paper.
I bet if he asked the people who "worked", and not the writers, he would find a few workers who carry knives.




Blades

[David Lowry]

:)
Your offer was fine. :) I just think we should all offer to send him a "test" knife. Or everybody can toss a knife in, and we will mail a box of knives to him to pass out around the staff at the paper.
I bet if he asked the people who "worked", and not the writers, he would find a few workers who carry knives.


Blades

Good thinkin'. I totally agree. ;)

[peacefuljeffrey]

Jeffrey,
Don't construe this as a personal attack in any way please, but I have to ask you;
Do you think it is wise to
- resort to namecalling when you disagree with someone, even if you have never met the guy in person?
- when it is unclear what, if any personal opinion on the subject the guy you attack has, and
- assume the guy will disregard anything somebody is going to say, based on the characterization you gave him earlier, again never having met the guy?

I have been around long enough to know the difference between a reporter or writer who was simply mistaken or didn't manage to collect all the facts he should have, but meant no harm, and a reporter or writer who has an obvious and shameless agenda and pulls out all the stops when it comes to bothering to conceal his bias.

The Fritz guy is an idiot; a liar; a yellow journalist; uninterested in facts or truth. You may not agree that I have justification for "knowing" this but that doesn't change the fact that I, and probably a good number of other people here, "know" it.

I don't have to have met the guy. I've seen his type infest news organizations all over the country, and indeed all over the world.



Assume, for a moment, that this guy also has access to the Internet, and decides to do a little additional research, because he got so much letters from readers. Assume that he stumbles upon the Spyderco forum and reads your post, calling him - in effect - a snobbish nancyboy from the big city, who by definition won't take anything somebody from a less 'sophisticated' background says seriously. If it were me, that kind of personal attack would mean the discussion would be pretty much over, if that reaction was typical of the average person from the knife community.

Well I'm sorry, that's my reaction. I stand firm in what I believe about this guy.

I think that what he wrote makes it unmistakable that he is given over completely to hysteria and paranoia.

If the man can't fathom the idea that no modern innovation makes any new 2" bladed knife function like a "much larger knife," and implies that the supposed increased lethality of our clipits is related to the fact that we can wear them on a pocket and open them with a thumb, then he aptly should be called a moron.

Frankly, the discussion was over when he printed outright garbage and nonsense under a banner of truth. Or do you also believe that a Delica is a terrorist's tool, and a 2" blade is menacingly dangerous?



The only way one can change someone's views, if at all, is by convincing them with arguments that they have it the wrong way, not by calling them names. And certainly not by anonimously doing so behind their back. At least, that's what I think, but I might be wrong.

I am not interested in changing this man's views because I think that people of his ilk are firmly entrenched in their ignorance. Do you think we'll ever change Chuck Schumer's or Ted Kennedy's minds about gun control?

At this point -- at some point -- you have to give up on changing their minds and simply oppose and discredit them for being so wrong.


If you care to comment, I am willing to hear your views on this.


I'm not sure if you realize how condescending that last line came off.


-Jeffrey

[dialex]

Thanks for the links and comments. Yet another crappy article trying to build the sensational out of $#it :( From the tone of the article you'd understand that a man attacked by five thugs (armed with knives and fireweapons) should not defend himself. Oh, and the small knives found in the debris of the 9/11 planes - does anyone believe that a whole plane can be scared by a terrorist holding a nailclipper? :eek:
As for the Spydercard thing... I could bet the guy didn't actually see one :rolleyes:

[cornelis]

There's nothing to fear but fear. Or is it paranoia?

[Ruud]

Jeffrey,

I am not attacking your views on this guys article. I see it my way, you see it your way, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. So far, nothing special, happens everyday.

What I am opposed to is the manner in which you choose to get your point across. Please let me explain what I mean by this.
In my opinion, anyone -including you and other people I happen to disagree with- may be as passionate about issues as they want, even going as far as to question the intelligence of people representing the other side of the issue.

But my original remark on the words you chose to use to get your point across still stands, and has not been answered. You crossed a line drawn by - amongst other things- the Forum Rules, by choosing to resort to namecalling, which is expressly forbidden in the forum rules, you chose to question this guys sexual orientation, which is -again- forbidden by the rules, and you made unproven assumptions about this guys political beliefs and character. I fail to see what you hope to accomplish by this, other than create the impression to outsiders that this forum is a place where the rules of common decency, courtesy and politeness apparently do not apply.

The language you chose to use is at the very least defamatory, abusive and vulgar. At worst, it borders on the illegal. Do you really need to go there to make a point that you can be pretty sure most people on this forum will agree with in some way or another?

Furthermore, you called him a liar. If this guy explicitly lied anywhere in his article, the decent thing to do would be to point out to us exactly where he has reported facts that plainly are untrue or used flawed reasoning to come to some kind of statement on the issue. I'm sure his bosses at the WSJ would be interested to hear that one of their highly paid writers is making things up, or has failed his logic class, especially after the Jason Blair affair. You haven't done that. If you want to attack this guy, at least do it with facts instead of swearwords.

Anyway, I don't expect this post will make any more of a difference to you than my last post, so I'll leave it at that. We can agree to disagree. If I seemed to be condescending in my previous post, that was merely because I tried very hard to avoid making this a personal issue. I seem to have failed in both that and in getting you to understand exactly what was inappropriate in your previous posts. But hey, don't take my word for it, just look it up in the rules, as I advised you to do in my previous post.

I don't plan to take this discussion any further because it does not seem that we are seeing things the same way, and it's not likely to change. I therefore ask that you do the same, to avoid that this forum becomes a place where people bicker about bs instead of banter about what they share.

Regards,
Ruud

[Dodo]

This is one of the down sides of capitalism, sensationalism in advertising. Several companies sensationize there knives for sales, then some journalist comes along and does the same thing to sell his/her article. I have never been a big fan of this type of advertising for the knife industry.

One thing that has always bothered me about journalists, they do some research that is rarely in depth, write an article and people think it has all of the facts. Then, a group of people have to become upset enough about the article to contact the editor, have him/her maybe print some type retraction or correction that few of the original readers will pay any attention to.

[peacefuljeffrey]

As for the Spydercard thing... I could bet the guy didn't actually see one :rolleyes:


If anyone read my comparison to the LIES spread about GLOCK pistols in the '80s, they understand why I suspect the exact same thing in both cases. One could not possibly -- in good faith -- construe the Spydercard as being able to masquerade as a credit card unless one was either utterly unfamiliar with it, or familiar with it but willing to lie to make his story have more "punch."


-Jeffrey

[peacefuljeffrey]

You chose to question this guys sexual orientation.

I did no such thing, and I couldn't be less concerned with his sexual orientation. Calling him a sissy or saying things about pansified relates, in my view, directly to whether he is a "man," and that has nothing to do with sexual orientation. It has to do with whether someone is wishy-washy and weak. You misconstrued my use of those terms based on your own paradigm, but it's no one's fault. People have different views about the usage of some terms, that's all.



The language you chose to use is at the very least defamatory, abusive and vulgar. At worst, it borders on the illegal.

Okay, the "illegal" part makes me just laugh. You may not have the grasp on libel laws that I have gleaned over time, though. You may not have the grasp on just how much of a burden there is on someone to prove they were libeled, especially when it is understood that a writer is offering personal opinion.



Furthermore, you called him a liar. If this guy explicitly lied anywhere in his article, the decent thing to do would be to point out to us exactly where he has reported facts that plainly are untrue or used flawed reasoning to come to some kind of statement on the issue.

What he wrote gave me what I believed I need to feel that he is dishonest -- absolutely. Do you think I'm the only one here who thinks he's dishonest (i.e. a liar)? Maybe they were gentler about saying it, less explicit, but I am hardly the only one who thinks he's a liar.



I'm sure his bosses at the WSJ would be interested to hear that one of their highly paid writers is making things up, or has failed his logic class, especially after the Jason Blair affair. You haven't done that. If you want to attack this guy, at least do it with facts instead of swearwords.

It's not my job to do that, first of all.
Second of all, I didn't use "swearwords." I used pejoratives. Since when is "moron" a swearword?? Please don't tell me that like Fritz you feel the need to inflate your side of a story to give it weight.


[quote[If I seemed to be condescending in my previous post, that was merely because I tried very hard to avoid making this a personal issue. I seem to have failed in both that and in getting you to understand exactly what was inappropriate in your previous posts.[/QUOTE]


The part that I thought was condescending was where you said you would be willing to listen to my response; it came off like I had to seek an audience with you and would be expected to feel honored that you would lower yourself to allow me the chance to explain myself, that's all.

I am no more interested in debasing this forum than you or anyone else is. The majority of what I contribute is worthy of calm discussion. In this case, the horribly unfair, alarmist, paranoid, hysterical article Fritz wrote warranted, in my view, a harsh review that was honest about how it made me view him.


-Jeffrey

[The Mastiff]

I'm with peacefull Jeffery on this. He's just calling it the way he sees it. He did nothing wrong.

American culture is more colorfull than some european ones perhaps. We certainly are more confrontational overall I'd think.

The bottom line is what Kristy, Sal, and Spyderco moderators think of any of our actions or words. Everybody else is an irrelevance.....including me. :) Joe L.

[Qboy]

I just emailed this to Mr. Fritz:

Dear Mr. Fritz:

I just read your article on tactical knives for WSJ. I wanted to pass on a few points. After reading your article, I did a spot of research at the U.S. Dept. of Justice:

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/wuvc01.pdf

This is a study on violent crime between 1993 and 2001 and, I believe, the source of some of your statistics. You will note that during that period, blunt objects and weapons other than knives and guns accounted for substantially more violent crime than knives and slighly more than guns. I suggest that your next expose be written on 'deadly blunt objects and improvised weapons.'

Seriously, though, you presented no evidence--nor am I aware of any--to suggest that 'tactical folders' are connected to a surge in knife violence. You give a couple of anecdotal examples. This is sloppy and not fitting for WSJ. Similarly, you cite data from one retailer to imply that knife sales are soaring.

Finally, I will note that the DOJ study showed that knives or other sharp objects were used in 6% of violent crime and 25% of all armed violence. This is a lot of violence related to knives, but you have taken these data way out of context. How much of this occurred with kitchen knives? Much like the media inspired reaction to switchblades and butterfly knives, you are creating an anecdotal case--with no actual evidence--that a certain kind of knife is inherently more dangerous. To wit, I have German friend--member of the military reserves--who entered the U.S. with his 9mm semi-automatic pistol and a pocketknife (a switchblade) with a 2.5" blade. At customs, he was amazed that the customs officers had no questions whatsoever regarding his handgun but lectured him sternly that automatic knives were banned and that he needed to send it home.

As a professional statistician, I will remind you of the famous quote from Benjamin Disraeli (the Prime Minister of the U.K. in 1868 and 1874-1880):

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics"

You have not even remotely approach the level of credit due to statistics through your use of sensationalism and andecdote. Shame.

[cornelis]

I did no such thing, and I couldn't be less concerned with his sexual orientation. Calling him a sissy or saying things about pansified relates, in my view, directly to whether he is a "man," and that has nothing to do with sexual orientation. It has to do with whether someone is wishy-washy and weak. You misconstrued my use of those terms based on your own paradigm, but it's no one's fault. People have different views about the usage of some terms, that's all.




Okay, the "illegal" part makes me just laugh. You may not have the grasp on libel laws that I have gleaned over time, though. You may not have the grasp on just how much of a burden there is on someone to prove they were libeled, especially when it is understood that a writer is offering personal opinion.




What he wrote gave me what I believed I need to feel that he is dishonest -- absolutely. Do you think I'm the only one here who thinks he's dishonest (i.e. a liar)? Maybe they were gentler about saying it, less explicit, but I am hardly the only one who thinks he's a liar.




It's not my job to do that, first of all.
Second of all, I didn't use "swearwords." I used pejoratives. Since when is "moron" a swearword?? Please don't tell me that like Fritz you feel the need to inflate your side of a story to give it weight.





The part that I thought was condescending was where you said you would be willing to listen to my response; it came off like I had to seek an audience with you and would be expected to feel honored that you would lower yourself to allow me the chance to explain myself, that's all.

I am no more interested in debasing this forum than you or anyone else is. The majority of what I contribute is worthy of calm discussion. In this case, the horribly unfair, alarmist, paranoid, hysterical article Fritz wrote warranted, in my view, a harsh review that was honest about how it made me view him.


-Jeffrey




Be a bit more like a grown up man Jeffrey, that's all !
Cor.

[Ruud]

@ Cornelis

Calling someone immature isn't really helping to raise the level of discussion much, at least that's what I think? Just saying this because experience tells me that these kinds of personal comments usually lead to a flamewar. Something I would hope we could avoid, and something I know for sure this forum can do without.

The matter at hand is still the article. The main talking point of the article is the way in which 'tactical' knives are being marketed to a wide audience, and the possible negative effects of that particular type of marketing.

I disagree with Jeffrey because he chooses to attack the messenger instead of the message, and because of the way he chooses to do so. He probably disagrees with me because he thinks the messenger has some type of agenda concerning regulating or banning 'tactical' knives, and is therefore being dishonest and thus 'fair game', whereas I think it's no more than merely a poorly written and probably hastily researched piece intended to fill some space in last week's newspaper. If there should be any reaction at all, it should be aimed at battling any misinformation created by the piece by pointing out the shortcomings of the article. But that's just my side.

However, we can agree to disagree. There is no need for anybody to get personal. And @Mastiff; Joe, you're absolutely right. If TazKristi finds no wrong with the language used, then I probably should neither.

OK. This really is the last time I post in this thread. Why did I even bother to get this carried away about an article in an American newspaper in the first place, I wonder? :confused: I'll go back to lurking for a while...

Regards,
Ruud

[peacefuljeffrey]

Be a bit more like a grown up man Jeffrey, that's all !
Cor.

While we are on the subject of admonitions, you might consider the fact that it is rude to quote an entire lengthy post when there is no necessity for doing so.


I wonder if, in addition to chastising me, you have jotted off a letter to Mr. Fritz admonishing him for writing a childishly dishonest diatribe of paranoia, misinformation, disingenuousness and hysteria under the guise of journalism. Hmm?

If anything is the sign of a not-grown-up man, it's palming off ugly bias as reporting, and that's exactly what Fritz is guilty of.


-Jeffrey

[peacefuljeffrey]

I disagree with Jeffrey because he chooses to attack the messenger instead of the message, and because of the way he chooses to do so. He probably disagrees with me because he thinks the messenger has some type of agenda concerning regulating or banning 'tactical' knives, and is therefore being dishonest and thus 'fair game'

[taps nose with tip of index finger] BINGO!! :p

I attacked the messenger because he is contemptible for what he has done.

Fritz IS "fair game" because he is the one who debased the discussion by presenting the issue in bad faith. The way he deliberately slanted his article is despicable.

How else can you explain the implication that somehow, modern one-hand-opening Clipit knives are capable of acting like "bigger blades" because of their clips and Spyderholes or thumb studs? This charlatan wrote:


Technology has made blade length almost irrelevant. [emphasis added] The city of Atlanta prohibits people from carrying pocket-knives in public with blades longer than two inches. Yet, in a widely publicized case, ex-Marine Thomas Autry used a two-inch blade in May to kill one mugger and wound another when he was confronted by five assailants armed with ashotgun and a .38-caliber pistol.

"Clearly we are seeing wounds you would expect from a bigger blade from what victims say was a small knife," says Andrew Ulrich, a Boston Medical Center emergency-room doctor.

Is there anything to back up that absurd claim? No.
He says NOTHING to address what it might be about the technology of a modern folder (the "new, deadly pocketknife") that makes it able to act as a larger knife despite being the same old 2" in blade length.

How can you do anything but have contempt for this writer? He is doing the knife equivalent of claiming that GLOCKS can't be detected by x-ray machines.

This is not a case where he and I should just mutually respect each other's views: his views are based on misinformation, mischaracterization and lies. There is nothing worthy of being respected, there.


whereas I think it's no more than merely a poorly written and probably hastily researched piece intended to fill some space in last week's newspaper.

I think you give him far too much credit. There is far more to object to in the article than what I quoted; but what I quoted is enough to shed light on his obvious bias against knives, and on his obvious lack of factual knowledge about them.


-azurefly

[SoCal Operator]

If I was not picking up the same signals that NKP were before today, I sure am now. I was just downtown grabbing some lunch, and I decided to stop by my local knife shop to see what had come in, (I handled a Volpe, and while the lock and handle aren't for me, the knife is beautiful ) and on the glass display case was a T.V. showing various Cold Steel employees hacking the living daylights out of hanging pieces of meat. I know CS's marketing tactics have been brought up in this thread (they are discussed both in the article and in several rebuttals) but I had never taken as seriously as I do now. I put myself in the perspective of a normal person who was just passing through, and it was a bit disturbing. Add that to the bit of news this person reads in the WSJ, and I can see them being afraid of knives. Part of the problem lies with the knife industry itself. When companies(CS isn't the only one) show only one facet of a knife's tool value, the public is left with information out of context. I'm sure it's been mentioned here before, but responsablity on the part of knife manufacturers is a key to putting an end to this demonization. Unfortunately, the tendency of many companies to go for a quick profit by advertising to the board warriors and mall ninja is as commen as it is regressive.

[dialex]

I was thinking lately that the guy actually made us a service. If someone presents a Buck Metro as a threatening and terrifying weapon and has the nerve to actually post a pic of it, maybe the average NKP will at least be concerned of what's true and what is hype.
It could prove a better tactics to go towards the other direction: highly exaggerate the danger of carying a SAK and present the SAK and nailclippers carriers as potential criminals (not yet caught, that is) :rolleyes: instead of trying to convince people that a knife is just a tool.
Ergonomic handles? More reliable locks? Exotic steels? I'd say it's just evolution. ;)

[cornelis]

Ruud,

I think that this semantic discussion between the both of you
is over the top. So fixated on the fact of having it right.

Cor

[peacefuljeffrey]

I put myself in the perspective of a normal person who was just passing through, and it was a bit disturbing. Add that to the bit of news this person reads in the WSJ, and I can see them being afraid of knives.

I believe that one can arrive at this "fear of knives" only by shutting down every logical part of one's brain. WHY should anyone fear (and try to limit availability of, inevitably) folding pocket knives when one realizes people will still have big, strong butcher-type knives in the kitchen that could just as easily be used to harm?

The problem is not the knives, really, since they've been around FOREVER and have ALWAYS had the potential to be used in a deadly manner; the problem is that this guy Fritz wrote a fear-mongering piece deliberately designed to cultivate and feed that kernel of irrational fear in his urbanite readers.


-Jeffrey

[David Lowry]

We need to get this back on the topic of the Wall Street Journal article. ;)

[TazKristi]

I'm not going to lock it down because it is (in it's original form) an important discussion. Am I pleased with some of the other discussion? No. I do however, have faith that it will come around and the bickering will stop. This discussion is key to everyone here as a whole. I truly believe the energy spent could be better used in communication to Mr. Fritz and others who share his view.

How can we expect to change his mind or anyone else’s, if we as a community cannot move beyond petty comments said in anger? Stop adding fuel to the fire, be constructive and realize that each of you have the ability to make a difference.

I don't share personal views too often, but in this case, I'll make an exception. Someone who not only does not understand knives, but has no desire to either wrote this article. This article was directed at people who do not understand knives and for the most part, also have no desire to. Part of Mr. Fritz' goal would be to create a sensational stir - he succeeded.

And yes, non-knife people do come to this site and to this forum. We've already received a letter from someone who based on information from Mr. Fritz' article has deemed Spyderco as being a contributor to the downfall of our society and possibly a supporter of terrorists. We assume that person came to our site to get the information needed to reach us since it was through e-mail. So, yes, what is said here can and does have a direct effect on Spyderco and our community as a whole.

So, in the end, I would say this, focus. Focus on the bigger picture and the greater good. Agree to disagree with some and move on. Use the energy that has been created to bring about a change. Bickering amongst ourselves isn't going to help us reach the goal. Throwing negative comments about anyone around won't help us reach the goal. Perception is important, and right now, the non-knife people are basing their perception first on the information provided by Mr. Fritz in what has long been widely accepted as a legitimate source. Secondly, their perception will then be influenced by how we react to him.

Kristi

[Episteme]

Unfortunately, recent times have seen a changing attitute in the minds of the masses as it relates to carrying a folding knife. From what I've observed, this change in attitude has roots sometime even before the tragic events of September 11th. Even more disturbing to me seems to be the manner in which this change has evolved: namely, through faulty reasoning and exaggerated fears that are ussually based on irrelevant or viceral reactions.
Here are some of my thoughts on the issue:
One of the problems with criminalizing the carry of a pocketknife is that such a law would be an inchoate offense. An offense is inchoate if and only if the behavior that the offense proscribes does not produce a harm to others per se, yet is deemed to produce a risk of harm to others. Other inchoate offenses include possessory offenses of firearms, and illicit drug laws. Inchoate offenses ussually aim at reducing the risk of harm to others by proscribing that behavor that the government deems risky for harming others. In this case, the behavior proscribed would be carrying a knife on one's person. Main problems with inchoate offenses are numerous; for one, they are overinclusive. Overinclusion occurs when the said inchoate offense would punish those people that the law does not aim to punish. In the case of criminalizing pocketknives, such laws would make criminals out of otherwise law abiding citizens who carry a knife for utility purposes. It should be emphisized that the knife collector who appreciates high-quality cutlery is among the least likely population to commit a violent crime with a knife; violent crimes with knives almost always occur with large kitchen knives, or cheap stanley / box-cutter knives. In a just legal system, any inchoate offense that is as overinclusive as a law prohibiting the carry of a pocketknife would be unjust, and for this reason alone, a bad idea.
Furthermore, this sort of inchoate offense is also Underinclusive; it fails to reduce the very harms that it is designed to reduce, which would be knife related crime. As it is known that most knife related crime is the result of a criminally inclined offender using either a kitchen knife or box-cutter, a prohibition on carrying a pocketknife would fail to stop the very harms that it intends to prevent.
There are many other good reasons to resist the criminalization of pocket-knife carry; the ones I stated here are just two reason that seem to be the most important if we are to continue in the tradition of a just and fair legal system.
Mike

[peacefuljeffrey]

I don't share personal views too often, but in this case, I'll make an exception. Someone who not only does not understand knives, but has no desire to either wrote this article. This article was directed at people who do not understand knives and for the most part, also have no desire to. Part of Mr. Fritz' goal would be to create a sensational stir - he succeeded.

I am very glad to read that you have this belief about Fritz. I feel that anyone who has not drawn this conclusion about him has to have missed something.

The article was written from a willfully ignorant point of view, and it sought to perniciously spread that ignorance. It is extremely likely that it did so.


And yes, non-knife people do come to this site and to this forum. We've already received a letter from someone who based on information from Mr. Fritz' article has deemed Spyderco as being a contributor to the downfall of our society and possibly a supporter of terrorists. We assume that person came to our site to get the information needed to reach us since it was through e-mail. So, yes, what is said here can and does have a direct effect on Spyderco and our community as a whole.

I think an important realization that must be made in this situation is that there will inevitably be those people who do not WANT to get the facts and the proper understanding of the subject, and thus their minds will never be able to be changed by us, no matter whether we screech at them hysterically, call them names, or approach them calmly and rationally.

I have never heard Charlton Heston or Wayne LaPierre or Marion Hammer yell or call names when discussing or debating gun rights, but they have never changed the minds of dyed-in-the-wool gun ban proponents, and they never will. Why would knives be any different?

Any person who would ever in his life say he believes Spyderco is a terrorist supporter because they make knives that can be used for harm to other people (did he single out Spyderco?? :rolleyes: ) but who would not say that Exxon is a terrorist supporter because it makes the gasoline that terrorists use to drive around scoping out targets is irrational. I used the terms "idiot" and "moron," and some people here have taken a dislike to that, but I really think that people who are so far across the line outside of rational and intelligent really have to be called what they are. We waste time and energy when we dance around the point.


-Jeffrey

[Ruud]

The Wall Street Journal
July 25, 2006; Page B1

How New, Deadly Pocketknives - Became a $1 Billion Business
By MARK FRITZ

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115379426517016179.html

Mr. Ray was a pioneer in a technological revolution that has transformed "tactical" knives -- originally used in military combat 'tactical knife' does not equal 'combat knife'. It may just mean 'high spec knife used by military or law enforcement personnel'.-- into a $1-billion-a-year consumer business, aimed at just about anyone in the market for a small knife.

In March, a monthly FBI bulletin alerted law-enforcement agents nationwide to "the emerging threats" posed by the knives. It remains unclear what kind of 'threats' these knives pose, other than 'regular' knives. If readers have more questions after reading an article in stead of less, the writer is not doing his job. Though there are no statistics on how many crimes have involved tactical-style knives, the FBI says knife-related crimes have edged up, to 15.5% in 2004 from 15% in 2000 0.5 of a percent during FOUR years is hardly statistically significant. This is even more so when the writer implies later on that knife ownership has increased greatly, when the absolute number of violent crimes has dropped by 4.1%. Especially when it remains unclear what the percentage of 'tactical knives' used is. Therefore, these numbers mean nothing and thus prove nothing. Only use statistics if they clearly show something, not to 'window dress' the article.. In that time, violent crime in general dropped 4.1%.

The knives' popularity has been a boon to some retailers. Mike Janes, owner of Second Amendment Sports, a hunting, fishing and camping superstore in Bakersfield, Calif., says that knife sales have been climbing an average of 25% a year in the past decade and that 75% of the pocketknives he sells are tactical See my earlier statement. If possession of these knives has increased so dramatically, and people are actively training in using these 'tactical knives' as weapons, why is it not showing in statistical data?There would have to be a significant increase in knife related violent crime..

And Spyderco Inc., for example, makes that should read 'used to make', and it's not tactical by any definition of the word (not ergonomical by a long shot, and certainly not suitable for use in 'combat'. Nor can it avoid detection by metaldetectors, so there is nothing setting it apart from any other knife apart from the fact that it is rectangular. a tactical knife that, when folded, masquerades as a credit card.

But the marketing techniques for some of the new pocketknives aren't so mainstream. Cold Steel Inc. makes the ¾-ounce "Urban Pal," which has a 1.5-inch blade. "The Urban Pal should be standard equipment for survival in today's urban jungle," its Web site says Agreed, There are a number of companies feeding off - or even creating- fears that normal people have of becoming victims of violent crime. However, these companies DO NOT represent the majority of manufacturers active in this market. It would be unjust to lump the good in with the bad .

Lawyers for the tactical-knife industry have persuaded government officials that even minor manual movement -- no matter how enhanced by levers and springs -- separates the knives from switchblades, which require pressing a button on the handle to flip open the blade. "We have to resist the application of the 1950s switchblade laws to the new technology," says lawyer Daniel Lawson, a knife collector in Pittsburgh who represents the tactical-knife industry. Thirty-seven states now outlaw switchblades, partly because they developed a cult following among teenagers in the 1950s Citing kneejerk legislation based on a fifty year old hype to help create a new hype does not add credibility to any of the possibly valid points put forward by the writer.\.

The blades on most of the new pocketknives are less than four inches long, the maximum length that passengers were permitted to carry onto U.S. airlines before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In 2004, the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks concluded that the hijackers in those attacks used short knives -- not box cutters -- to seize control of the planes. At the Pennsylvania crash site, 14 badly damaged knife parts were collected, and at least half have tactical-knife characteristics. But the FBI cautions that it can't be sure those parts are from knives that belonged to the hijackers If the FBI can't definitely conclude anything from the data gathered, then neither should the writer.Other than that, bringing it up is moot in the first place because ALL knives, including tiny swiss army knives, have since been banned. It just suggests bias by the author.

Technology has made blade length almost irrelevantSweeping statements are generally untrue. And anecdotal evidence is just that. Anecdotal. It does not conclusively prove anything. Mr. Autry made do with what he had. I know of a similar case were a woman used a tiny Swiss army knife to mortally wound one of two muggers by stabbing it in his thigh. Does that mean that SAK's should be treated the same as the knives belonging to that elusive 'tactical' breed of knives?. Yet, in a widely publicized case, ex-Marine Thomas Autry used a two-inch blade in May to kill one mugger and wound another when he was confronted by five assailants armed with a shotgun and a .38-caliber pistol.

"Clearly we are seeing wounds you would expect from a bigger blade from what victims sayUnless you have seen first hand, the length of the knife in question, and the way in which it was used, it is sensationalist to make these types of statements. A knife with a one inch blade can make a 20 inch superficial slash, but if such a knife can make a 20 inch stab wound, then I would like to know exactly what 'tactical' features make this feat possible. Questions, questions. Trotting out someone in a white coat does not make word of mouth evidence more believable. was a small knife," says Andrew Ulrich, a Boston Medical Center emergency-room doctor.

Nicholas Nobella, 25, took a four-hour class at the Bakersfield shop. Several months later, he admitted to police that he stuck his tactical knife into stripper Edward Pedrosa, 24, during a melee that broke out when men attending a bachelor party raided a bawdy bash for the bride-to-be, says Kern County, Calif., Deputy District Attorney Matt Magner. Mr. Pedrosa died. Mr. Nobella's lawyer says his client was acting in self-defense So someone got stabbed with a 'tactical' knife and died. Would he still be alive if it had been a kitchen knife? Would it have made a difference it mr. Nobella had not received training? Who knows. This is just an anecdote to spice up the story..

Meanwhile, in the race for the next big thing, some companies are competing to make more durable ceramic and plastic knives that can pass through metal detectors These products are deliberately designed to avoid measures put in place to detect knives, and can really only be used for stabbing, not cutting. Therefore they clearly belong to another category altogether, and should in no way be regarded as 'knives', be they tactical or otherwise..

Write to Mark Fritz at mark.fritz@wsj.com1
Mr. Fritz,
All you have shown is a) that there have been several tecnological breakthroughs in the design of pocketknives, and b) that these are being marketed by some companies (sometimes in very unscrupulous ways) as 'tactical' knives.
You have not shown that they are used exclusively or even increasingly for criminal purposes by criminals, that they are 'deadlier' than 'regular' knives, or that there even has been a significant increase in knife related crimes. You haven't even made clear what properties you consider to set a 'tactical' knife apart from a 'regular' knife.
However, you probably have succeeded in making people question the need for 'normal people' to own these 'deadly' knives with 'tactical' features, because they have been made fearful of them by the seemingly willfull use of scare tactics throughout your article.
I don't like to be made out a criminal or a danger to the public because I happen to own and carry a well designed pocket knife with features that make it both safer and sturdier to use. That you seem to do so leads me to question your abilities a journalist, as well as your motives for writing this piece. Your job as a journalist is to educate and inform the public, not to use propaganda techniques to add to the climate of fear, mistrust and insecurity that increasingly seems to influence people.

[Ruud]

Sorry people,

I could not resist adding some ammo to the arguments put forward already to disprove some of the statements made by mr. Fritz. Hope it's not too long of a read for all of you.

I wonder whether or not mr. Fritz would be willing to give a reaction to all our comments on his article. I, for one, would greatly appreciate it.

With best regards to all,

Ruud

[BlackNinja]

If this guy is worried about a knife, wait until he see's my light saber!

I'm sorry to hear that Spyderco received a letter stating " as being a contributor to the downfall of our society and possibly a supporter of terrorists." :( It's hard for me to grasp that people actually take seriously a money magazine, writing about knives. :confused: It's "The Wall Street Journal." They know how to keep rich people rich, and have wonderful credentials, in that respect.
I don't plan on buying "Balde" magazine to get my best stock options, just as I'm not getting the WSJ to get some knife information.

Too bad that somebody took the article seriously, and wrote a nasty letter to Spyderco. JACKASS... :rolleyes:

[Slick]

I've been reading this thread and planning to throw a bit of fuel on the fire but the lovely Ms. Kristi is right. So....

I will only say I agree whole heartedly with Joe L. and P. Jeffrey etc and I am very liberal. There may be a drop in temp in hell. I am also more conservative than most of us here. I'm so far left I'm right. :):):) I do know right from wrong.

Fritz is guilty of yellow journalism not liberalism.

I hope this is taken as I mean it.

[peacefuljeffrey]

I don't like to be made out a criminal or a danger to the public because I happen to own and carry a well designed pocket knife with features that make it both safer and sturdier to use. That you seem to do so leads me to question your abilities a journalist, as well as your motives for writing this piece. Your job as a journalist is to educate and inform the public, not to use propaganda techniques to add to the climate of fear, mistrust and insecurity that increasingly seems to influence people.


Excellent paragraph here, Ruud.

BTW, don't you know that it's your duty and obligation to civilized society to have to use a weak, dangerous-to-the-user pocket knife so that the public can be safe from the threat of you having something sturdy with which to go on a rampage?

Best if all you have is a flimsy knife that can't do much damage, even if it's riskier for you. :rolleyes:

-Jeffrey