A quick look at American crime rate figures is more than enough evidence for any rational nation to outlaw most types of firearms.

Where Can I Get One ?

found where you can get one http://www.waspknife.com/

A quick look at British crime rate figures and brutal regimes in history is more than enough evidence for any rational nation to legalize most types of firearms.

This is a wonderful relict to demonstrate our culture, once in thousand years aliens land on this wasted planet.

umm.. did you notice that this knife is MADE AND SOLD in the "Land of the Free?"

Do your research before you rant please.

Did you hear the one about the knife violence being escalated in England, because guns are outlawed? It doesn't matter what type of weapon is carried, only the criminally insane will use them against innocents. Guns and knives don't kill people, PEOPLE KILL PEOPLE!

You ever hear that story about the kid running into school, armed with a large knife and killing 17 of his classmates?

Me neither...

Guns don't kill people, but they make it a hell of a lot easier to kill people, and to kill a lot of people in a short amount of time. The idea that an increase in knife violence being a sign that guns should be legalized is utterly asinine. It's a good thing, it means that criminals are being driven to use less destructive, that leave more evidence, give the victim's a greater chance of survival and if nothing else, require more dedication on the part of the criminal. It's incredibly more personal to stab an individual then it is to stand five feet away from them, and push a button.

Oh please-- they used a gun because they had easy access to a gun. If they didn't have easy access to a gun they would have used a knife, or some other weapon.

I have no less of a problem pulling a trigger than I would stabbing that same person in the stomach and then gutting them down to their groin-- take a lot longer to die that way, meanwhile, take the knife with you, much easier to get the knife back than to retrieve a bullet.

We need less gun laws in America-- not more. There are a couple of counties where the law states that you must own a gun-- don't have to have the bullets, just the gun. (exceptions made for those guilty of breaking federal laws, since they can't own them.) Those counties have the lowest crime rates in the country.

banning firearms doesn't get rid of crime...it just makes the criminal find more brutal and primitive ways of doing their task and also, as a side bonus, widens the gap of survivability between the physically powerful and the physically weak.

So, by all means make guns illegal so that when the thief is interrupted by the housewife, we are given the brutal bludgeoning death of the woman rather than the painful wounding of the thief

As an Englishman who lived in the U.S.A. for 24 years, let me just say this: don't equate us all with what The Daily Mail says. It's one of the tabloids that panders to the LCD.

We have stringent gun control laws in Britain. Which means stabbings are the preferred method of killing. Although shootings aren't unknown, they're rare. And at least you can't get semi-automatic hunting knives which take down twenty classmates in 30 seconds.

And as for mentioning Britain in the same breath as brutal regimes, JR, I'll just say two words: smallpox blankets.

Actually, Beedo, the blanket trick was orginated by a British general during the French & Indian War.

But you're right about the semi-auto issue. The whole right to bear arms issue rings pretty damned hollow in front of a pile of dead children.

I have 2 issues with this line of thought.

First; What makes you think a criminal will decide this is the one law they will obey?

Second; Outlawing guns, only reassures the criminals that when they accost you or your loved ones, you will be unarmed, and as the are criminals they won’t be.

Factor out the crimes committed by blacks and the American crime rate is as low as most European nations.

Look at the murder rate in Washington, DC, Baltimore, Detroit and Los Angeles then look at the demographic. There are more guns per capita in Maine than in DC yet the crime rate is very low. Hmmmmmmm...

yeah, outlaw guns and knives. It worked in Detroit,Chicago, and Washington DC LOL.

yeah, outlaw guns and knives. It worked in Detroit,Chicago, and Washington DC LOL.

Where are the flames??? This site is the US Government Bureau of Justice Statistics. There are different spread sheets. Look at the demographic sheet then look at the crime rate sheet. http://www.ojp.gov/bjs/dtdata.htm#demo

OK, as both a political liberal AND an NRA member, I can see that emotional and political biases color most discussions on self-defense. You can build firearms out of scrap metal that will kill that "pile of children" as easily (or more so) as will your idea of guns. It is proven that American society is schizophrenic on many topics, and violence should be at the top of the list. But I not only reserve the right to keep and bear arms, I DEMAND it. Sadly, I have had to face down intruders and scared them away with a shotgun. In my home, late at night, minding my own business. So go find whoever is piling up your children and punish them severely, but I can't recommend coming for my means of self-defense. Not that this has much to do with trick knives!

Truly it is not about a single law. It is about freedom and personal responsibility. In the states I can choose to obey the law and the law is written to allow private ownership of firearms so I can choose to protect myself and my family. In the British Isles and in the states the populations have chosen different paths. The English population feels there is no need for the privilege of private gun ownership (very limited and well regulated). The states still believes that the freedom of private gun ownership and the natural consequences of that right 1) right to protect oneself and 2) and the consequences for abusing the privilege (gun related deaths, prison)out weights the asking the government to remove guns thus limiting the personal responsibility. As civilized nations we should not be pointing the pointing our fingers at one another from across the big pond but looking at the rest of the world. In some places (Africa and Asia) the only way to be heard is by the means of weapons. Civilized counties have law enforcement and courts in place to address these issues. Not so in places like the Sudan and Darfur. Gun violence became unacceptable in the UK so the people legislated against it, giving up guns is return for no gun violence. In the state we accept the trade off. Our populations are different. Studies show that even with UK like gun laws in the states prison populations would only be reduce by 10 to 12%. MY question is: how we, civilized nations, can help other nations obtain the same ability (rights, freedom and personal responsibility) to choose.

It's always been easier to design things to kill people rather than trying to determine why the issues are occurring in the first place. It's a holdover from cave men days when if you don't like it, KILL IT. I'm not against people owning weapons, I'm against the WRONG people owning weapons. Think Virginia Tech, Columbine etc. Had Virginia used commons sense instead of filling it's pockets with NRA Brib...er lobby money then maybe stuff like this couldn't happen.

Yup, join the NRA, where any wackjob should have the right to own a weapon that can level a city

Blame the knife? Blame the gun? You may as well blame the computer for you idiotic rant, perhaps the pencil for mispelling a word. The hammer for hitting your thumb.

Blame the knife? Blame the gun? You may as well blame the computer for your idiotic rant, perhaps the pencil for mispelling a word. The hammer for hitting your thumb.

First off, most of you have gone off topic really. This isn't about gun control. It's a knife and not a very new one at that. Just not a very well known one. That said, all the gun control laws in the world will not stop a dedicated killer, bent on havoc and mayhem from achieving his/her goal of killing anyone. Not even a whole host of victims.

If a kid in his trenchcoat didn't have access to automatic, semi-automatic or even muzzle loading firearms had to resort to something less accurate he/she would simply have to use a different type of weapon to make his/her statement or manifesto to the world as they see it: simply load up that bookbag with homemade explosives and hop on the big yellow school bus and ta-da... homemade jihad ala Palestinian style.

You can not legislate sanity.

You can not legislate responsibility or caring or consideration or even humanity.

A person either has it or they don't and for those of us with familes and friends, when one of these knife toting, AK-47 toting or backpack bombers is coming our way, I thank my forefathers who had the foresight to keep my right to carry a concealed weapon.

As for this knife, not interested, if I am reduced to knife fighting with a bear, which is really what this was designed for...(a simple small 1" knife is all I need to terminate a threatening human) and you're going into big bad bear country and not bringing a means to defend yourself like a large caliber handgun, and plan to walkabout in his turf, you are simply put, stupid. By the time you're close enough to stab the bear, he's probably wounded you so badly, you're going to die right alongside this bear, provided you remembered to use a new air cartridge and got off a decent stab into the bear at all... I can make better killing weapons in my garage.

One more thing, if it's cold outside, this knife may not even work as designed... anyone using airguns would know that under 55°F they're fairly useless. Even nitrogen in a small tank would not have the pressure needed to propel itself as designed. So... warm weather, stupid unfocused and lazy bear... yeah it could work.

Unless they have "special" cartridges for this... at a "special price"...

Ban guns yeah that worked real well with the England and Ireland. How many innocent people were killed by explosives/homemade bombs? What happened in Austraila when the legislature banned guns. Yes guns kill people but so do knives, homemade explosives cars, dogs, baseball bats. etc... The problem is that people will find a way of killing each other, and as fas as the argument of but what about killing masses of helpless people. Schoolkids churchs etc... with guns look at the methods used by the IRA and other extermist groups who use a bomb that killed scores of people. Punish the killers. Stop glorifying violence. take tennagers to hospitals and jails to show them the price of violence let them hear the price that they will pay for a moment of stupidity/ rage. I work at a jail so I hear this suff over and over.

Knives have been used as killing tools for a long time.This is a bit hyped, as you have to stab to deploy the gas, and since they have been around for years one would think they'd have gone popular if they were going to. they also have the "power head" or "bang stick" with a CO2 jet or firearm shell in the tip.

As for the anti-gunners here, remember that most of the Rwanda genocide was done with machetes and knives. That was several hundred thousand people.

Genghis Khan killed more.

The problem with Britain is they let career criminals off for assaults but if a law abiding citizen fights back when attacked they throw the book at them, their priorities are screwed up. They'll "civilize" themselves out of existence if they aren't careful.

I would like to respond to a few of the comments in this forum.
FIRST: As to the smallpox blankets, yes the British were the first to implement them. Ummmm, which peoples invaded what is now North America and were responsible for the attempted genocide of the native populace? Hint: They were NOT called Americans.
SECOND: In my opinion, the old standby applies, "If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns."
THIRD: I totally agree with OhNoNotAgain, weapons of mass destraction (sorry, destruction) can and will always be able to be built.
FORTH: ECHOLRRP, factoring out the crimes committed by "Blacks" as you so call them (African American is the PC and non prejudice term), is a moot point since this is only 12.9% of the melting pot which is the American populace today.
Fith: ECHOLRRP, you are one of the reasons that prejudices and crimes of a genocidal nature are still prevalent in the world.
SIXTH, and my last opinion: Heinous crimes are commited by heinous people, NOT the instuments that are used by them.

P.S. I wish more people would check their spelling and edit their content, so their forum comments could be read and understood without constant interpretation by literate people.

A useless new knife, however it brings about very useful conversation. Gun control...I find it very funny that on a web-site dedicated to showing new technology we have people who commit the age old blunder of blaming the technology for it's misuse. It's quite simplpe folks, on both sides of the pond. It is already illegal to kill people, with a gun or a knife. So making laws to criminlize the poseesion of either to stem the violence is idiotic. It doesn't solve the problem, in fact it makes the problem impossible to solve, as laws aimed at banning anything only apply to the law abiding. I got news for you folks, law abiding citizens don't kill people, laws that take away the means or the right to self defense do.

When did dvice become digg? Did I miss something? Oh that's right, this story was posted on digg a few days ago and incited the same type of gun control flame wars. dvice, please decide who you really are and stop recycling.

I wish we could outlaw guns, but it's common sense that we're safer when any potential victim could stop a gun-toting (or knife-toting) criminal because they may have a concealed gun. Besides, as some have said here already, criminals will be criminals regardless of the law.

Regarding the blacks/AfricanAmericans and crime issue, I have two things to say:
1) Removing crimes committed by black people from the statistics is irrelevant. Black people are a part of this country, so their behavior figures in. Get over it. It sounds like ECHOLRRP secretly wishes we had no one of color here.
2) Who cares what the PC term is? "African American" is incorrect. Most dark-skinned people in this country are not from Africa - many not even by descent. In fact, the ones who are from Africa are NOT the ones wanting to be called African American. You don't hear people griping because they're not called Italian Americans or Chinese Americans. "Black people" is a correct and inoffensive way to describe dark-skinned individuals of unknown nationality.

When guns are removed from honest citizens, criminals will still have acess to them, even if all guns were removed from the world, then blades would be used or even worse, explosives... Look at the devistation in the ME caused by bombs... And trust me, it is a lot easier to build a bomb, use it and get away than to use a gun....

What kind of sick freak thought of making this weapon?

Before you start looking make fire arms illegal, perhaps you should think about the people that have them legally and the ones that use them illegally. By making fire arms illegal, the law abiding people will not have guns but the criminals will have guns. That is the problem. Also, people kill people, guns do not kill people. What's next, cars are weapons and then they ban cars?? Perhaps banning alcohol?? (No I do not support banning alcohol either!!) If you want to ban the tools of death, perhaps alcohol. Look at the number deaths, etc with alcohol related accidents!!

Everyone compares England and America but you can't do it.. Apples and oranges... England's "wild west" period was people beating each other over the heads with swords and guns did not even exist. The people later on were used to being unarmed and subjects following along like the good little sheeple they are.. Oh sure there were a few who stepped out of line and used weapons but most people living in Britain had been trained and brainwashed and were/are pretty docile.

Here in America, we hit the ground with a gun in our hands and were very independant and self reliant. We didn't depend on our government for anything and even distrusted the government. It wasn't until the 1950's that we started down the Sheeple road...

As for guns, if you remove guns, then blades and even worse bombs will be used... I read where Austrailia had to make swords illegal when they outlawed guns because people were using swords and knives... Trust me, bombs are even better and easier to make than anyone would believe.

The only thing removing guns do is make the law abiding citizens helpless victims....

Everyone compares England and America but you can't do it.. Apples and oranges... England's "wild west" period was people beating each other over the heads with swords and guns did not even exist. The people later on were used to being unarmed and subjects following along like the good little sheeple they are.. Oh sure there were a few who stepped out of line and used weapons but most people living in Britain had been trained and brainwashed and were/are pretty docile.

Here in America, we hit the ground with a gun in our hands and were very independant and self reliant. We didn't depend on our government for anything and even distrusted the government. It wasn't until the 1950's that we started down the Sheeple road...

As for guns, if you remove guns, then blades and even worse bombs will be used... I read where Austrailia had to make swords illegal when they outlawed guns because people were using swords and knives... Trust me, bombs are even better and easier to make than anyone would believe.

The only thing removing guns do is make the law abiding citizens helpless victims....

Fun discussion. Yes, people should have the right to protect themselves. The police can only investigate your murder (I worked for the police for 7 years, they can't be everywhere all the time).
Don't blame Virgina's laws for the VT shooting (my daughter was working in the OR when the first victums were brought in), blame the system that prevents the violating the "rights" of people who need mental help.
The commenter who said "black" crime statistics are irrelevent...if you can't dig down into the data and determine root causes, then how do you even beign to solve the problem?
In this country "bans" of alcohol & drugs causes the growth of organized crime...yet has it stopped the use of these banned sustances.
Also note the Collombine attackers also made homemade gernades (I do't know how effective they were) but nearly all the deaths in Iraq are caused by improvised bombs (think Okahoma city).
It's not the availability of guns that are the issue. I had guns in my home since childhood. And just how many NRA members actually comit gun crimes anyway?

- the present entertianment industry serves up violent movies & games that cheapens life. So does abortion (imagine that brought up!).

The real issue is the decline in values and caring.
- what kind of culture even permits gangs to allow random killing just to initiate new members?

As for piles of dead children? Since when has any rational public policy resulted from "exceptions" from the rule, and instead focus on what motivated them. I was a "nerd" is the 70's and got picked on, and never considered shooting up the place. Maybe if we eliminated snobby and bratty kids (send them to boot camp for an attitude adjustment) the alieniated kids would of never resorted to this sort of behavion.

As this is obviously not a new device, it does not belong on DVice's pages, since DVice is supposed to report on NEW technology. This story, especially the ending, just sounds like sensationalist pap meant to shock and frighten. Whoever wrote this should perhaps apply for so-called reporting jobs at sensationalistic magazines such as National Enquirer or Star.

Its good to know that there is a knife to be used as a last resort when confronted by a wild beast in the wild west of America. Children are dragged from their tents by crazed bears on a regular basis in the mountains. Every boy scout should own one or more of these knives as it is against the law to discharge firearms in State or Federal campgrounds. I'll bet they are a great advantage to the avid fisherman when filleting a fish for dinner the following day. One could freeze the fish as he prepares the fish for storage.

Any comment about America or Britain MUST take into account that the issue is NOT the weapons. It's minorities who abuse them. A weapon is a tool, if respected and not used, no one dies via crime with said weapon. Criminals commit crime, not the weapons they use. You Euro liberals are roll over show your belly surrender monkeys. Stop going easy on the minority scum doing the crime and that will take care of it.

With guns we are citizens.
Without we are subjects.

Ok......I just had to post! I couldn't help myself.All I can say to all the negative posts about NOT being allowed to possess a fire-arm: Some bombs are made out of manure,correct? That's what these people are talking.Arm the nay-sayers with knives and clubs.I'll arm with guns.Hey! Maybe we should say, "Don't bring a gun to a knife fight."

for all you people complaining about the piles of dead children due to firearms..remember it was the criminal who had firearms and the criminals can always get them. If the victims had carried firearms there would have been far fewer victims.

wakeenyn misses the point. You get all of that because I used the word "black". Wow. Didn't Jesse Jackson recently say that Barack Obama was talking down to "black folks"? Is he a racist, too? Does he promote genocide? I do not believe in hyphenated Americans. Read what Teddy Roosevelt had to say on the subject. If blacks are only 12.9% of the population and their crime statistics are high enough to skew our national statistics so much the implication is obvious. You think this is racist? It is numbers. What can be done to resolve the sociological and cultural factors that promote these abhorrent numbers? I am not racist. I am concerned about all the lives being wasted. I had a ministry in the Florida prison system for three years dealing with drug and alcohol abusers. The PC crowd is limiting our ability to define the problems thus limiting our ability to enact solutions. By the way, check the CDC web site for statistics on venereal disease among "African Americans". The real racism is to ignore it and let them die. Thanks for noticing.

Political correctness ≠ Progress

It is more offensive that people today are offended by something as small as saying what may or may not be true.

A psychopath will kill someone else whether he or she has a gun or not.

I do not want to be the woman that Ted Nugent talks about.

I got my first gun at 7, and I have never shot anything more than bottles (and a cat once, but it was trying to kill my cat.)

Further than that, this is a tech blog. Take your political meanderings and put them somewhere useful. As for me, I think is a freaking cool knife. Good job DVICE!

well this started off as an artical about a knife,then the forum went to gun control and stupid people with guns who kill,well people I just want you to know that there is only one way to stop all the crime in the world. Get rid of the people and once that is done, no more crime. but since that is not going to happen, there will be crimes commited and no law passed will prevent that, even if all weapons were destroyed people would still commit crimes, so face it people we live in a violent world, so live with it or take yourself out of the picture. you won't be missed

cool i want one

This is the most idiotic phrase ever from Dvice: "What happens when you make it illegal to buy a gun? Besides stimulating a lively black market for criminals to find guns anywhere and anytime".
A humble advise: STICK TO REPORTING FACTS, NOT YOUR PERSONAL AGENDA.

would look great stuck in a liberals gut

In Australia we are more free and democratic than Americans, and we benefit by choosing to outlaw guns. We don't kill each other nearly as much as Americans do, by guns, knives or whatever. I think there are social issues in the US that should be addressed, and that the gun obsession is just a symptom.

This article is a fine example of the worst kind of reporting done by the media today. It's bull. Alarmist. The people who wrote this article are more interested in finding something to get your attention on a page with ads then they give a crap about anyone being hurt by this weapon. Never been used in a crime yet, not on the market yet, but we're going to borrow trouble about something that might happen possibly in the future. After this article was printed and emailed to everyone on the SciFi Channel's mailing list for DVICE many many more people know that the thing exists and can be used for crime than did before. What was the point?

Gomezy3k makes a very important point. It's impossible to compare UK and US in this way. If you were not born and raised in a system with royalty you will NEVER understand the meaning of the words "fealty" or the loyalty due a "lord". These concepts still influence the psychology of persons in the UK to this day. Those in the US have no frame of reference to even begin to understand (and thank God for that!)
;-)

Well, my mind's been changed...

Well, my mind's been changed...

Its always either-or, whenever someone else makes a weak point it is entirely discounted. People, our social problems are not caused by just one or two things, but by a LITTANY OF FACTORS, and just because someone is off base doesn't mean there isn't an element of truth to their argument. As usual, both the left and right veer to their respective extremes instead of trying to find common ground. Big Brother should NOT have a list of gun owners, but HANDGUNS should be outlawed, they're for cowards. Yes, then only outlaws would have them, but their total numbers in our society would decrease over time. If guns didn't exist, the chickenhawks on the right would still triple deadbolt their doors, the pansies on the left would leave theirs wide open. I would put a small latch on mine, to keep the honest people honest. Same principle with handguns-they make it too easy. Yes, their are other methods to kill, but I'd wager only the most heinous would use them - anything that makes people think twice has an effect on most. The arguments I see on both sides of the issue only apply to extreme cases. The left would have us surrender ALL firearms, the right would argue for neighborhood nuclear superiority. With guns we are citizens, without we are subjects, but with handguns we are paranoid.

It's very simple - really LOOK at the crime rates then and now. The assault weapons ban has expired for some years. If the gun control lobby's reasoning were correct, there would be a corresponding increase in crimes involving these weapons. There has not been such an increase. In fact, murder has trended downwards as a whole steadily despite the expiration of the most intrusive of the gun control laws.

And DVice, you guys have performed a public service by showing that there will always be a lethal weapon available, no matter how comprehensively the nanny state tries to hide all the sharp and dangerous items from society. You'd have to abolish the teaching of chemistry, physics and biology in order to truly remove lethal weapons from society.

IT'SBADFORYA, you're right - even after more than a decade of Labour party dominance over the UK, its citizens simply cast around for another ruling class (their royal family having been trivialized and dragged through the slime by their press despite being arguably a much better-behaved series of royals than, say, the first four Georges and their families).

In the meantime, we have the Bushes, the Kennedys and Clintons as a ruling class here in the States. I say that we should trade OUR ruling class for the Windsors, heads up.

MARKUS DEMETRIUS: The facts don't support your statements. States with "shall issue" concealed weapon permit laws have consistently lower violent crime rates than states without them - and MUCH lower crime rates than either Washington DC or New York City, both of which limit handgun possession to a privileged few (including Senators like Ted Kennedy who insist on having handguns for themselves while voting to ban the guys who pay his salary from having them).

A country with no handguns except for the criminal class and the privileged few strikes me as much more conducive to paranoia than a country which stands by the guarantees in the Constitution that Americans will always be able to defend themselves from either of the first two.

Getting back to the point of the original post, a moderately bright high school student could download the Australia Group List (the one which tells developed countries what they can and cannot sell to Kim Sung Il and the Ayatollahs) and deduce a parts list for one of several devices he or she could assemble at home and bring to school in a knapsack - and whack out several times the worst death toll in any school yard shooting.

Or, if you choose simply to look at a wider time gate than the five to twenty minutes it takes the teenage angst patrol to whack out a room or yard full of fellow students, it's very arguable that any number of massacres occur in schools and streets worldwide as "recreational drugs" with very lethal side effects and which must be paid for by violent crimes committed with everything from harsh language to AK-47s are distributed over longer periods of time than a schoolyard shooting takes.

We could handle this problem - a much more widespread and intractable one than the handgun or AK-47 issue - by either dropping the absurd and pointless "war on drugs" and concentrating on securing our borders generally (and this would take care of much of the illicit drug influx as smugglers are apprehended for breaking our border security laws) and other ways of hammering down immediate threats to the homeland security; or really enforcing both the drug and border security laws with the energy the BATF usually saves for beating up on 70-year old gun dealers with cancer.

I agree with a lot of people who have posted. No law wil ever completely eradicate crime. Firstly the laws are made by imperfect beings therefore are prone to flaws. Secondly, those beings are not omnipresent and can't punish every violation. Unfortunately, the problems are rooted even deeper than a psychopath label would allow, that would imply that they didn't really have complete possesion of their faculties. There is an ugly weed of selfishness and lack of responsibility for actions growing in our society and no one wants to do anything to root it out. For example, no one tells kids that they shouldn't have sex till they're married cause it's easier to take the attitude "well they're just gonna do it anyway so why bother" (interesting that those same people will cry for more laws about other things I mean why bother people will just break them anyway right?) Instead they just say do it safely, or pass out products that are only effective up to a point. When that condom fails and a woman is faced with her "consequence" does she rise to responsibility? not usually she takes a pill, or gets someone else to kill her child. What about the guy? nope he's off in the other direction faster than superman or encouraging the woman to get rid of the evidence and in some cases is the one who pressures and insists upon it. What about the parents faced with a teenage pregnancy? Sometimes they're worse than the guys and put her in the car and make her get an abortion. After all, they never told her that it was a bad idea to have sex before marriage or that it was important to wait (cause she was gonna do it anyway right?) why should they help her shoulder the burden, they "decided" that they were done with kid care and all that bother a long time ago anyway.

How then can we as a society point our fingers at a group of troubled kids (columbine), who were also part of a neo nazi group, when they follow the same line of reasoning. "We don't want these people, we don't consider them people, lets get rid of them" Before we start pointing fingers at the "outcasts" of society we perhaps need to take a step back and also look at what we as a society are value or have devalued. Not too long ago there was a group of third graders who not only plotted but attempted to carry out (each lttle student had their own little assignment eg. block the window so no one could see) a plan to kill their teacher because a kid felt "dissed" when his/her teacher repremanded him. These kids could barely reach over the gun counter let alone make a purchase, but they were determined enough and found what they could (handcuffs and other various items) inorder to carry out their own little terror spree. What have we as a society imprinted on the little minds of our future generations and what will happen if we don't fix it. regardless of the "issue" be it what weapons kill or whether abortion should be leagal. Think about what message we are sending. At any other point in history abortion would be labled as genocide. Even the term C-section comes from Dr. Ceasaerian who would cut babies from their mothers, he went to prison. Yet we have made it (abortion) legal. Not only is it leagal but there are those who fight to leagalize partial birth abortions where they induce labor and kill the child when it's partially born (and yes absolutely viable) Just because you kill someone before they can take their first breath although perhaps protected by law doesn't make it any less evil. It was leagal to kill jews and homosexuals on sight, to enslave or kill african americans (black people) and indians but who will stand up and say that it wasn't evil? How many of the people who would vote to end crime by banning all guns (if it was possible) are they same ones who would throw that same pen at someone with a petition to ban abortion completely? The only difference real difference between a homocide involving an infant and abortion boils down to wether the child was wanted. With that kind of a message for the next generation we wonder "what's wrong with kids these days" Well the kids at virginia tech, colombine and at the amish school house simply weren't wanted at least not by the ones who killed them (maybe they just thought of it as a service to fix overpopulation or simply a late term abortion long overdue. Yes, The kids' parents wanted them to be sure, but who's to say that no one could've cared for that aborted child? It simply wasn't worth the trouble and hardship to find out. Much easier to get rid of the consequence or irritation than take responsibility seems to be the bottom line.
I realize that some of this is pretty mean and even bitchy sounding but sometimes it's a neccessary evil when faced with a problem most people would rather ignore. We've become desensitized by movies, games, t.v to the point were if it's not put in our face we ignore it.(me included) I simply think it a very serious problem that involves not just one issue but many factors the main one being the values of our society.

COONASS - You are totally correct in your statistics, but they do not apply. I stated that yes, for a while only outlaws would have handguns, but over time the amount of handguns would decrease. As long as it's left to individual states, anyone can just cross a state line to purchase a handgun at a gun show, so the statistics are meaningless. Then there's still the time factor. I tend to take the long-term view and believe that involves sacrifices most Americans are too selfish to agree to, thus most of my rants are just wishful thinking anyway. Unless we get really serious about keeping the true criminals (violent offenders, not druggies) locked up forever, we are just spitting in the wind anyway...

WHATHAVEWEDONE - You seem to be blaming society's ills on abortion. Many of us are not superstitious, thus we do not believe that a growing embryo has a "soul". You value human life, but believe that its OK to torture animals because the Bible says so (no I'm not a PETA member), and war is justified if you can believe the other side is evil. In the scientific view, an embryo becomes truly human when the brain is fully developed. No matter how much emotion you want to attach to the issue, facts are facts, and your religious views are moot. You may say that I'm going to Hell because I refuse to believe in ghosts, demons, and spirits, but let me tell you that when I do good, it's because I know it's the right thing to do, not because I'm scared of being judged in some mythical afterlife. My motives, to me, seem less selfish overall.

I'm not a physician or neurologist, so I can't say when the human brain is fully developed, but if it were found to be in the first trimester, I would wholeheartedly agree with you. I doubt that is the case. And I do agree that partial-birth abortions are wrong, that is obviously way too late-term.

If you were to google Zeitgeist-the-movie and watch just 15 minutes, it would shatter many of your views. But I doubt that will happen, as people of faith know that knowledge is dangerous and distrust science, yet they still use a microwave oven to heat up leftovers.

I'm not saying that good doesn't come out of religion - morals are not taught much anymore outside of church, and the lefties would never allow morals or ethics to be actually taught in our public schools.

I'm saying that, aside from the historical evils perpetrated and perpetuated, a whole lot of what comes out of religion has negative long-term effects to our society and planet. I view ALL religions as evil masked as good. WHERE someone is born determines their religion, not an objective study of all religions and then a conscious choice made. Why? Because all religions brainwash people when they are children. "Get 'em while they are young". The only difference between a cult and a religion is a matter of success.

A side note, having served all over the world, many years each in Moslem, Christian, and Buddhist countries, I can say from direct observation that the only religion that can claim to have people who actually try to live as Jesus is Theravada Buddhism, the original, not Zen and the other variants. Christians believe that a serial-child-rapist can enter heaven on a death-bed conversion. Theravada (Burma, Thailand, Laos) Buddhists try to live their entire lives properly with each sin adding to the total, no forgiving grace at the end. You can leave your keys in your car with the windows down and your wallet on the seat. Christians, Moslems, and the rest are all backsliding hypocrites, the whole while thinking "I'm good, God must be on MY side", then you go on to commit the worst atrocities.

EVIL results from all religions, but I think mostly Christian, then Moslem, then Jew.

Travel the world...open your mind

Bunch of pansy ass liberals!
You'd better legislate aginst owning a pair of chopsticks, because someone with a modicum of training could kill more people in a McDonald's with a pair of chopsticks than most psycho dildoes do with an AK and 4 full magazines.
Fact is: Things aren't deadly, PEOPLE are deadly.

Educate your youth, give them a moral upbringing and a reason to care, and to live well, and you won't need more laws or more prisons.

Execute your worst offenders, and rehabilitate the ones that you can, and constantly look to improving your species.

And read this:
http://www.heinleinsociety.org/rah/thisibelieve.html

Ta!

I'm against the idea of the government having any kind of list of firearm owners, as the lefties would love to see happen. Hunting firearms, that is, as their main use is sport. Handguns have only one purpose - to kill people.

America is a country of alcoholics. Yes, every town in Europe has an alcoholic, but everyone knows who he is. Because they teach their kids to drink responsibly when they are young, no more than one or two glasses of wine with dinner. Here, people mostly drink to get drunk. And almost everyone has a handgun. Then they get drunk and mad at someone, maybe the other guy is bigger, no problem - Bang. Perfect weapon for cowards. Gangbangers. Guns don't kill people, people do - blame our murder rate on society. I've got news for you - society evolves, but never in the direction we would like. Handguns make it far too easy to kill, and that's what we like these days, the quick fix, problem solved. Rifles and shotguns just aren't convenient for most crimes, being all bulky, heavy, and obvious. If most people had to resort to something other than a cowardly handgun to commit a crime, they would have to think about it for a while, and that little bit of thinking would probably stop a lot of crime from ever happening. I was a bodyguard for a fat cat who had a huge gun collection, and we'd go out in the desert together and shoot for hours, it was great fun. Before I got there, he had a gun under every pillow in his house, Mr. Paranoid. He was rich, and also eccentric - he always forgot to lock his doors when he left, an arsenal just waiting for some bored teenagers.

You can never reliably use the statistics of this state or that when referring to their handgun murder rates, because:
1. State lines are no impediment to anyone.
2. Any nationwide handgun ban would take years to show results, until we weeded them out for good.

Why are people so afraid? I may use the word coward too much when referring to handgun owners, but that's how I feel.

THE UNDERNEATH OF THINGS

AS_IF - I totally love Heinlein and have read almost all of his books, and I used to agree with his philosophy on guns also. Then I got educated about the real world. I may not like all that I see, but it's pretty much a beautiful place, and my views and ideas have changed the more that I've travelled.

You are wrong to call me a liberal, if I'm who you are referring to. The right is very good at marginalizing people by attaching labels to them. I've voted on both sides of the aisle, as I see both strengths and weaknesses on both sides. I'm not a puppet who picks a side and sticks with it no matter what, I try to stay informed and know never to trust what the government says, as I've been privy to things that have never made the sound-bites that go for the news these days. I happen to lean to the left on handguns, the environment, and more. I lean to the right on being tough on crime, the death penalty, right-to-privacy, the UN, and more.

You use the word liberal like it means "argument over", I see that quite a lot from the right. I also often see the right calling people "stupid" quite a bit, as if it shows that you have more intelligence, but it just shows a lack of vocabulary. The left also have their faults, but most of them stem from the fact that they're a bunch of pansies. However, I rarely see lack of intelligence as one of their faults - even if their views are skewed some, you can tell from their writing that most have graduated high school. Admit it - Country music is a right-wing thing.

I agree with you about educating and teaching morals to our youth, and what you said about the death penalty is right on.

But that chopsticks part? Come on! You say that THINGS AREN'T DEADLY, PEOPLE ARE DEADLY. So you advocate making it MUCH easier for people to be deadly. Heinlein would have everyone carrying a handgun, just like in the wild west, only in the future.

One thing I liked about Heinlein is that he believed in tiered-citizenship, that only military veterans, who were willing to die for this country, would get full citizenship and the right to vote or to hold federal office. That would eliminate most of the CHICKENHAWKS we've got in charge now who are all-too-willing to commit our soldiers to die in needless wars.

OPPOSABLE THUMBS ARE OVERRATED

WOW, All this over a stupid knife(technology not withstanding)

I WONDER HOW ALL THIS BECAME SO IDIOTIC SO FAST!!!

It's called a Forum, and it's not dedicated to a single topic. You must be looking for a MODERATED forum, but even then things tend to go off-topic.

Maybe we need a Hall Monitor to keep us in check, are you volunteering?

AWESOME!!!

JET1NITEFLITE - No bad intentions. These topics tend to get pushed one way or the other by loudmouths like me, no apologies. Anyone can always jump in and push towards a different direction, with no fear of getting physically hurt. I hope.

FASTER SCARED THAN YOU ARE MAD

I understand how the gun control rant started, the author of the article made reference to gun laws. And on that topic I wish to add this bit of information. Every totalitarian regime of the last century or so, disarmed the populace with gun laws before they could take away other freedoms.

How this rant got to abortion is less clear, but probably inevitable. However when Whathavewedone equated abortion to genocide, I had to respond. Infanticide is common among all mammals, not just humans. The fact that we choose to abort a pregnancy before the fetus fully develops is more humane than the way dolphins rupture the internal organs of their young to kill them. Also, I challenge you to find a passage in the bible or other religious text that says life begins before the infant takes its first breath. Most religious teachings say the soul enters the body with the first breath, not before. There are even some teachings that say the soul doesn't enter until the child is several years old. Now don't take this as advocation for killing children, or even abortion. I'm definitely against the killing of children, and even think abortion shouldn't be a government issue. I just think that anti-abortionist that use religion as a foundation for their position, are poorly prepared for the debate.

ARIXENSJACH - Many good points! However, I don't think we would have to scrap the entire second amendment to get rid of handguns only.

A GUN IN MY POCKET

The Germans were so proud and hopeful when their citizens were totally disarmed. That man Hitler was a true humanitarian. I'll keep my guns or die trying thank you!!!

was talking about this to my dad - he said sounds like the mob is updating the ice pick. heh - Hmm - i'm sure a mod will be done to one of those soon... Personally - I prefer to protect myself from bears and sharks with a weapon that'd have more range...

was talking about this to my dad - he said sounds like the mob is updating the ice pick. heh - Hmm - i'm sure a mod will be done to one of those soon... Personally - I prefer to protect myself from bears and sharks with a weapon that'd have more range...

1. Does banning the private ownership of surface-to-air missiles, RPG's, or automatic assault weapons make sense? Does that threaten the second amendment? I think we can agree that certain types of weapons can be banned from public use without taking away our rifles and shotguns.

2. Whenever I mention banning ONLY handguns, people always jump back with historical analogies about what has happened in countries where ALL firearms have been banned - apples and oranges, doesn't apply. Is that all you've got?

3. Is there no logical argument, then, for keeping handguns in our society (the most violent society on the planet), other than "every one else has them, so I want one for defense"?

4. I have heard one other argument against banning handguns, not presented here - the "genie's already out of the bottle" argument, which states that they are so prevalent that we could never get rid of them, then only criminals would have them. That is not an argument. Things can always get worse, so the genie is never fully out of the bottle. We simply cap the bottle. Make all sales illegal. Gov't buys back all that are turned in. DEATH penalty, no appeals, for anyone caught with one, and that's the time-frame where only criminals would have them, so no great loss there. The lefties would have vertigo, a death penalty to enforce a gun law! However it was enforced, it would take much time to rid our country of them. Yes, there would still be murders, but far less and less as the years passed.

5. Maybe by then we'd have the balls to not let (violent) criminals back out on the streets.

6. So - are there no other logical arguments? I'd rather not see any more "I'll keep my guns or die trying", or "when you pry them from my cold, dead fingers", or "I'll shoot anyone who tries" crap. Those are not logic, they're emotional arguments, better suited to be coming from WOMEN. (Yes, I'm a little misogynistic, so sue me).

SERIAL WAVEFORM COLLAPSER

Wow... all the rants, all the rules.. knives/guns, guns/knives. If you want to honestly get down to it, it's not a matter of legalizing or making illegal one thing or another. Plenty of things are illegal in the USA and in most states. Like knives with longer than a 4" blade, guns, most martial-arts weapons etc.
what it comes down to, in a large manner, is HOW you keep guns out of the wrong hands, or make the guns safer (because, yes, it's that much easier to kill a dozen people with a gun than a knife). But more importantly: Fix the damned judicial system. The so-called punishment of jail, isn't one. While an 'eye for an eye' is rather stupid, (yes, yes, we'll all be blind), there is NO fear in any 'hardcore' or even 'softcore' criminals these days. You kill ten people, you go to jail and get counseling. Just kill the guy, thin the gene-pool. There was a time when crime was low in the world. And that was when if you did a crime, you were punished. I bet that kid who got is a$$ caned in bangkok won't be keying cars anymore. Certainly not in that country! If someone's on death-row for multiple homicide and there for triple-life, why the f&&& are we paying for a college education, better health-services than I get as a working, productive member of society and other 'perks'. Kill him and get him out of our collective hair.

Ok, rant over

I can't believe how many people want to disarm law abiding citizens. You know that someone out there wants unarmed ignorant peasants, guess who that is. I bet you also think that your government will protect you from things that go bump in the night. You are probably the one that the government put all those warning stickers on things for, like the curling iron, "do not insert into any bodily orfices".

It is tempting to agree with all those folk here who believe that human society is best served by a) promoting the ownership of guns (or, I suppose, any weapon that might be devised), b) punishing--as impressively as possible--anyone who violates any law, c) personally killing anyone who trespasses, and/or d) killing all non-white peoples. Indeed, most of the posts made here are very good arguments for one of more of these points as they all illustrate and emphasize the most asinine, blood-thirsty, bloody-minded, testosterone-blinded, short-sighted, inhumane, self-contradictory inane foolishness that american society (and, to be fair, most human societies) promotes in lieu of any reasonably sane, self-supporting, and uplifting philosophy. Therefore, my support would itself support the what-appears-to-be not-too-distant self-extermination of same. That would seem to be the kindest path. [Oh yeah, not to leave any stones unturned: WWJD?]

Hello,

I saw a video from that nice knives at http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/mensch/0,1518,568594,00.html

I am very interested in having one of your knives, but your homepage doesn´t say if you also deliver to Germany.

May be you can answer me or give me an address where I can buy it.

Thanks a lot!

Hello,
I saw a video from that nice knives
I am very interested in having one of that knives, but their homepage doesn´t say if they also deliver to Germany.
May be you can answer me or give me an address where I can buy it.
Thanks a lot!

Nice knife... - though, really, that such a thing even exists is a sad commentary on society. Perhaps if governments started advocating personal responsibility instead of restricting freedoms they would find weapons like these unnecessary.

If people continually rely on others to protect them by restricting freedom, criminals are going to use weapons like these. Perhaps emphasis should be placed upon self-defense instead...

Why do the gun nuts always equate removing handguns from our society to total disarmament? Is lack of critical thinking a symptom of too much country music, inbreeding, or bible thumping? Oops, just answered my own question!

KILL THEM AND TAKE THEIR STUFF