Plastic Knives - a threat to air travel?

HTMD

HTMD

Joined
Feb 15, 2002
Messages
1,705
I'd never given it much thought... until 'my attractive wife' brought this one home from the grocery store. It's used to cut up iceberg lettuce but not turn the cut surfaces black like steel does. Weird!

orig.jpg


Anyway, I'd sure hate to be attacked on an airplane by a bunch of terrorists with the likes of these. They'd be easy to conceal on one's person while passing through security.

A couple of weeks ago TSA officials forced me to relinquish a beautiful Ash pipe-hawk haft (value $30) which I'd won at a hammer-in. I wasn't checking any bags and only had my carry-on. I was told at the ticket counter it didn't exceed the length limits and therefore I could carry it on board in my camera bag. However, at the gate they had different ideas. "It could be used as a weapon" she said. So I had to turn it over. Boy was I miffed - but, Oh well....

I read in today's paper, in a column by Prarie Home Companion's Garrison Keelor, his concern that if some terrorist smuggles a bomb on board a plane inside his/her rectum, TSA will have to institute body cavity searches which would certainly kill off the commercial airline industry pretty quickly.

I've already started driving more, when I would've been flying. Even trips of +/- 1,000 miles one way seem doable compared to the hassles of traveling by air. The days of casual air travel are GONE!
 
It was just luck that dork hid his bomb in his shoe; could have been in his underwear....
moving-van.jpg
 
I have seen these knives in question as a threat to air travel for a long time. -Look at the stuff Coldsteel produces...
 
Simple, simple solution.

Stop banning ordinary pocket knives altogether, and then any terrorist dumb enough to smuggle a plastic knife on board will face enraged passengers armed with Enduras, SAKs, Gerber Gators, and Sebenzas.

End of hijacking.

Fight terrorism with empowered citizens.
 
Sad thing is, the terorrist probably have stock piles of these thing, yet our goverment will probably never let us carry again. Makes you consider carrying your own. But you'll be the one caught, not the terrorist sand......,scumbag, piece of ......
Now we are forced to relie on expensive air marshalls shooting bullets on planes. Sweet.
 
Even those dinky catering plastic knives can be modified into stabbing weapons pretty easily. Pens can do the trick to, as can pencils. ANyone remember when Joe Arpaio banned writing instruments except golf pencils to his inmates for that reason. The same reason why the FBP uses the "prison pens" instead of traditional ones.
 
If an airplane can be taken over with a boxcutter or pencil, or, even worse, if a bomb can be made to pass as a bottle of water, airport security measures will be futile until each passenger is stripped naked, cavity searched or x-rayed, and handcuffed to their seat. Perhaps they will be furnished tyvex coveralls after they are stripped to provide a modicum of dignity.

Miscellaneous Thoughts
1. This should prevent attack by passengers; but what about all the pilots, flight crew, security personnel, maintenance & baggage workers, etc?
2. Is that talcum powder or anthrax spores on your butt?
3. Why not a suicide bomber with an internal bomb?
4. What could a powerful, trained fighter accomplish without weapons?
5. How much risk should be accepted?
 
Airport security is basically a feel-good measure, mostly for show. Sad but true. Nothing will deter someone hell bent on doing damage.
 
:confused: :confused: As Guyfalks said I wouldn't want to tussle with Chuck Liddel or Ken Shamrock have you seen what they can do with an empty hand, imagine getting hit with just a shoe, in Kali part of the training is with stick and knife, how about a shoe and spatula or when I remove my prosthetic leg and use it like a baseball bat. every time I go to the airport I get hassled for being disabled, because it would be wrong to profile the bad guys.
 
Siggyhk said:
I have seen these knives in question as a threat to air travel for a long time. -Look at the stuff Coldsteel produces...
Click to expand...

Funny you stated this.. I just got back in today and got the new cold steel catalog... They claim to be the strongest and sharpest knives on the market... LOL. i highly doubt that but i dont own any so icant say for sure.. but i KNOW they are are strong as the swamp rat line or as tough as the American Tomahawk... (they make a few hawks too, cold steel)

i noticed the nightshade series... these things could easily be taken on a plane... as Esay says, let the citizens carry.... if a passenger was carrying a LaGuana Hawk in his backpack and 3 terrorists tried to hijack a plane with nightshade series knives, i think ATC's motto on their start-up page is truer than ever.... :D


http://www.americantomahawk.com

*i love the opening on this site!!!:thumbup:
 
Siggyhk said:
I have seen these knives in question as a threat to air travel for a long time. -Look at the stuff Coldsteel produces...
Click to expand...

You mean the stuff Camillus produces FOR Cold Steel.

But yeah, plastic knives, what a horrible new threat.

*Sets up table for outdoor lunch. Unwraps food and opens large plastic bag containing plastic spoons, forks, and knives.*

Yeah, scary stuff. :rolleyes:
 
I always wondered if those plastic "grivory" knives that Cold Steel makes have a piece of metal embedded in them to stop them from being used by would-be terrorists. It would be a great way to keep them from being used for ill, and to catch some baddies if they would trip the alarm at the airport.

Does anyone have access to one of these "knives" and a metal detector? I've been wondering if they could pass undetected for a long time. I think the "metal" detectors at airports are not simple magnetic detectors though. I think they are density detectors as well, and will be tripped by ceramic or titanium blades, basically anything harder than teeth if in a large enough quantity (more than a pair of glasses.) Does anyone know more about this? The information on the subject is limited (and rightly so), I'm just curious.
 
Sheeples in charge using knee-jerk reactions. You can still carry "sheep friendly' 12 inch knitting needles or a seven inch screwdriver on board an airplane. Both weapons of mass destruction in the right hands....but then so is a credit card with a shaved edge. People sure are funny critters. !!:rolleyes:
 
severtecher said:
Sheeples in charge using knee-jerk reactions. You can still carry "sheep friendly' 12 inch knitting needles or a seven inch screwdriver on board an airplane. Both weapons of mass destruction in the right hands....but then so is a credit card with a shaved edge. People sure are funny critters. !!:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Don't forget fingernails and toothbrushes :eek: :cool:
 
I doubt terrorists would try to hijack a plane with plastic knives. Although the use of shivs in prisons might make you think , it's probably not going to happen.
 
If during the jet hijacks of 911. that more of the passengers had pocket knives or some sort of tactical blade. Those planes might not have went down. An armed society is a polite society.
 
moonwilson said:
I always wondered if those plastic "grivory" knives that Cold Steel makes have a piece of metal embedded in them to stop them from being used by would-be terrorists.
Click to expand...

In the UK, such "plastic" knives are banned from sale purely because of the airline threat. It shows how ridiculously ineffective such laws are though when they are still sold but with a metal ring attached like you would put your keys on. Apparently they are approved by the government for sale. It makes me feel offended that they think the British are so dumb that they can't just remove the ring. :jerkit:

As many other people have said, anything at all can be used as a weapon in some respect. Snap a plastic knife lengthwise along the "edge" and it will form a rather nasty sharp point.

The whole world is going crazy!:eek:
 
seems to me many of the laws regarding planes are kneejerk reactions to some incident. someone who intends to hijack a plane will find some way to get their weapon of choice on board. they are always at least one step ahead of the lawmakers.

as an leo, i can no longer enter an airport armed without jumping through hoops to do so.

i understand/sympathize with the intent of said laws and those who enforce them, just dont always agree on their means.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top