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States Grapple With Sale and Possession of Box Cutters as a Tool for Violence
Associated Press ^ | Oct 5, 2001 | Seanna Adcox

Posted on 10/05/2001 2:34:34 AM PDT by Terrorista Nada

States Grapple With Sale and Possession of Box Cutters as a Tool for Violence

States Grapple With Sale and Possession of Box Cutters as a Tool for Violence

By Seanna Adcox Associated Press Writer
Published: Oct 5, 2001

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - It's a simple and versatile tool for everyone from grocery clerks to hobbyists. But in the wrong hands, box cutters can be lethal.

New scrutiny has been leveled on the razor-type gadgets over the past month after allegations that the cheap and readily available tools were used to hijack four airliners and a moving bus.

"Anything like that, you can't control what purpose they're used for," said Rich White of Bridgeford Hardware in Albany, which normally sells a "handful" a week.

On Wednesday, a passenger on a Greyhound bus in Tennessee cut the driver's throat, causing a crash that killed six of the 40 people aboard. The driver told authorities the attacker used a box cutter.

That came a few weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Passengers who placed cell phone calls from the jets said the hijackers also used box cutters.

Whether they confused box cutters with similar tools like utility or X-Acto knives may never be known. The terms are used interchangeably, even by those who sell them.

A typical box cutter holds the corner of a razor blade in a flat, rectangular metal sheath not much bigger than a stick of gum. The 4-inch device is lightweight, inexpensive and easily accessible.

X-Acto knives, favored by graphic artists, are roughly the size of a pen with a smaller razor-like blade fastened to the end. Utility knives have a bigger handle and replaceable blades stored in the handle.

Before Sept. 11, some of the gadgets could pass through airport metal detectors without raising an eyebrow. The FAA had allowed any knife 4 inches long or less on the plane.

States have long grappled with the use of such tools. Some such as New York, Alabama and Virginia, define them as a "dangerous instrument" or "deadly weapon" if someone uses them in a crime.

The New York City Council unanimously passed a law in 1995 prohibiting stores from selling them to children under 18 and banning them from school grounds.

"We had an abundance of kids using them to cut people in schools, in gang fights," said councilman Al Stabile, who sponsored the bill. "The numbers were staggering."

To give the law more muscle, the city in 1998 increased the age to 21, limited their sale to home improvement and hardware stores and banned them from all public places.

Chicago law prohibits the sale of utility knives to anyone under 18. Possession is limited, though minors can use utility knives at school, work or home under the supervision of an adult.

Police in California say box cutters are commonly used as weapons there, too, while Florida includes razor blades and box cutters in its list of weapons not allowed on school grounds.

So far, the recent attacks have not affected box cutter sales largely because the industry is so specialized, said Roger Stuart, president of Listo Corp. in Alameda, Calif., which exports box cutters to Norway and Sweden.

---

AP-ES-10-05-01 0442EDT


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To: AppyPappy
Maybe we should pass a law against murder.

That's not very efficient. Let's instead, outlaw each and every instrument that could be used for murder.

41 posted on 10/05/2001 6:31:41 AM PDT by Lazamataz
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To: Lazamataz
Let's instead, outlaw each and every instrument that could be used for murder

I've used that analogy to highlight the mountain of laws that will eventually, if left unchecked, turn into the Rocky Mountain Range. Whereas all valid criminal law could be covered by this:

The Constitution of the Universe

Article 1

No person, group of persons, or government may initiate force, threat of force, or fraud against any individual.

Article 2

Force may be morally and legally used only in self-defense against those who violate Article 1.

Article 3

No exceptions shall exist for Articles 1 and 2.

Neo-Tech

With a little more help from my friends:

The Bush administration has ruled that the U.S. Air Force can shoot down hijacked airliners to prevent their use as weapons against buildings, but airline pilots are not permitted to carry pistols.

Pilots threaten to stop service if kept unarmed

It is soooo logical to arm pilots that I can't stand it. Why would additional personnel (marshals) in the cabin where the marshals are subject to hijacking be preferable to just setting up the last line of defense and making sure no one could be better armed than that last line without destroying the plane???

I totally agree. You know, this is not an isolated incident where politicians, bureaucrats, journalists and special interest groups suddenly had a mental disorder where logic abandoned them. It is typical. Common incompetence. Intentionally creating problems where they need not exist.

Think about it, if they, especially politicians and bureaucrats can fail in logic that any other person would readily assume a logical course of action -- Torie is the only one of fifty people on this thread that doesn't "get it" -- there is an extremely high probability that politicians and bureaucrats fail just as miserably if not more so regarding other issues.

Most people on FreeRepublic should seek to understand the profound meaning of that. In short, it amounts to this...

Who are the value producers? Who are the value destroyers? 
Protect the value producers -- prosecute the value destroyers.

It will cost taxpayers three to five billion dollars a year to fund the training and salaries of sky marshals and it still won't solve the problem nearly as well as armed pilots. Plus, is poses other risks. One is that a terrorist will gain control of sky marshal's gun and use it to effectively turn the plane into a missile or a terrorist impersonating a sky marshal. ...If politicians and bureaucrats have it their way -- Who are the value destroyers? To add more logic is that Front Sight Firearm Training Institute -- arguably the best in the country and probably the world -- is offering to train commercial pilots for free -- Who are the value producers?

Protect the value producers -- prosecute the value destroyers.


42 posted on 10/05/2001 6:53:24 AM PDT by Zon
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To: Lazamataz
But, but...if we arm pilots, we'll have to arm bus drivers, then the cab drivers and pizza delivery guys. Before you know it, we'll have an armed citizenry! We can't do that--why, it's downright CONSTITUTIONAL!!

How true, how true. It is the most threatening thing for politicians and bureaucrats to be accurately identified as the problem and not the solution. They fear that the Constitution and Bill Of Rights will become contagious. My brief tribute with a little help from my friends:

"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws." - Ayn Rand in Atlas Shrugged 

U.S. government agents/Gestapo seeking a family's National ID Cards: What?! You don't have your papers. Take the alleged Mr. and Mrs. Smith in for questioning. Take the two children to the processing center.

"If the natural tendencies of mankind are so bad that it is not safe to permit people to be free, how is it that the tendencies of these organizers are always good? Do not the legislators and their appointed agents also belong to the human race? Or do they believe that they themselves are made of a finer clay than the rest of mankind? The organizers maintain that society, when left undirected, rushes headlong to its inevitable destruction because the instincts of the people are so perverse. The legislators claim to stop this suicidal course and to give it a saner direction. Apparently, then, the legislators and the organizers have received from Heaven an intelligence and virtue that place them beyond and above mankind.

They would be the shepherds over us, their sheep. Certainly such an arrangement presupposes that they are naturally superior to the rest of us. And certainly we are fully justified in demanding from the legislators and organizers proof of this natural superiority." -- Frederick Bastiat, The Law (1850)

Especially since they allow to pass such blatant insults to our intelligence. For example: "But I didn't inhale". "It depends on the meaning of what is, is." I didn't have an affair with Jennifer Flowers." "I didn't have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinski." The constitution clearly states one and only one recourse when a President is impeached: removal from office. Legislators know how to violate their oath of office.

Prohibition was a total failure but the War On some Drugs will be a success. So will the War On Poverty be a success. "Legitimize" Ruby Ridge, "legitimize" mass murder of seventy-eight innocents at Waco. How many innocents have been terrorized, physically injured, sometimes murdered and financially deprived by no-knock raids? Recently and still ongoing, the government terrorized -- is terrorizing -- 1500 farmers at Klamath Falls basin and in the process destroyed the farmers livelihoods/businesses. And the biggest "good-guy" liberty thief -- the IRS -- how many thousands of innocents have been physically, emotionally and financially terrorized by the IRS criminal investigation division (CID).

Only a man's prior actions can hope to speak for his future intents. 

Who are the value producers? Who are the value destroyers? 
Protect the value producers -- prosecute the value destroyers.

43 posted on 10/05/2001 6:54:55 AM PDT by Zon
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To: Terrorista Nada
I am organizing a Million Mom March against boxcutters. Please send me $10.00 and I'll let everyone know when and where the march will take place as soon as I get all the details ironed out. Thank you.
44 posted on 10/05/2001 7:01:52 AM PDT by pepperdog
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To: Terrorista Nada
They're normally safe in the hands of responsible people. We just need to make sure we don't sell them to Arabs.
45 posted on 10/05/2001 7:09:44 AM PDT by boycott
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To: Terrorista Nada
I usually carry a small "box cutter" with a clip that holds
it onto my shirt pocket to clip articles out of newspapers.
46 posted on 10/05/2001 8:47:23 AM PDT by APBaer
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To: Zon
Re: someone from 1901.

My grandma was born in '96, she died in 1992, but before she passed, she taught me the truth as she saw it. She raised 8 children, my grandpa was a teamster(a real one), and was gone for long periods of time. He died when his oldest was 19, the youngest was 6 years old. She was the postmaster of the town, taught school and cooked for ranch hands on the weekends. She refused to take govt "relief", instead she "farmed out" the oldest of the children to local farmers and ranchers, where they did chores, cooked and cleaned, or toiled in the fields, in return she took in the money from all of the children, and kept the house in order for the smaller ones. Now my mother and her siblings are ALL liberals, and look upon her as too stern, and offish. They now have no problem living off the govt teat, although they would never be in the position to do it(their mother taught them too well for that) But out of this enormous family, there are 3 conservatives. Out of nearly 100 uncles, aunts, or cousins only 3 exist. Until I found this site, I really didn't even know there were any others beside me and Rush.

Anyways, she disdained the politics of the family, until the day she died. Told anyone who would listen, that they needed to "tighten your belt", or "buck up be responsible" when things got tough. I don't know if she was just crabby, or if the values she saw in others of this era just grated on her. But you can bet she would think most everybody were sheep(le), to her everyone was either dependent, or independent, and she left not a doubt which one she preferred.

Oh, and I remember her telling me in '60, that JFK was a "rounder", while she proudly campaigned for Nixon.

47 posted on 10/05/2001 3:24:39 PM PDT by jeremiah
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To: GeorgeandtheDralgore
I suggest registration for screwdrivers

I could be in trouble, I often leave these deadly items on the coffee table, or on the dash of the truck, I had better go out and get a tool safe, and store the cordless drill in a separate place. You never know when the grandFReepers might get into those things, and cause a neighborhood incident.

48 posted on 10/05/2001 3:28:20 PM PDT by jeremiah
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To: Wm Bach
Assault Breasts.......ohuh.huh.huh.huh.huhhhhhh wiping drool from the keyboards
49 posted on 10/05/2001 3:29:47 PM PDT by jeremiah
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To: Terrorista Nada
Well, if they outlaw boxcutters I'm gonna have to find a different job. Use them everyday to (gasp) open boxes. With false teeth it's kinda hard to rip the boxes open that way.
50 posted on 10/05/2001 3:39:58 PM PDT by barker
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To: jeremiah
I had better go out and get a tool safe, and store the cordless drill in a separate place.

LOL
And don't forget the pens. There must be a permit for pen users. No kidding! These things are dangerous...

GandtheD

51 posted on 10/05/2001 4:45:03 PM PDT by Elenya
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To: jeremiah
Sounds like your grandma grew up in the midst of it and never saw an end to it. Very happy that she kept her wits/principles intact. Thanks for sharing. In my mind, when I pictured a person in 1901 it was an adult older than thirty.
52 posted on 10/05/2001 5:06:23 PM PDT by Zon
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To: Terrorista Nada
Oh, my! When I saw the headline, I thought it was satire. "When they outlaw boxcutters, only outlaws will have boxcutters". I'll probably have to give up my letter openers as well. I'll be gnawing open my mail. These people are pathetic!
53 posted on 10/05/2001 5:11:15 PM PDT by .38sw
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To: .38sw
They going to have to outlaw women's acrylic nails as well - no long fingernails! You could put out someone's eye with those things!
54 posted on 10/05/2001 5:14:08 PM PDT by .38sw
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To: Drawsing


Box cutter:



Xacto knife:



Utility knife:



And last but not least, the uber-evil, kills by itself, weapon of choice for all those drive by bayonetings that are rampant nowadays:




55 posted on 10/05/2001 6:10:41 PM PDT by Hoosier Patriot
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To: Wm Bach
Gosh, it's important that we at least try to stop boxcutter terrorism now

You know, it's a never been documented fact that box cutters are an entry type of weapon. Statistics allegedly indicate a clear possibility that the use of box cutters may eventually lead to more dangerous weapon use.

I say "nip-it-in-the-bud."

56 posted on 10/05/2001 6:21:24 PM PDT by been_lurking
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Comment #57 Removed by Moderator


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