Deadly new knife hits England

[CaptainChewbacca]

Would you like to know more?

Alert on new horror wasp knife
Jul 16 2008

SENIOR police officers in the West Midlands have been told to look out for a terrifying new knife capable of instantly ‘exploding’ its victims and freezing their internal organs.

Policy makers fear the wasp knife, which injects a frozen ball of compressed gas capable of killing a victim instantly, could be heading for the area’s streets.


The Metropolitan Police have told colleagues in the West Midlands to be on the lookout for the blade, which is designed to kill sharks and bears.

Police are concerned that the £200 weapon which injects gas through a needle embedded in the blade could fall into the wrong hands.

The American made weapon is sold to hunters and divers and injects the frozen ball that expands to the size of a basketball at 850psi when the small handle-mounted trigger is pressed.

The manufacturer describes it as perfect for downed pilots, soldiers and security guards and boasts that it will “drop many of the world’s largest land predators” and can snap-freeze all tissue and organs in the area surrounding the blast.

A source close to West Midlands Police said: “The Met is obviously concerned about this and that is why they have circulated the information.

“This knife will almost certainly kill and the Met must have intelligence that they are in circulation. I think it is only a matter of time before one of these is used because the internet makes it much easier to find and buy weapons like this.”

But Perry Barr’s Labour MP Khalid Mahmood today insisted the excellent community policing in areas like Handsworth, Aston and Lozells should ensure the knife stays in the capital.

Khalid Mahmood (Lab, Perry Barr) said: “Weapons like this are absolutely disgraceful and there is no reason at all why people should be walking around the streets with them.

“There should be high profile operations and high profile arrests against anybody caught with them. The way to tackle the wider issue of knife crime is with effective community policing, which the West Midlands force does very well.

“The Met could pick up on the lessons from West Midlands Police in its excellent community work in places like Handsworth, Aston and Lozells.”

The Wasp injection website states: “The effects of the compressed gas not only cause over-inflation during ascent when used underwater, but also freezes all tissues and organs surrounding the point of injection on land or at sea.”

I've never heard of it, but the Wasp Knife sounds like an incredibly badass way to open someone up as painfully as possible.

[Admiral Valdemar]

That's pretty damn awesome for a weapon.

Just what we need; more chavs spending their cash on body exploding knives instead of White Lightning and condoms.

[Tasoth]

While it is a neat weapon, the thought of getting hit with one of those is frightening. Also, wouldn't an item such as that be easy to trace if gotten through reputable means? I would also think the ammo would be easy to use as a means of tracking someone.

[Admiral Valdemar]

The CO2 canisters look similar to air rifle ones, so it may not be that hard. That's assuming you can get the knife, which will be hard to do normally. It is a niche product and highly engineered.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

While it is a neat weapon, the thought of getting hit with one of those is frightening. Also, wouldn't an item such as that be easy to trace if gotten through reputable means? I would also think the ammo would be easy to use as a means of tracking someone.

It's not any worse than living in America, where everyone in an urban gangland has a Mac-10, and you'd just lose a limb if you managed to put an arm up to block it, which most people are able to do during knife strikes, so I'd expect to see a lot more amputations over this than deaths.

[aerius]

It only works if you get stabbed squarely with it, if the vent isn't buried cleanly in flesh it ain't gonna do squat.

[cosmicalstorm]

I heard them talking about this "bodyexploding weapon" on the news a couple of weeks ago and got all excited thinking they had managed to build a phaser or something

[Vampiress_Miyu]

Jebus Christ.... How did they DO that?

[Justforfun000]

You know...I have a hard time not judging people who want to use a weapon of ANY sort as a peaceful individual. I know there are undoubtedly many hunters that are (with humans), pacifists, and wouldn't harm anyone, but a niggling part of my mind just feels that anyone who actually wants to bring harm or death to any living creature unless absolutely necessary is a bit scary..

[RIPP_n_WIPE]

While I won't deny I'm intrigued I'm wondering why the fuck someone would want to make a knife like that. It really has not other practical purpose for a CO2 injector other than fucking somebody up.

[nickolay1]

It really has not other practical purpose for a CO2 injector other than fucking somebody up.

It was obviously intended for use against animals.

[CaptainChewbacca]

While I won't deny I'm intrigued I'm wondering why the fuck someone would want to make a knife like that. It really has not other practical purpose for a CO2 injector other than fucking somebody up.

If you saw the site, you'd see it is designed with very specific purposes. It kills a shark, but before it 'explodes' the creature it expands and floats the corpse to the surface, so that it doesn't chum the waters around you. Its actually incredibly well-designed for that purpose.

[RIPP_n_WIPE]

While I won't deny I'm intrigued I'm wondering why the fuck someone would want to make a knife like that. It really has not other practical purpose for a CO2 injector other than fucking somebody up.

If you saw the site, you'd see it is designed with very specific purposes. It kills a shark, but before it 'explodes' the creature it expands and floats the corpse to the surface, so that it doesn't chum the waters around you. Its actually incredibly well-designed for that purpose.

I did see the site, I just find that the use is highly specific. I think fewer people will buy this knife for use against a shark or other animal than for use against individuals.

Though the military applications are obvious I wonder if use of such a knife combatants would raise the question of cruelty on the battlefield.

[Sea Skimmer]

Who the fuck would spend that much money on a mere knife just to try to kill someone with it? Strikes me as being the same kind of not logic of people fearing criminals will start using 4,000 dollar .50cal rifles for crimes.

[nickolay1]

Though the military applications are obvious I wonder if use of such a knife combatants would raise the question of cruelty on the battlefield.

It's single-shot, so the gas injection capability does not provide much of an advantage over a standard knife.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

I do have to admit my first thought was of a bunch of gangers in Britain knife-fighting like in the Lynch Dune.

[Kanastrous]

This would be perfect for our show.

Gotta tell the writers to have a look.

Thanks!

[Admiral Valdemar]

No one in the UK is going to fork out for something so small and of limited use like this, much as the concept is interesting. Hell, on the local news, I saw a guy with a pizza cutter knife that I used to have with "PIZZA" cut out of the sickle like blade. The guy's going to be in for a shock when he uses it, as from experience the blade comes out of the hilt easily (what do you expect for a quid and a fucking pizza cutter?).

Give me a kukri, Microtech Halo or tanto blade or general purpose survival knife.

[Kanastrous]

I'm partial to punch daggers.

They're much easier to retain.

[aerius]

I'm partial to punch daggers.

They're much easier to retain.

And sadly they're banned in quite a few places, including Canada. We're allowed to have sword canes but not push daggers, go figure.

[Kanastrous]

I'm partial to punch daggers.

They're much easier to retain.

And sadly they're banned in quite a few places, including Canada. We're allowed to have sword canes but not push daggers, go figure.

Well, here in California we're forbidden to own sword canes.

Ah, symmetry.

[Pablo Sanchez]

And sadly they're banned in quite a few places, including Canada. We're allowed to have sword canes but not push daggers, go figure.

I think a punch dagger is probably a more dangerous street weapon than a sword cane, given how thin the blade on a sword cane has to be. A cheap one would be fairly likely to just break in half.

Frankly I don't expect too many incidents of this weapon being used. It costs £200 and is only marginally more effective than a regular knife of the same proportions. If you're going to kill a guy, you could save £180 by buying a regular hunting knife and just stab him two or three more times.

[Kanastrous]

A good sword cane has a tempered epee blade and is primarily a thrusting weapon. Slashing with one is poor technique...

[Kanastrous]

and, a sword cane has the potential advantage of keeping your opponent at a greater distance.

[Sriad]

And sadly they're banned in quite a few places, including Canada. We're allowed to have sword canes but not push daggers, go figure.

I think a punch dagger is probably a more dangerous street weapon than a sword cane, given how thin the blade on a sword cane has to be. A cheap one would be fairly likely to just break in half.

Frankly I don't expect too many incidents of this weapon being used. It costs £200 and is only marginally more effective than a regular knife of the same proportions. If you're going to kill a guy, you could save £180 by buying a regular hunting knife and just stab him two or three more times.

And even if it is used... if someone is attacked with lethal intent and gets a four-inch-deep stab wound to the vital organs, they're probably going to die whether compressed air is involved in one shot, or the ordinary stabbing kind of knife is used several more times. It would only be used as described when there's already killing intent, and it isn't really very hard to kill a person using an ordinary knife.

It's pretty neat for it's intended purpose of diver safety though.