They’re about to be banned in Britain, and all I can make out is that they’re big and scary looking. How will they legally be defined?
The anti-zombie law, passed in response to a flurry or knife attacks, clearly has parallels with the situation in the US in that, a consensus having been found that “assault rifles” were bad, as well as big and scary looking, everybody realized that besides that (and semi/full auto) they had to labor to define what they ostensibly were.
A zombie knife (also known as a zombie killer knife or zombie slayer knife) is a type of knife. It is defined in English law as a blade with
[ol]
[li]a cutting edge;[/li][li]a serrated edge; and[/li][li]images or words (whether on the blade or handle) that suggest that it is to be used for the purpose of violence.[/li][/ol] Cite.
That makes no sense to me. A serrated edge on a zombie killing knife is a distinct liability. To kill a zombie with a knife, you need to thrust the blade through the skull and into the brain. When used this way, a serrated edge makes it much more likely that the blade will become stuck in the skull and pulled out of your hand. You’re much better off using a simple, single edged blade with a smooth back. Double edged blades also work well for this purpose with the understanding that the second cutting edge of the blade means that there is less metal and less strength in the blade. Such blades have been known to snap in half when used without the appropriate care and training.
An argument has been made that a serrated edge on a knife can be used to decapitate a zombie by sawing at the neck. While this may have value in after action battlefield sanitation, this will not help you in combat. Better tools should be available for such after action duties and a serrated edge will very likely not help you survive long enough to worry about them.
In the Agent Pendergast novel The Obsidian Chamber by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Childs, it’s the preferred weapon for assassinations used by Flavia Greyling in that book. After reading about it, I had to look it up. Zombie Killer Knives don’t look significantly more threatening than other knives, although the barbs some of them have would make them wicked to remove.
I’m more interested in whether there is a grass roots movement arising in Britain protesting this ban. Are lobbyists and knife-rights groups taking out full-page ads and staging demonstrations to object to this violation of rights?
It’s a bit hard to read, but I think the only words are the manufacturer’s name and model number, which in most reasonable people’s opinion, don’t “suggest that it is to be used for the purpose of violence.” So not legally a Zombie Knife.
The intent is not to ban useful knives, but to remove “display” knives not intended as a tool for anything from the streets.
There’s been a lot of knife crime in London over the past couple of years, and lawmakers obviously feel that banning ‘cool’ knives like these may stop people carrying them - or else provide an easy charge against someone caught carrying one.
EDIT: Note that you can own a divers knife such as that, and carry it in your divers kit and use it for whatever divers use it for, but you can’t carry it down the pub on a saturday. You won’t even be able to legally buy a ‘zombie’ knife.
Once on the History Channel show Forged in Fire a contestant created a knife he referred to as a “zombie chopper”. It was styled a lot like a fat tanto, with big, wicked-looking serrations on the spine; the cutting edge was unserrated. I can’t find a picture of it online.
In searching, a lot of the “zombie knives” I’ve seen have a gut hook on them. I don’t really see the utility of gutting something that’ll still come at you, but whatevs.
They are further enhanced with various neon and black decorative elements to make them “look cool” and appeal to impulsive violent minded people. This is not a useful instrument. One might put it to use if it were nearby when a thick rope needed cutting, but in terms of “intent for use” they are manufactured as stylized weaponry.
I could easily see how a person in a chemically induced frame of mind to make bad decisions might find inspiration in them.
Looking at some of the pictures, I wonder if the better solution might be to just allow them and let the wielders Darwinize themselves by trying to use them in a fight and accidentally disemboweling themselves. Some of them manage to look even less practical than bat’leths.