The boss of Swiss Army Knife maker Victorinox says a rise in regulation to tackle knife crime meant the company is working on a new model without a blade.
Carl Elsener, chief executive of Victorinox, said a rise in regulation to tackle knife crime meant the company was developing a new version of its famous pocket tool.
In an interview with Swiss newspaper Blick, he said: "We're concerned about the increasing regulation of knives due to the violence in the world.
"We're actually working on pocket tools without blades. For example, I have a cool tool for cyclists in mind.
"We already have a tool specifically for golfers in our range. Cyclists probably need special tools, but not necessarily a blade. The blade creates a weapon image in some markets."
Mr Elsener said Victorinox saw knife sales plummet by more than 30% "overnight" after the September 11 attacks in the US, telling Blick: "9/11 painfully showed us that we must not become dependent on a single business area."
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Under UK law, a person can only carry a knife in public if it has a folding blade that is less than three inches long.
is illegal to carry most other knives in public without a "good reason", which includes for work, for religious reasons (such as the kirpan some Sikhs carry) or if they are carried as part of a national costume.
Data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in April shows that knife crime in UK increased by 7% from the year ending December 2022 to December 2023, and has increased by 81% in the past decade.
So weird to talk about 9/11 in this context.
Everything plummeted after 9/11 probably.
Also fuck these impactless knife regulations and the endless blaming of violence on weapons. Treat your citizens better and they wont have any reason to be violent.
I'm a U.S. knife collector and it just blows my mind that 99% of my collection would be illegal in a lot of other countries/states. I always carry a knife on me no matter the setting. (Except high security areas. Schools, Government buildings, dispensaries, and others.) Former Blue Collar worker so they just became part of my life. I honestly see them as tools and I don't look at any of them as weapons. Even the ones that are designed for that task.
Hell, the knife I typically daily carry would probably get me arrested on whatever equates to a felony in the UK. I've opened so many boxes with this fucker though.
About Victorinox though, I mean they've always kinda done their thing so more power to them. Hope they find a new market, but I don't think they will find some ground breaking thing that will change their situation since the multi-tool market is so flooded.
Seriously, search for "cyclist multi-tool" and see how much shit there is out there before they've even entered that market.
Under UK law, a person can only carry a knife in public if it has a folding blade that is less than three inches long.
This is the thing that always gets me. From what I remember of this law, you have to carry an under 3" knife that is NON-LOCKING. Making it that much more dangerous to even use for it's intended purpose.