The 'Vampire Straw' so-called dual-purpose self-defense tool

Dirty Dog said:
So what? Air in a wound does nothing whatsoever.

Don't know. Maybe they figured out that all of this was nonsense?

Knives do not have blood groves. The fullers on a blade add strength by increasing the surface area and remove metal to make the blade lighter. The whole "blood grove" thing is nonsense perpetrated by people who don't actually know anything about blades.

What the hell is a "blood tank"? I must have missed that in A&P. It's embarrassing to think that I have no idea what that is, despite my Masters being in Human Physiology... Or maybe, just maybe... this is all a load of fetid donkey dung.

Again, so what? Every wound anybody has ever had has been exposed to air. Every. Single. One. Air doesn't hurt wounds. Not in the slightest. I suppose if the blade included little holes with a pressurized air supply... but then it would be the pressure causing the secondary damage, not the air. There is (or was) a knife like that sold to foolish divers.

Bollocks.
Click to expand...
You are killing me because I can’t get any air!
 
Bill Mattocks said:
I never heard of these before, but I'm not shocked.

www.usatoday.com

Vampire straw gets passenger arrested at Boston airport: 'These items are not allowed'

A 26-year-old airline passenger was arrested for trying to bring a vampire straw through TSA.
www.usatoday.com

It's the same sort of thing that gets popular for awhile, going back to the Kubaton keychain or maybe even the sword-cane. People often like the idea of a self-defense weapon that has a dual purpose, like an ink pen that is hardened and can be put to use as a stabby kind of thing if need be.

Everyone wants the magic device that puts one over on cops and security people. Ha ha, officer, it's not a stabby thing, it's a pen! See? It writes! It's not a stabby thing, it's a straw! See me drink from it! It's not a set of brass knuckles, it's a belt buckle! See it hold my pants up?

The problem is, there is no magic. You're not going to fool anyone or argue a cop out of seeing it for what it is. Wink, wink, doesn't really work.

Weapons are in what they are used for, not necessarily what they look like. There's no way to reliably fool professionals. It might work once or twice; but when you get caught, you're caught.

About the only dual-use self-defense weapon that I think can be carried reliably is a cane, and that's for people who need one and can prove it (typically). At my age, my gait is messed up. If I start walking with a cane (and I have in the past, but I'm better now), I can pretty much take it anywhere; if I have to use it to defend myself, oh well. However, something slightly more offensive in nature, like a sword cane, isn't going to pass. There are lots of places a person can learn to fight with a cane, and lots of canes that can take a lot of abuse. So I'll exempt that.

But otherwise? I've seen people get their Kubatons confiscated, their brass knuckle belt buckles, their 'CIA pens' and their plastic x-ray-proof daggers. You can argue all you like, it's not going to fool a cop.

My suggestion is to leave the vampire straw at home. Good grief.
Click to expand...
Can confirm. I worked security at a courthouse for almost 2 years. We caught a lot of stuff folks obviously thought wouldn't get caught, and we weren't exposed to as much or trained as well as cops and airport security.

Fortunately for folks going into the courthouse, the cops there were not aggressive about most things. Folks who brought guns or ammo ended up in cuffs, but most other stuff was just confiscated.
 
Hot Lunch said:
On my keychain, I keep a pry tool that has wrench slots in it (Leatherman "By the Numbers" series). It can also be used as a flathead screwdriver. It's also TSA compliant (as indicated on the packaging). Once, when going into a courthouse, security at the door was questioning it, and I told her it was TSA compliant. And she let me through with it. I understand two things: TSA compliance is irrelevant in a courthouse, and that she probably let me through because she may have felt it wasn't an issue worth pushing.

In any case, I do keep a "get home bag" on me at all times, even when I'm going through the airport. I use the Keep Notes app on my phone where I maintain a list of items in my GHB that either need to be moved to checked luggage or left at home.
Click to expand...
Ac;tually, for some courthouses, TSA compliance does mean something. If they are looking to exclude weapons, TSA standards pretty much cover that. That said, saying it's compliant shouldn't have mattered, and it might just be that by the time you said that they'd determined it was acceptable. I think I know the tool you're talking about, and we'd have looked at something like that to check for stabby and cutty things, then let it through (small tools were allowed, but not entire kits, unless it was a scheduled service call).
 
Kung Fu Wang said:
I just got one as a gift last week. What do you guys think about this SD tool - BLACKJACK SLAPPER?

Blackjack Weapon Slapper - Self Defense | BUDK.com

Designed for law enforcement use and perfect for self defense. Constructed of top quality leather with hand-strap for secure grip. Get yours today at BUDK.com!
www.budk.com www.budk.com
Click to expand...
Illegal in many places. It's just a short club and obviously has no purpose other than as a weapon. If I want to carry a marginally effective weapon that isn't obviously a weapon, I'll carry a cane. And limp.
 
To the point of the original post, it’s all a little silly. Mostly theater.

This vampire straw is not okay, but this is:

1682607391475.webp

And this is:

1682607466372.webp
 
Dirty Dog said:
Does anybody expect rules imposed by a government agency to be based on logic or reason?
Click to expand...
TSA rules aside, every cop knows that a screwdriver is a burglar tool if it's carried by a person during a burglary, and a knitting needle is a deadly weapon if someone stabs somebody with it. It's not just what it is intended for, it's what it's used for as well. Context matters.

Too many people, in my opinion, think there are 'magic' things they can carry that they can use to defend themselves and the cops will just be fuming mad but stymied, no one can touch them, hahaha. Just like the sovereign citizens who think they can throw around some latin-sounding words at a traffic stop and avoid tickets or getting arrested for warrants. There are no magic words, no magic weapons. The only exception I've ever been able to see is the cane, mainly because it's impossible to ban cane use for those who actually need them, and well...you can't really stop someone from smacking somebody over the head with it.

The catalogs and websites are full of those things, the flea market tables have them. They cater to the juveniles who want to somehow legally carry concealed weapons and think there's some way to skirt the laws. In my day, it was the Loompanics catalog and various booklets that proposed people carry around pockets full of dirt to throw in someone's eyes or a fishing lure on a string to bolo an attacker, etc. It was a riot - when I was 15.
 
Dirty Dog said:
Does anybody expect rules imposed by a government agency to be based on logic or reason?
Click to expand...
are you saying cops don’t act based on logic or reason? You may have a point, though some on this forum probably disagree with you.
 
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