There are a lot of misconceptions about knives and blades.
One thing I find frustrating is that people often believe purely aesthetic decision choices, or features that might improve everyday quality of life for the weapon, actually make a knife more lethal.
In reality, two pointy metal objects with a sharp edge, of a similar size and shape, will have a very similar injury profile. If you stab someone to the neck with a butterfly knife, it will have the same practical effect as the blade on a pair of scissors.
Ultimately, this means two things:
- All sharp, pointy metal objects are lethal and must be treated that way; police, for example, are equally justified in using lethal force whether the subject is armed with a balisong or a pair of scissors.
- Banning particular kinds of sharp, pointy metal objects does not make the street safer, because they can be substituted for other sharp and pointy metal things which are equally lethal (balisong -> kitchen knife or scissors for example).
Kitchen knives are used in many fatal stabbings. They are just as effective as knives “designed” for killing.
Most knives are small, simple, easy to use, easy to conceal, fast to deploy, and very effective. The qualities many people worry about are superfluous to their function, or merely improve quality of life and comfort. Much of it is about style and aesthetic concerns.