Quite a few years back, now, our lawmakers and the news media were running around like a Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm-Flailing Tube Man warning us about a new threat.
This threat was all the rage among criminals, a super deadly tool that just anybody could get and carry.
Oh, and carry it those just-anybodies were… sometimes, even concealing the weapons in their mouths and producing them on command like some kind of expectorating ninjas.
The weapon?
It was a simple boxcutter.
This was well before September 11th, mind you, when the term “boxcutter” became sort of infamous.
(Interestingly, we don’t actually have much in the way of confirmation that it was razor-cutters used on 9/11. In fact, one of the recordings from that tragic day includes the phrase, “Somebody was stabbed in business class,” which might indicate these were more conventional blades — and blades under 4 inches were once allowed on planes, believe it or not.)
For whatever reason, years ago, the media got it into their heads that the utility-razor boxcutter was the preferred weapon of street criminals.
There were a bunch of new laws passed that even made it illegal to carry a boxcutter unless you had a good reason for it (such as having it for work, given that these were most often used by people in grocery stories and other inventory-stocking type situations).
And when you think about it, a boxcutter has several things going for it as a concealed weapon:
- It’s very flat, light, compact, and easily concealed
- It’s razor sharp (obviously) and can be “resharpened” by simply replacing the blade
- It’s DIRT CHEAP (even if you pay higher prices for a customized one, which I’ll get to in a moment)
You can maybe imagine my surprise, then, when I discovered that the boxcutter (also called a “tap knife,” a “pop knife,” or a utility razor) was all the rage among the everyday carry (EDC) crowd on Instagram.
In fact, pop knives have become so popular that people are customizing them with cool patterns and even “samurai style” wraps.
(I’ve even seen a couple attempts to mate a concave razor blade with the pop knife frame, something that requires a little metal-work inside the holder to accomplish.)
Now, I’m not saying to run right out and replace your $125-dollar tactical knife with a two-dollar boxcutter.
But what I am saying is that these “tactical people” are on to something.
A knife like this makes a great last-ditch, super-concealed “swiper” — meaning you pop it out and “swipe it” across the target, doing a fairly serious amount of damage.
(The weird news reports about “expectorating ninja” involved stories of criminals carrying just the bare razor blades inside their mouths, and then spitting them out or holding them in their teeth to slice at people.)
For almost nothing, you can buy one, three, or a case of these utility razors, customize them with grip tape or skateboard tape, and even buy a custom samurai-sword-wrapped version from a guy on Etsy or Instagram.
It’s kind of a neat, el-cheapo option to have in your toolbox… and I never would have thought of this if I hadn’t seen the “cool kids” tactical crowd doing it on social media.