Custom Knife Modifications in Court

[Bruise Lee]

A fellow Forumite suggested to me cordwrapping an Arclite to make its bare metal handle more slip resistant. That got me to thinking. I remember Massad Ayoob, the gun sage, writing that it always looks bad in court to have used a custom gun on a bad guy. Suppose I shot someone trying to kill me with a race gun Colt .45 1911. Let's say it has an extended magazine, laser sights, a long slide, a pinned grip safety, and some special hot custom loads I cooked up on my Dillion reloader.

Mr. California District Attorney might say, "For Mr. Lee, the regular Colt .45, which was the standard pistol for our army for decades, was not a good enough killing machine for Mr. Lee. Plus, the .45 bullet, which is more powerful than the 9mm our police officers carry, was not good enough for him either. He had to hand make extra powerful bullets to make extra sure he could kill this poor young man, Mr. Smith, and his six friends...."

Sound crazy? Hey I live in L.A. Maybe I should become an actor so I can stab and kill at will - all I have to do is claim it's research for my next action movie :barf:

Seriously, though, has anyone found themselves in trouble in court because they customized a production knife?

Bruise

 

[Mike990]

Not trying to be a jerk here, but your way overthinking this. First off, no matter how hard I look, its super rare to find any media report of someone using a knife to defend themselves, save a housewife being beaten who grabs a kitchen knife.
I am sure it does happen as its happened to some guys here. But as for a knife all your doing by cord wrapping the handle is making it safer, so when you cut things for utility, which is why your carrying it, your hand does not slip forward onto the blade. You are more likely to get killed by lighting than ever need to explain in court why you cord wrapped anything.

 

[Bruise Lee]

Originally posted by Mike990
Not trying to be a jerk here, but your way overthinking this. You are more likely to get killed by lighting than ever need to explain in court why you cord wrapped anything.

Thanks for your input. I sure hope you are right! With laws as screwy as they are now, you never know. I know of a felon who was chased by LAPD during the commission of a felony. He crashed his car head on on a street in Wilmington (part of L.A.). He sued the city, claiming the paint dividing the road was worn out and hard to see at night. HE WON!

By the way, I wasn't only refering to cord wrapping as a modification. I was thinking if you ground or milled something like a blood groove in a blade, it might not look too good to a jury.

Bruise