The problem as I see it today, is simple. Folks are growing up, and not learning the correct basic fundamentals of anything, and have been brainwashed into thinking/feeling "safety" is dependent on some kind of physical something.
Parents are not parenting, and mentors are not mentoring.
Maybe the gov't has brainwashed folks to the point "the gov't is gonna take care of you".
We certainly hear a lot of society whining out "somebody gotta do something!" and gov't passes some stupid band-aid fix of a law, to get votes and give society the warm-n-fuzzies.
Never learn on a crutch, for if you lose that crutch, you will fall down.
Scissors, for example. Kids do not have the motor skills developed yet, nor the attention span.
So "safety scissors" ( rounded ends) are what kids learn "scissor safety and use".
Victorinox, does a "My first knife" which is kid friendly as is a great teaching tool.
Kids are parented, mentored, in correct basic fundamentals. They Earn responsibility, with scissors, knives, guns, and anything else.
"Don't run with scissors".
"Fingers and body parts stay away from points and sharp edges".
"Four Rules of Gun Safety apply even to this BB Gun"
etc.
My position on all this stems from the fact I was born in the last great decade, and how I was raised.
You learn on a slip joint /pocket knife ( that is what we had, or fixed). The Safety is b/t the ears, and if one learns and uses these correct basic fundamentals, then locking knives will not bite them. Err I should say less apt to...it depends on whether you have a stupid knife design. *snark*
Dead Serious.
The last time I got cut with a knife, was with a locking knife.
Why? Because you have to put fingers in front /near the edge, to release the liner lock.
This goes totally against how I was raised. There is no other way to release the dad-blasted thing, other than have a finger near that edge.
Slip joint is safer than this known, popular, liner lock knife. Not only in how you close it, also in use.
That stupid lock, does not always lock.
This is where having been raised on slip joints, and correct basic fundamentals, kept another person from being cut, while using it.
Stupid me, gets cut in closing this thing.
I was asked to test and evaluate some knives and I wanted input from others.
A lady friend said "you close this stupid thing, it ain't made for us that were raised right".
The slip joint, has backspring tension.
What do most locking knives have for "tension" between closed, and locked?
I also grew up with fixed blades, and these had points rounded and edges dulled.
I am a wittle kid, and that knife was "mine" to learn with. How to do everything with one, from handling it, to handing it to someone else, how to hold it, use it, clean it, dry it off, put in its spot....etc.
I earned being responsible enough to have a fixed knife "my size" with a point, and sharpened.
A fixed is safer than a locking knife. Just the same, you get fingers in front of that edge, and it will cut you as well.
Safety is between the ears.
But getting back to the cam end tangs -- a properly done pattern will do its final snap closed much closer to the handle - usually close enough that you have naturally moved everything attached to you out of the way by then - and the *snap* is normally not nearly so "impressive". 
