What's a "so-called Leatherman Knife"?

W

W.T. Beck

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I was just listening to a report on National Public Radio about federal efforts to track potential airline hijackers. The announcer was discussing one incident in which a suspect was carrying a "so-called Leatherman knife".

Can anyone tell me what the hell is a "so-called Leatherman knife"?
Maybe the reporter knows that there is a Leatherman tool, not a Leatherman knife. But it strikes me as unlikely that a liberal news reporter would have such knowledge of knives.

I am wondering if using the term "so-called" is just a way to cast an aspersion on a knife, making it sound somehow illegitimate, like refering to a gun as a "Saturday Night Special"?
 
Maybe the plier section was dismantled and only the handle side with the blade was kept to use as a weapon, but that ones comin out of left field.
 
Could it have been the law enforcement officers gave a statement that the suspect had a "Leatherman Knife" meaning he had a leatherman multi-tool. Then the reporter, never hearing of a "Leatherman Knife" stated that it was a "so-called Leatherman Knife" meaning according to the law enforcement officers it was called a "Leatherman Knife" even though he has no clue what that is.
 
From http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/01/27/911.commis.knife/index.html :

"Some September 11 hijackers may have been armed with a high-strength, folding metal utility knife rather than a more easily concealed box cutter, according to testimony Tuesday on Capitol Hill.

Members of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States passed around and examined a Leatherman-style utility knife on the second day of a two-day hearing."

In other words, they used something sharp and metal.

For some reason it bugs me more and more that the press seems to take no interest in doing a small amount of extra research into their story to make the details actually tie into the story.

The reporter names a brand, but does not actually state if this brand was used in the attacks. He does not indicate if the knives were multi-tools, or some other type of metal handled, folding utility knife.

Of course, the press still refers to most guns the police use as "service revolvers" too.

Quality is job none.
 
Beck.

After reading your post I was about to say that the NPR report probably used the term "so called" because there are about 2 dozen leatherman tool knock-offs out there.

Aux's CNN link proves that.

You can find some of these knock-offs at most .99 cent or dollar stores.


sunnee
 
From the linked CNN article:

Except for guns, large knives, explosives and incendiaries, carriers and screening contractors were allowed to use "common sense" in determining what was prohibited on planes, the staffers said.

Common Sense, huh?

To help screeners before 9/11, the airlines had developed a guide that classified box cutters as restricted, staffers said. But pocket utility knives with less than 4-inch blades were allowed, they said, and the guide provided no instruction on how to distinguish between those knives and box cutters."

So you could not carry a 1 inch bladed box cutter, but you could carry a 3.9 inch "utility knife". But aren't box cutters utility knives? Can't utility knives be used as box cutters?

Dammit...now I have a headache.
 
Deep breaths Aux, deep breaths.


Just don't go to the airport and try to ask those questions. You'll end up in the special room with the box of latex gloves on the table.


sunnee
 
I do not ask any questions at the airport. Just go where the nice man tells you to.
 
Last time I was at the airport and got searhed, I was saying something like "You've had a hectic day Sir. Let me put that box on the table for you. Would you like me to open it too?"


sunnee
 
More: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/yahoo/orl-asecattacks28012804jan28,0,7832231.story

Before 9-11, for instance, knives of less than 4 inches were allowed on planes. The commission staff passed around a lethal-looking "Leatherman" knife with a locking blade identical to the ones that the hijackers bought before their flights.

What the hell is not "lethal" when in the hands of a determined person? I remember an article reporting where an LEO had been killed with a fork. A maniac with a pencil is dangerous.

The world will never be safer until politicians and sheeple come to the realization that it is not the "weapons" that are dangerous and lethal, but the people wielding them and their ideals.
 
A "lethal-looking" Leatherman "knife"? Now that is definitely a politically motivated statement. It's a tool and looks like a tool.
I'd call it's appearance "useful-looking", but then I am not a liberal reporter with a paranoia of inanimate objects.
 
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