While gun crime may be the big bad wolf in the United States, it’s knife crime which fills that position in the U.K. and Europe, where guns aren’t quite as easy to come by. But a new ‘anti-stab’ knife could be about to reduce knife crime from the truly terrible levels it has risen to.

Last year in the U.K. 322 people were stabbed to death – a record high. Which for a relatively small country is really not acceptable. More shocking still is the fact that most of the knives used in these attacks are known to be ordinary kitchen knifes rather than combat knives.

The problem is that kitchen knives are far too efficient for their own good. They can be used for stabbing a human being just as readily as they can for chopping vegetables up. And their design hasn’t changed for hundreds of years, so we’re left with a very real problem of deadly weapons being available to everyone who has a kitchen.

Now, according to BBC News, a designer by the name of John Cornock has developed a new kitchen knife which could see fatalities from knife crime significantly reduced. The ‘New Point’ knife took four years to develop and was designed after Cornock watched a television documentary on knife crime.

As can be seen from the picture above, the ‘anti-stab’ knife works by retaining the sharp point but turning the rest of the tip into a blunt protrusion. This ensures it will still work as a tool in the kitchen but will be less effective for anyone seeking to use it as a weapon.

Penetration is made very difficult by the blunt and rounded tip, and I’d guess a lot of force would be needed to inflict any serious stabbing injury. The undercut between the blunt part of the tip and the sharp point also makes the New Point knife more likely to snag on clothing, skin, or human tissue.

The Home Office’s Design and Technology Alliance has lent its support to the knife and testing has shown positive results. The knife is expected to be launched in the fall in the U.K. and if it proves popular could make its way to other territories.

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Entry was posted on Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 at 12:41 am under Crime, Opinion, Technology.

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