We have a norwegian forum for wma, melee-weapons and re-enactment, and in one of our threads, we allways link to news coverage of cases where idiots, morons, etc have used weapons to do stupid things. Somthing we seem to notice in Norway, is that criminals, drug-addicts, mafia-gangs, jealous husbonds, etc allways turns to the katana (mostly the wallhanger-version) when they get the dorkish idea of solving their probems by waiving a sword over their head. The years the thread have been rolling, some cases have accumulated, and so far, there have been one instance of a spear, and one case of a machete, the rest of the cases are Katana... Why, do you think? How is this in your countries, do your idiots allso (usually fail to) kill eachothers with katana when they want to use a sword?
Easier to get hold of and are just pretty damn cool? The UK banned samurai swords except under some reasonably exceptional circumstances because of attacks with them.
dunno how many fail cases there have been here in argentina, but i seem to remember one case (might have been in another latin american country though) about a year or two ago where an actual katana user went ape<beep> on some muggers who were holding him and his family prisoner in his home, nearly cutting one in half.
I don't believe it's common at all in the US. However, if it does happen it gets sensationalized given the "exoticness" of such weapons. Of course I'm sure we have things like edged-weapon assaults, robberies, murders etc., but I doubt swords of any kind play that big a part numbers-wise. It's also the case that given the proliferation of East Asian martial arts, that if someone were to buy a sword, the most commonly available ones would likely be wallhanger katanas. (I've never heard of anywhere near as common a demand for, say, US Civil War cavalry sabers.)
There can be only one! and now recently the story of the actor who stabbed his mother with a sword. i dont know if it was a katana because the sources all seem to say different things. wallhangers are cheap and easy to find here in the states. besides the stupid people wouldnt want to waste their drug money on a sharp katana. most probably dont know the difference anyway. a spear? ouch.
Wallhanger incidents became really common in the UK in the few years before the ban. It's probably the same kind of motivation that leads people to buying dog breeds that are known for their viciousness - a symbol of bravado and the dangerousness of the user.
In the states, stupid people use guns for violent acts. Then there is the knife or baseball bat. If there is a sword involved in the most exotic case, the media will call it a "samurai sword" regardless. I think there was a recent incidents where an actor used a "samurai sword" to kill someone else. Was it really a katana? Who knows..... The below is one where a Freemason sword was used..... ttp://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/11/26/2010-11-26_i_didnt_kill_her_i_killed_the_demon_inside_her_psycho_tells_news_in_chilling_det.html
The actor aparently used a sword stolen from his uncle, who was a martial artist. The media reports it as a katana, but the pictures show a kris style blade. Ah, fine media we got here, eh?
Very true holyheadjch. Moron crims like to draw attention to themselves, which is why most get caught. Samurai wanna-bees.
Im not so sure about that... Having any kind of sword in your living room doesnt make you look bad ass at all, at least not in this particiular gangster way some kind of (unfortunately retarded-looking) dogs do. Guess a machete or maybe an axe better fit for this purpose.
Its all total BS. Journalists call anything with a blade a 'Katana', even if it was a Swiss Army Knife. Like this example - we just need one for Katanas now... weapons guide
