Since 9/11, all kinds of new technologies and new techniques have popped up for detecting concealed weapons.
But they wont catch everything; far from it. Last week I talked to Anthony Taylor, managing partner of an outfit which makes weapons which can be hidden in plain sight. You can be looking right at one without realizing what it is.
One type is the exact size and shape of a credit card, except that two of the edges are lethally sharp. It’s made of G10 laminate, an ultra-hard material normally employed for circuit boards. You need a diamond file to get an edge on it.
Taylor suggests that the card could easily be camouflaged as an ID card or one of the many other bits of plastic that clutter up the average wallet. Each weapon is individually handmade so they can be tailored to the users requirements.
Another configuration is a stabbing weapon which is indistinguishable from a pen. This one is made from melamine fiber, and can sit snugly inside a Bic casing. You would only find out it was not the real thing if you tried to write with it. It’s sharpened with a blade edge at the tip which Defense Review describes as scary sharp.
I asked about more elaborate weapons. If modern synthetic materials are strong and hard enough to make a knife out of, how about a gun, like the non-metallic gun assembled by John Malkovichs assassin character in In the Line Of Fire? According to one gun magazine, the CIA has had a ceramic handgun firing caseless non-metallic ammo for years.
Taylor certainly doesnt rule out such a weapon, but points out the obvious flaw: how do you disguise it? Even a ceramic gun still looks like a gun, and anyone patting you down will find it. (James Bond fans might remember the golden gun used by Scaramanga which broke down into a fountain pen, cigarette case and lighter, but this is pure Hollywood fantasy)
In the real world, Taylor is more interested in supplying something that undercover narcotics agents can carry as a last-ditch weapon. In that sort of situation it can make the difference between life and death. And if youre thinking of buying one, you should know that he only sells to law-enforcement and government agencies. This policy has him cost a lot of business, but being from a law-enforcement background himself, Taylor is not about to help the other side.
Of course there could be someone out there manufacturing chameleon weapons for the bad guys. Thats why some of Taylors business is with the various government agencies both in the US and in other countries whose job it is to detect such things, and who want to see the state of the art.
So how do you prevent someone from taking this sort of weapon through security checks? Take everything off them and examine every item individually, advises Taylor. Thats the only reliable way.
– David Hambling
PS My book Weapons Grade is coming out in paperback next week! More later.
UPDATE 12:28 AM: The FBI’s extensive Guide to Concealable Weapons has 89 pages of weapons intended to get through security. These are generally variations of a knifeblade concealed in a pen, comb or a cross — and most of them are pretty obvious on X-ray.
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If terrorists hijack a plane with a sharp pen and a sharp card to take hostage, I am going to fight with my umbrella, and wrap me up with a body armor of Play Boy magazine LOL
You forgot about the .22 caliber throw aways that look like a pen (1 shot) or lighter(4 shots) that have been around for 3 decades.
The .22 pen is an evolution of the SOE’s WWII projectile-firing pens -
http://clutch.open.ac.uk/schools/emerson00/soe_gad_dev.html
– but again these are easily detectable on X-ray.
The idea of chameleon weapons is that even under close examination they do not appear to be a weapon. In this regard the card is better camouflaged than the pen.
But the pen is still mightier than the sword, right?
(Sorry)
I remember my grandfather telling me that when he was living in Portugal, before he immigrated, that the wiseguys (or whatever the Portuguese equivalent of the Mafia is) carried thick coins in their pockets that had the edges filed down into knife edges.
He described them as being about the size of 50 cent piece, but thicker.
The other trick, he said, was to keep them in a DIFFERENT pocket then the one you keep your real change in.
(no, I’m not related)
My guess is SOME amount of metal fiber is/has been mixed into these “plastic” items to aid their being picked up by metal detectors.
I’ve several such spikes/etc and, frankly, wouldn’t try to bring them aboard a plane.
Why bother when they allow me to bring my canemasters cane on (3′ of hickory.. mmmm) and tearing a coke can in half yields the equivalent of two box cutters.
As for defense vs. sharp items.. that “floatation device” you’re sitting on? It’s thick and has straps for holding; comfy buckler, anyone?
(ahem).…I give you: the airport duty shops’ GLASS BOTTLES of wine one can purchase, AFTER going through “security”. Glass makes a dandy throat cutter.
ah, but wouldn’t want to actualy meddles with commerce, huh?
“My guess is SOME amount of metal fiber is/has been mixed into these “plastic” items to aid their being picked up by metal detectors.“
There is no metal in them and they will not set off metal detectors. That’s the point — they are for operatives who need to carry weapons which cannot be detected.
As for bottles, umbrellas or other improvised weapons…you might be able to get on a plane with them, but there are other situations where they are not practical.
David: No, G10 doesn’t have metal in it. I used to be a machinist and worked with G10 and G11. They are fiberglass composites (they eat cutting tools; wear them out in no time).
I suspect that there isn’t a way to incorporate metals into them because they are used in circuit boards, and conductivity is an issue.
“This policy has him cost a lot of business, but being from a law-enforcement background himself, Taylor is not about to help the other side.“
Typical government supremacist snob. You’re either a LEO, or you’re with the “other side”.
Actually, a cabin attendant on a recent flight confided that, since replacing the in-flight meal metal knives with plastic ones, it is easier to cut flesh with the new plastic knives because they are serrated. Stab? No. Slice? Yes.
An acquaintance of mine said he once made a crude pair of scissors out of an aluminum can while sitting on an airplane, just to prove a point.
I was a Correctional Officer for 11 years, you should see what Offenders could do with common use items and spare time.
There’s a nice article here about “improvised” weapons here:
http://www.designobserver.com/archives/016492.html
It’s an exhibition of crude weapons found on jail prisoner, they’re on the other side of the technological evolution, yet they prove how creative people can be when it all comes down to having an edge (eh!) on the people around you.
M
Selling to LEO and governments will only slow the spread of these weapons to “the bad guys”, not prevent it. Or are we seriously imagining that weapons have never gone “missing” from police or army stores?
Stilgherrian, no need to fret: says here the weapons are designed for bad guys (narcs).
Whats this? No mention of paracord bootlaces at all? they make a mighty fine strong garrote, all these “High teck” Airport beeping free gizmo weapons are not new!, maby some one could start selling sharpened Turkey bones aswell.
Show me the money!
dous any one know if these are for sale any were if so please email at gambit-of-aces@hotmail
If terrorists hijack a plane with a sharp pen and a sharp card to take hostage, I am going to fight with my umbrella.
great.…
great.…
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