From news.com.au, an Australian news outlet:
Medical student ‘slays burglar with samurai sword’
A US student has killed a burglar with a samurai sword, slicing off his left hand and severely cutting his neck after he spotted the intruder in his garage, police allege.
The undergraduate medical student at Baltimore’s prestigious Johns Hopkins University was being questioned by police but he may not be charged if found to be acting in self-defence.
So far, so good. Simple straightforward facts of the case. But the report does go in a slightly odd direction:
Samurai swords are legal in the United States.
Well, duh.
The United States, where the right to bear arms is constitutionally protected, has few restrictions on owning swords although some local jurisdictions limit the right to brandish them in public.
“I think everyone has the right to first of all defend themselves and defend their home and if this individual felt that a samurai sword was an appropriate tool to do so, I’m not in a position to say that’s good or bad,” [Baltimore police spokesman] Mr Guglielmi said.
Most “samurai swords” are dangerously poorly made cheap pieces of crap, as shown fantastically well in this video right hyar. They tend to be brittle, and like as not will shatter if whacked against something that puts up a good solid resistance. Still… it takes a special kind of moron to decide to lunge at someone weilding a sword in the defence of his own home. But wait… “The burglar, who was in his late 40s, had a history of burglaries and had just been released from prison on Sunday…” Yeah, there it is. A special kind of stupid.
A vaguely similar case from a few years ago.
6 Responses to “The right tool for the job”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
“Most “samurai swords” are dangerously poorly made cheap pieces of crap, as shown fantastically well in this video right hyar. They tend to be brittle, and like as not will shatter if whacked against something that puts up a good solid resistance.”
The guy died from blood loss caused by getting his hand whacked off; I am willing to bet that this particular sword was of at least decent quality if it was able to go through bone. I’m also willing to bet that the kid in question had at least a little training in how to wield a sword properly if a) the weapon he owned was of good quality and b) he felt comfortable enough wielding it that he was able to successfully defend himself with it under stress.
> this particular sword was of at least decent quality if it was able to go through bone
There’s no evidence, at least from what I’ve heard, that it actually *did* go through bone. If the sword sliced through the wrist, it’d chop the hand off without going through bone.
The burglar had 29 prior convictions for breaking and entering, several years ago he had been arrested for pulling a gun on a policeman, and the day before he died he had gotten out of prison from a one year sentence for car jacking.
I have several “samurai” swords, from 1920s era officers swords(very good quality, not so pretty) to a 350 year old katana which I would not be adverse to using for beheadings. And yes, I have been trained in Oriental Sword and Staff, and I would not hesitate to use one against an intruder. In the galacticly slim chance I would not be able to reach a firearm, that is.
“Samurai sword”… that can be ANYTHING from a tachi to a wakizashi (and of course a katana), really, as all of them were worn by samurai.
2Hotel9, you can use either of those weapons for beheading. All you need is the right technique. But I’m willing to bet that the officers’ swords would not survive such an action as good as a well crafted katana. Officers’ swords were usually machine made and mass produced. The quality was hardly amazing and the treatment of those weapons in the field was horrible. I remember that the imperial army once had a sword smith on a tour through the different units in China, and his conclusion was horrifying: the officers were usually not treating their swords the way they should have been treated.
What is “Oriental Sword and Staff”? Any particular school, like, I duno… Niten Ichi Ryu? Or just the usual “Joe’s kendo, karate and ninjutsu dojo”? Finding good ken-jutsu instructors outside of Japan is a bitch. Even with iaido it’s not really easy to find someone who knows what he’s doing.
As for the kid at hand. Why go for the hand and neck? I’d go for the torso.
I trained with 2 different instructors in the 1980s, concentrating on Judo and aikido and Japanese weapons. I took European style fencing in high school, and kickboxing, in the Army I was taught several different styles of hand to hand and got into martial arts. Have not really stuck with most of it, except sword. I have 4 bokken of various sizes/shapes and a training post wrapped in hemp rope. Its good exercise!
Yea, the ’20s era swords are machine made, the type of swords that NCOs and officers bought for themselves. 2 of them have silk wrapped hilt, 2 of them have what appears to be bakelite grips on hilts. One of them is much heavier than the others, it was taken from an NCO in the Philippines in ’44, the old katana was taken from an Imperial Marine officer on New Georgia. The others I don’t have any history on.
Oh, and I have several European/western style swords. I like edged weapons, as well as firearms. Proper tool for the job and whatnot!