Travis wrote...
>
> Three different news programs (one national, I think), tonight have 
> reported
> on an "axe robbery", where a man robbed a Subway sandwich shop, and also a
> convenience store, with an axe --
> http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/30/2477992.htm --  except that
> the thing looks more like a hatchet to me (the handle is hammer-length, 
> not
> pickaxe-length).
>
> >
> More aggravatingly, some are starting to refer to the weapon as a 
> "tomahawk"
> -- 
>
> Also on tonight's news, some guy held up a store with a hammer.  A
> **hammer**!!!  Waggled it at the sales clerk, across the countertop.
>
> As an American living in Australia, I find the whole notion of robbing 
> small
> shops with woodworking tools to be a bit amusing
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Were any of these one of them evil assault hand tools?...you know the ones 
with black fiberglass handles only suited for military purposes.

 Actually I think handtools probably do figure pretty promently in crime 
even in the USA. My X wife worked in an emergency room in the city and they 
were always seeing people that were attacked with hammers or stabbed with 
screwdrivers. Apparently criminals prefer a screwdriver over a knife as it 
doesn't look as bad if they get caught with it.
 Some years ago when our anti gun Governer was trying to ban a certain type 
of gun [assault pistol] I did some research and found out that actually many 
more people were killed by hand tools in our state then were by this type of 
gun...wasn't even close even if you left out the guy in Baltimore that 
killed his family using a circular saw [not to get into the augument if a 
power tool can be a hand tool now]

 Years ago I was pulled over for speeding , cop comes up and shines his 
light in the window of my jeep and yells at me to "freeze" and "get out of 
the car"  Wasn't sure how to do that but I got out of the car real slow 
keeping my hands up.
 Cop reaches in and picks up this tomahawk I had behind the rear seat that I 
had been using to cut brush for my goose blind that day. He brings it out 
holding it at arms lentgh with two fingers like it was a rattlesnake and 
asks me why I have a "Machete" concealed in my jeep.[!]
 I told him it was a hatchet [I didn't want to call it a Tomahawk as that 
sounds kind of nasty] and if it was concealed how he see it while standing 
out on the sidewalk? Told me he was going have to confiscate it as you can't 
drive around with somthing like that in your car....
....This guy just wanted a Tomahawk without having to pay for it
.... By chance we were in front of a hardware store  so I asked him so if I 
go in there and buy a hatchet and clerk puts it in a bag I can't drive home 
with it? Told him my father is a lawyer [he wasn't] and after we get done 
sueing him that hatchet will be the only thing he will have. He tells me to 
stand there while he checks me out, comes back and puts the tomahawk on the 
back seat and tells me I check out Ok [what does that mean?] so I can have 
it back but for me not to drive around with it in the future as it will get 
me in trouble. Gave me a ticket too

 Remember when handtools are outlawed only outlaws will have handtools 
.....Todd 

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