I wonder sometimes why companies make some products. I guess the answer is because someone will buy them, but is that good enough? Here's a product that I'd never heard of before today: plastic knuckles. They're in the news because New York has a new law that treats them as a deadly weapon.

"Plastic knuckles are the modern incarnation of brass knuckles and pose a threat to our safety because they are undetectable. In a post 9-11 world we must have the necessary tools to prosecute those attempting to bring weapons, metal or plastic, into our airports, governmental buildings or schools," state Sen. Andrew Lanza told the Yonkers Tribune.

Assemblyman Mike Spano said he decided to take action against plastic knuckles after seeing a video of an attack on the Internet.

I visited a plastics processor once where I saw a machine molding crack vials. They had some other purpose too, but the workers knew where most of those containers were really going to end up.

I suppose if one company doesn't make them, someone else's will. But I'm glad that most processors would turn up their noses at taking that sort of work.