Wow I thought you lived in a serene forested area not the fricken\' ghetto.
Yes well it is there for self-protection. I doubt I will ever need it in Amherst, but I do a lot of traveling, some times to not the nicest places. (*cough*Webster*cough*)
It is there, easily and quickly accessible should I ever need it. I went for boxcutter because: 1) Is is heavy
2) You can pop the blade out as you\'re picking it up with no risk of hurting yourself (seeing as switchblades are illegal.... though EMS does have some nice "spring-assisted" knives- I\'ll probably get one of those in the near future.)
3) It has a lot of practical applications. I use it pretty regularly.
4) If I have to ditch it, no biggie, no big financial loss.
5) You can snap pieces of the blade off so you don\'t have to worry about washing off blood.