Marshfield Knife Fight

WEAPONS CACHE DISTURBS POLICE: Martial arts ‘collectibles’ found in Marshfield probe

Marshfield Police Lt. Robert Wright displays a wrist warrior and a battle ax that were seized during an arrest a week ago in the home of Paul Menslage on Franklin Street. (GARY HIGGINS/The Patriot Ledger)
By TAMARA RACE
The Patriot Ledger

They look like something you’d see in a medieval torture chamber or martial arts movie. Instead, police say, they found in the home of a Marshfield man elaborate throwing stars, a battle ax and a 10-pound stabbing weapon that projects multiple blades more than 10 inches in front of the hand.

The unusual weapons are considered collector’s items by some martial arts and Dungeons and Dragons fans. In Massachusetts, however, many such weapons are illegal, a point driven home recently when a Suffolk Superior Court judge ordered three online companies to stop selling them here.

‘‘These were definitely over the top,’’ Marshfield Police Lt. Robert Wright said of the weapons found a week ago in the home of Paul Menslage on Franklin Street. ‘‘We’ve seen some fancy knives and Dungeons and Dragons type stuff, but nothing like this.’’

‘‘The blades on all these weapons are razor sharp,’’ he said.