Dangerous tool

In The Curse of the Wererabbit there's a garden supplies stall at a fete. When an angry mob forms, the stall holder changes the sign to "Angry Mob Supplies". When I was clearing out my garage, I found this scary-looking implement that looks like the sort of thing he would have sold.

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I'm told it's an apple picker. I'm not sure. It seems much too... violent for that.