AKTI and Blade magazine

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ENDRE A GAYER

Joined
Dec 22, 1998
Messages
52
Sal, I am aware that you are on the American Knife & Tool Institute's (AKTI)Board of Regents. I also read your comment,"I believe that as social and legal requirements become more stringent throughout the world, the smaller knives will become more popular." Blade Magazine March 1999. My question is USA knife legislation going to get tougher in the coming years? Endre
 
I just registered with AKTI the other day. I'll have to check out the article your talking about because it almost sounds like 'bending' instead of 'pushing' for greater social and legal freedom regarding knives(I'm aware that Sal could of been speaking in terms of globally and not so much the U.S.)
I'm not too fond of aligning myself with a party who wants my support in a struggle(that I believe in) but won't fight. I'm just an abassador level, but just the thought of it worries me.
I haven't read the article, so I won't fuss about anything specific yet.
Sal, this isn't meant to be a gripe and hope you and AKTI don't perceive it as such, but like Endre, I'm curious.

Thanks,
Ken


[This message has been edited by KenN (edited 05 February 1999).]
 
Look at what is happening with gun control. Look at the total ban of "any" type of cutting tool in schools. Whats next?? A little more control every year, and then all of a sudden, WHAM!! Your trying to figure out why you can't carry your ladybug on your keychain anymore. Its happening right now. Didn't some city pass a law banning locking blades, or blades over a certain length?? I don't remember, because it wasn't my city so I ignored it. Next year it might be my city, or yours. Of course I'm just rambling, pay me no mind. I'm paranoid.
smile.gif

Blades
 
AKTI does not claim to know the answers to all of the questions. Like you, we sense a problem developing and we believe that we must first unify in order to have the ability to do anything about it.

AKTI not only needs your funds, but more important, we need your support, your ideas, your eyes and ears.

Fighting can be done in many ways. Some, we are seeing do not always work. Fighting is sometimes does with awareness and "just not being where the bullet hits". Fighting is sometimes done with resistance, sometimes with assertion. Yelling and banging your fists on the table separately is not as effective as the loud whisper of very large numbers. But nothing can be done util unity is achieved.
sal
 
I find it still amusing that our archaic society still can not seem to get it.

Think of it this way. Most criminals are like children and therfor their thought patterns are not much different. Imagine two kids, about age 8, fighting. One picks up a stick and hits the other with it. A parent takes away the stick and thinks they have solved a problem. The kid finds another stick and the problem returns. The parent removes all sticks in sight and punishes kid. The kid fashions another stick out of an otherwise ordinary object. Problem returns and parent punishes kid and removes all objects which can be used as a stick or readily converted into a stick. Kid resorts to other means of hitting.

Kid grows up and sees the same thing happen in the "REAL" world. Kid is now a full blown criminal.

Why?

Was the child properly punished? Should the parent have educated the child?

Only law abiding citizens abide by the law. Make knives ilegal and only the criminals will have knives. Same goes for guns.

Answer the first question above, then run for president.

------------------
Best Regards,
Mike Turber
BladeForums Site Owner and Administrator
Do it! Do it right! Do it right NOW!
www.wowinc.com






[This message has been edited by Mike Turber (edited 07 February 1999).]
 
Trying to do something is still better than trying to do nothing. Education is critical. On the grass roots level, On the political level, on the law enforcement level and on the child level. There was a time when they burned witches.

We must still convince the world that knives are in fact tools and that people that have a passion for knives are no more crazed than those that have a passion for shoes. One who collects models of war planes does not have a dream to destroy the world.

This is in addition to avoid "making sticks against the law".

The concept of policing our own industry has a sour taste, but convincing the "voting majority" that all knives are not bad is difficult when those about you spout to the contrary. Howcum most of the time only the bad guys get knives in motion pictures? (some exceptions like Stallone are appreciated). And most of the time they are a weapon. (this is unrealistic) Howcum the OJ's & Lorena's get top billing?

Only we can affect a change. What would you change? How would you change it? If we wait and leave it up to uninformed politicians, untrained law enforcment, fearful mothers and teachers, we will all be criminals. They will simply make the "stick" against the law.

But sticks are important. Houses are made of sticks, educational pointers are made of sticks, venetian blinds are made of sticks. Sticks are not bad.

AKTI has been formed to represent "us". Not itself. There is no profit in it for the board of regents. We work hard to earn the right to work for no pay. We need solutions, people! Many of the forumites have demonstrated innovative cranial activity. How do we make this better?

Thanks for opeing up the thread, Endre. AKTI can learn a lot from this one.
sal

 
FYI: I live in Sweden and over here it´s illegal to carry *any* knife in public places!!! In real life this means that if you have a legitimate reason for carrying a knife you (hopefully) won´t be arrested. If you work as a carpenter you have to have a knife. If you are cought for, let´s say, drunkenness and the cops find a CQC7 while arresting you, you can face jail (for the knife alone). My filosofy goes like this: Am I a law-abiding citizen? Yes! Have I ever been arrested? No! The risk that some police-officer will pick me randomly and look for knifes? Zero! My Al Mar Denali always travels with me. At work I use a CQC7.
We own a lot of guns over here (2.2 million guns / 8.5 million people), but it is very seldom that legaly owned guns are used in criminal activity. The most common murder-weapon is a knife. Kitchen knifes in fact. That´s the reason for the law. To make it possible for the police to arrest, convict and disarm possible troublemakers before they do anything stupid. In the beginning the cops nicked every swiss-army knife they saw, but nowdays they seem quite understanding. Using the law as the tool it was ment to be. Still, Sweden is the No.1 knifemaking contry in the world, with hundreds, possibly over a thousand (no kidding, and only 8.5M Citizens) of knifemakers. Laws doesn´t mean the end of knifes, but I guess you have to be careful so that your -let-us-ban-everything- politicians don´t go heywire...


Pelle the polarbear

 
One service AKTI could start providing for starters is to compile knife laws and court cases by jurisdiction and post them on its web page, which can use some content last time I checked. A "rumor control" service would also be good.

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- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com

 
Sal,

Thanks for extending the invitation for new suggestions and solutions to us, I'm sure there'll be plenty of ideas bouncing around with much to be gained from both the good and not so good.
Do we just voice our thoughts on this forum or will there be a more formal channel on the AKTI site?(either way is fine by me).
First off I think James' idea of a comprehensive state by state collection of laws and restrictions(up-to-date!) is essential for everyone. The best way for us to represent the knife(our)community is by NOT aggressively defying/breaking the existing laws, but definitely knowing all the relavant ones(to each individual) and standing firmly and maturely at those limits. Knowledge is the weapon of choice in this situation.
The very act of competing manufacturers/producers uniting to form AKTI is a message that they are concerned for their future. I don't know about everyone else, but if THEY are worried I'M worried.

Thanks,
Ken


[This message has been edited by KenN (edited 08 February 1999).]
 
Perhaps AKTI's web site could include a forum-like section where law-abiding citizens can post true stories of life-enhancing deeds performed with sharp objects, such as the time I used my Spyderco Endura to free myself and a bunch of students trapped in a college classroom. (What if there had been a fire and we had a zero-tolerance knife policy?).

One very important service I hope AKTI will provide is to be a clearing house for information about pending knife legislation. Everyone: if you know of legislative action being taken anywhere, let AKTI know, so they can let us know, and those of us who live in the affected jurisdictions can take action--write letters, talk to politicians, and "get the vote out" BEFORE it's too late. It's easier to prevent a bad law than to repeal one.

David Rock
 
David Rock, good idea on the stories, that's similar to "The Armed Citizen" section in American Rifleman!

Bernie


[This message has been edited by Bernie (edited 08 February 1999).]
 
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