The Dilemma of Knife Definitions (in Pending U.S. State Legislation)
AKTI monitoring at least 14 states considering knife legislation
that would impact "carry" rules for knife owners
You're breaking the law! Or you're about to break the law! If you're a hunter, fisherman, hiker, biker, outdoorsperson of any sort, or just a plain old garden-variety American who happens to carry a knife in his pocket or purse, you're in grave danger of being "illegal" in your state, a neighboring state, or the state you're bound for.
If you were to travel across America from Alaska to Maine by car, law enforcement personnel in the state you enter might have serious questions about the knife you legally carried in the state you just left. And that's only in 14 states that AKTI has been monitoring since January 2002. (More states could get on the "questionable-knife-law" bandwagon after we wrote this in early April 2002.) The reality is that every state has its own knife laws that are often vastly different from laws in surrounding states.
The American Knife & Tool Institute currently monitors pending legislation and regulations in the 50 U.S. states through a service called StateNet. Member users of the AKTI website (
www.akti.org) can access this service with a special password they can obtain by contacting Jan Billeb, AKTI Executive Director, at email:
akti@akti.org. Go to the site. Check out your state's knife-law activity. AKTI pays more than $10,000 each year to make this service available to you. That's why we need individual "Ambassador" members (at only $35 per year) to make sure we can continue to provide this service. When you join AKTI, you help us continue to help you!
In some cases, AKTI hires lobbyists to provide direct input to lawmakers on behalf of individual knife owners and the entire industry. For example, the fight to save one-handers in California in 2000 and 2001 cost AKTI $50,000. We're currently involved in Florida where our lobbyist fees could total $15,000 for 2002. The battle to protect knife rights is virtually endless and can be very costly. Join AKTI today so we can continue to try to influence legislation before it becomes law (when it's almost impossible to change).
StateNet uses AKTI search criteria to pre-screen bills they believe would affect knife owners. A review of legislation they have spotlighted for us since January 1, 2002 shows a broad range of potentially harmful definitions of knives that could be used against you.
Let's start our imaginary trip from America's far northwest corner
in Alaska and end in the far northeast corner in Maine. We'll list the state, the bill number (date of introduction in parenthesis), the troublesome language of interest to our potential knife-owning traveler, then a brief comment. Just imagine if you were stopped in every state and your knives scrutinized, measured, perhaps declared illegal, and you were charged with a crime, perhaps jailed until you could post bail, your knives confiscated. The direct costs and emotional distress would be immense. That's why AKTI continues to press forward to both urge and to help lawmakers accurately, clearly and fairly write knife laws that protect responsible, law-abiding citizens.
Kansas - H2669 (1/23/02).
Concerns school safety; revises the definition of weapon. Outlaws
"a switch-blade, which has a blade that opens automatically by hand pressure applied to a button, spring, or other device in the handle of the knife,..." This is standard language from the Federal Switchblade Act. The language that could be problematic for a broad range of one-hand openers in that state is the remainder of the preceding sentence (8): "
or any knife having a blade that opens or falls or is ejected into position by the force of gravity or by an outward, downward or centrifugal thrust or movement;
"
Comment: As we will see when we discuss our traveler going to Maine, a Wal-Mart in that state in February 2002 took several one-handers from its shelves because they could be opened by "an outward, downward or centrifugal thrust or movement."
AKTI is currently following a March 2002 court case in New York where more than 150 knives representing about 30 models of one-handers from at least six well-known knife manufacturers were seized from a retailer in business more than 10 years. When the retailer and his knives were taken to the police station, he reportedly watched as police officers argued about the legality of various knife models based on how easily they opened with exaggerated arm motions, with "an outward, downward or centrifugal thrust or movement."
H2796 (2/7/02). Relates to criminal use of weapons. Contains same "outward, downward or centrifugal thrust or movement" language as H2669. However, H2796 uses additional language that makes blade length a determiner of whether the knife is dangerous or not. This, in itself, is not novel. Virtually every state has some knife length reference in its weapons' laws. Our unlucky or uninformed traveler may be "legal" one minute, then "illegal" the next when he drives into a state where 3 1/2 inches, 3 inches or 2 1/2 inches are part of the definition of "dangerous" weapons.
H2796 states that you cannot carry a concealed "
dangerous or deadly weapon or instrument of like character, except that an ordinary pocket knife with no blade more than four inches in length shall not be construed to be a dangerous knife, or a dangerous or deadly weapon or instrument;
"
Comment: Here we again see the "ordinary pocket knife" referred to. Also note that a blade "more than four inches" is illegal. But some states measure the length of the "cutting edge" while others measure the entire blade. Even with the four-inch standard, some states use "more than" while other states say "four inches or more." Woe to our traveler if the arresting officer measures his knife with one of those wooden rulers used by his first grader who has chewed off the first 1/4 inch, or perhaps with a tape measure so worn from weekend carpentry projects that the slot in the end hook has gotten 1/8 inch wider than when the tape was new.
H2643 (1/16/02). Relates to criminal use of weapons. Contains same language and length standard as H2796.
S602 (2/14/02). Relates to schools. Defines "weapon" but creates an exception that truly confuses the length standard. It says a weapon "
does not include a pocket knife with a blade less than 2 1/2 inches in length." Comment: Most states have a zero-tolerance policy regarding knives in or near schools. But with knife-length language in H2796 and H2643 different from that found in S602, we must doubly warn our traveler not to go anywhere near a school in Kansas if he is carrying a knife that is 2 1/2 inches or longer. Because the "weapon" definitions in these laws do not agree on blade length, a current Kansan or Kansas visitor is probably smart to carry only knives less than 2 1/2 inches in blade length.
