Are assisted openers legal in CT? An answer, sort of

[Chris Meyer]

Well, I finally got an answer as to whether assisted opening knives are legal in Connecticut, sort of…

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I don’t believe assisted opening knives are switchblades. However, as far as I have been able to discover, Connecticut’s general statutes never actually define a switchblade, which they appear to call a switch knife. The relevant part of C.G.S. 53-206 reads “…any switch knife, or any knife having an automatic spring release device by which a blade is released from the handle, …” You would think that the second part, about “an automatic spring release”, describes a switchblade, but perhaps not. Maybe, in the minds of the Legislators, a switch knife and a switch blade are different items. I don’t know, and they don’t say.

In any case, hoping to resolve the issue of whether an assisted opening blade is a switch knife or switch blade, I sent one of our Detectives up to see our State’s Attorney. Since I hoped to obtain an answer that I agreed with, I sent the Detective that the SA likes best, who likes knives, and who owns an assisted opener (a SOG Trident, I believe). I armed him with info from the AKTI, showing the changes they were influential in having made to the Federal Switchblade Act. The changes explicitly exclude assisted openers from the anti-switchblade provisions. I also gave him a printout from Kershaw, which explains how their SpeedSafe assisted openers work. He also brought his SOG with him.

Unfortunately, the response he got from the SA was “I don’t know…” His second in command said that assisted openers are “definitely not” switchblades, and that she knows because her husband owns some. (You may detect a lack of solid legal basis for either opinion… ) So, if you get arrested for an assisted opener in the Geographical Area (13 towns) in which I work, and you get the right prosecutor, you will be all set. However, if you get a different one, you may get prosecuted (but not necessarily convicted). Considering the number of Geographical Areas (20) in CT, and the number of prosecutors in them, you really have no way of knowing how you’ll make out. Because of the ambiguity of Connecticut’s laws as they apply to assisted openers, and the inconsistent opinions of Police Officers and Prosecutors regarding them, I cannot recommend that anyone carry one in this state. While I think assisted openers are cool and not switchblades, I think they attract the attention of those who are afraid of knives and may report you, and those who enforce the law and may honestly believe they are illegal. For just those reasons, I don’t carry an assisted opener. To me, it’s not worth the aggravation or risk. A thumb opener works with one hand and is fast enough for me.

Well, that’s my report. Take my advice for what you think it’s worth.

Perhaps one day the Connecticut Supreme Court will decide a case involving assisted openers and issue a definitive ruling… Even better would be for the Legislature to specifically exempt assisted openers.


For further reference, see:

C.G.S Sec. 53-206 Dangerous weapons
C.G.S. Sec. 29-38 Weapons in vehicles ​

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PS: I found a bunch of info on the AKTI website, which you guys might be interested in;

AKTI Protocol for Measuring Knife Blade Length

AKTI APPROVED KNIFE DEFINITIONS (opens in IE, but wouldn’t open for me in Firefox.)

Resources (includes suggestions for what to do if stopped by the Police.)​

 

[tom19176]

Thanks Chris for your effort to clear up this issue for those who live and visit your state. In NY there is a similar situation with both " gravity knives" and switchblades. There may not be much help with a clear defintion of a switchbalde as you may think. In NY, the state law is the same as the federal law. With that fact in hand, a man was charged with possession of a switchblade in Queens, NY and demanded a jury trial. His lawyer successfully educated the jury to understand the difference between a flipper and thumb stud that are part of the blade, and a button in the handle. The defenant won the case and walked out a free man. This is not a precendent setting case, but it shows the jury gets the difference, and for those in the know, it will make another DA reconsider wasteing a part of his limited budget running a trial for this type of misd charge. With the clear definition of a switchblade written in NY law, the Manhattan DA feels AOs are switchblades as we have all seen in his actions against sellers a few months back. This leads me to the conclusion that even well written clear defintions can be twisted or worse ignored by the people employed to enforce the laws.
I can only hope that all the needless knife laws go the way of NH.....