Assisted openers, the next target?

K

Knife Outlet

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Jan 4, 1999
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I had a call from a customer who said he was arrested and handcuffed by Federal officers for carrying an assisted opening Kershaw. Obviously, since there is no Federal law banning the carry of an assisted opener (or a switchblade for that matter) it was an improper arrest or, at least, was an arrest outside the officer's jurisdiction. Obviously, there were no charges either but I think the days of the assisted opener are probably numbered.

Now people are getting arrested for things that aren't even against the law. The officer felt is should be against the law, I guess, and people like this will likely get their wish over time.
 
unfortuneately, an assisted opener falls within the definition of a switchblade in many jurisdictions, if one understands the willingness of judicial bodies to stretch those definitions... :mad:

And given the propensity for the population to travel through more than one jurisdiction on an average drive, why do we, the citizens, put up with such wide range of what's legal and what's not? :confused:
 
joeshredd said:
And given the propensity for the population to travel through more than one jurisdiction on an average drive, why do we, the citizens, put up with such wide range of what's legal and what's not? :confused:
Click to expand...

Apathy often does that. Valuing comfort and safety over liberty does the same thing.
 
Ryan8... I know, and I sort of meant it as a rhetorical question, but it does beg of us knife knutts to ask ourselves what we can do numerically to effect a change in the system... but, humans do find the inertia you're describing as something quite difficult to overcome. So far, the only real legal power we knutts have is in the body of the AKTI or our own individual attempts to contact, communicate and make our legal representatives understand the folly they are pursuing... :(
 
We probably can't become quite as effective as the gun lobby. "Knife rights" organizations seem unlikely.

Nonetheless we can try to convince the average citizen that restrictions on knives are irrational and a restriction on our freedoms, even if they aren't into knives.

You can certainly keep contacting your representatives. Pen them letters (don't email or print out). Tell them that these laws are unnecessary restrictions on our freedoms, are enforced unequally, are a waste of police resources, and do nothing to make us safer.

There are definitely organizations that would like to restrict other things they consider weapons, not just knives. But I think the biggest problem is apathy. That and most people don't even have a clue of 1/10 of the laws.
 
I wake up most mornings wonder what small amount of my freedom will be removed that day. I have come to the conclusion that most people are not concerned enough to listen or really get involved and most beleive the governing autorities are there to protect them. We are slowly picking up speed to a downward loss of our freedoms and constitutional rights. Unless we start to get involved in issues that concerns us. If everyone just got behind something they believed in and joined other like minded people we could make a difference. We all know most laws pertaining to our love of knives as tools and if needed defense weapons are ridiculous. But we do nothing about it for the most part for fear of what might happen to us. So the goverment becomes more powerful and we become less powerful or powerless to do anything about it. I grew up in Connecticut and as I got older the more I realized I had to get out of there. I have since settled in Florida and comparing to two states I feel I more freedom here. But I also must get involved to keep from happening in home state from happening in my new home. Soon there may no longer be safe passage to a better place if things are left to chance. :mad:
 
but are spyderco knives what you are calling assisted openers??? And what is considered a gravity knife??? :confused:
 
No, Spyderco does NOT make an assisted openner. These are the knives, such as trhe Ken Onion designed Kershaws that, once you start the blade openning in the normal manner, a spring finishes the task for you. A "gravity knife" is one where the blade may be "flipped" open by the force of gravity or, in more recent police and some court positions, centrifugal force. This situation is being used by the Canadian Customs to effectively ban all forms of one-handed openers, or so I understand, on the theory that a gorilla of sufficient strength could hold the scales of such a knife tightly enough and swing his arm strongly enough to overcome the strongest bias toward remaining closed that most such knives have.

I personally keep those knives of mine that have adjustable pivot screws sufficiently tight that it would take a lot of effort to accomplish the above, and I can still open any of them as quickly as most people can open an assisted openner, so I see no need for them. And I have been predicting what Knife Outlet has posted for some time. I do not believe that it will be police acting on their own, either. I believe that many jusrisdictions will outlaw them by statute or that the courts will extend the switchblade laws to cover them.

Understand, I find these laws stupid and pointless. They are like the laws from the 1840s and 1850s in many Southern and Western states that outlaw the carrying of Bowie Knives. In that earlier period, Bowies were seen as "the weapon that would end civilization as we know it" and were the subject of laws banning them in many states, including the home of the Bowie, Arkansas. After the movie, Blackboard Jungle came out in the mid-1950s and several similar "Grade Z" teen exploitation films made for the drive-in theaters followed, switchblades were seen in the same light and were banned by federal, state, and local laws. The bans on the Bowie were put into effect just as the Colt revolver made the Bowie irrelevant as a weapon and the ban on switchblades came into effect just as the availability of cheap firearms made them irrelevant for the punks. Besides, these bans miss the entire point that it is the one who misuses the implement and not the implement that is the evil and should be the target of law enforcement.
 
Matagorda County in Texas recently prosecuted the carrier of an assisted opener. The defendant entered a guilty plea. Texas law does not clearly define a switchblade knife, so the definition is as wide as a prosecutor wants to take it. Ironically, fixed blades are quite legal in Texas up to the blade length limit of 5.5 inches, which applies to all knives, and concealment is not an issue with knives.
 
My general advice: never plead guilty, never consent to a search (because when you do, you forfeit your right to appeal) -even though you'll probably be searched anyway, and remember: the police count on your hanging yourself with your mouth.

For what it's worth. :cool:
 
I have recently litigated this very issue. First, there is a federal law against carrying, selling, and here is the key phrase, transporting across state lines, a switchblade, gravity knife, or automatic open knife. The definition is pretty broad, though not as broad as state laws. Kershaw has litigated the open assist in a number of states and won. I am not sure which states they have been successful in. I think that open assists, especially the units with the "flipper" bar are very close to being illegal under the federal law. If they fall under the federal law, there is a good chance that state law is preempted, meaning that the federal law would trump. Anyone have any actual court cases decided for or against them? I am always looking for precedent to use.
 
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