Balisongs and Washington Laws

M

Mew351

Joined
May 3, 2013
Messages
4
So I know they're illegal to carry around yeah I understand so I carry a Balicomb or whatever you want to call it [Balisong Comb] and it works fine but I was wondering if there's any way an organization could contact someone about this, personally I really hate this law, me and my friend used to mess around with Balisongs and then they out-lawed them so he had to get rid of his.

So does anyone know if there's an organization to help get them legal in WA?
Probably won't happen but hey, we can try can't we?
 
The best way to make sure they are never legal in Washington state is say you want to carry one for self-defense. You can't carry ANY knife in this state for self-defense. Come up with a reason like you only have one hand free while trying to cut the hook free from a large ling cod or something like that.
 
Sidehill Gouger said:
The best way to make sure they are never legal in Washington state is say you want to carry one for self-defense. You can't carry ANY knife in this state for self-defense. Come up with a reason like you only have one hand free while trying to cut the hook free from a large ling cod or something like that.
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You can't carry a knife for self defense in Washington I didn't mean to write it that way, but I really wish I could carry around a balisong just because I fidget with stuff.
Well you can use it for self defense right?
 
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It is a myth that knives are prohibited for self-defense in any state. It's not that there is any law about it, it's that cops questioning you about it will have their judgement of the matter affected. There's generally two reasons for this, with some overlap:

1. Psychological research on cops shows a strong tendency toward the belief that only police officers should have the ability to dispense physical force and stop criminals. A citizen who is readily capable of defending themselves therefore may be seen as doing the officer's job for them, effectively robbing them of their self-identity and purpose. Therefore, when an officer is told a person has a object for self-defense, there is an immediately feeling of resentment towards that person and if the laws of the area are not very clear on the matter, they will try to spin them toward the carry being illegal, sometimes even confiscating it when it's otherwise a legal item while not making an arrest. This should never be mistaken as actual law and the officer is technically committing theft when this happens. This is an unconscious matter and the cop is not aware why he or she is doing it; they often try to rationalize it with flawed concepts like "it will just be used against you."

2. The other reason is in areas with "intent" built into the law as a function of legal carry. Carry for self-defense still counts as carrying with intent to use as a weapon, even if that usage itself is not per se illegal. This is because an act of self-defense is actually an act of assault or murder until proven otherwise; it is an affirmative defense for the courts, not a legal immunity.

I will say that the balisong is probably the last weapon I would ever use for self-defense. I don't care how fast and dexterous you are with on, I can open a fixed blade and stab with it faster. I can probably open most folders faster too if it's one I'm accustomed to. And that's not even when you start breaking down the practical issues of using blades in self-defense overall.
 
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glistam said:
It is a myth that knives are prohibited for self-defense in any state. It's not that there is any law about it, it's that cops questioning you about it will have their judgement of the matter affected. There's generally two reasons for this, with some overlap:

1. Psychological research on cops shows a strong tendency toward the belief that only police officers should have the ability to dispense physical force and stop criminals. A citizen who is readily capable of defending themselves therefore may be seen as doing the officer's job for them, effectively robbing them of their self-identity and purpose. Therefore, when an officer is told a person has a object for self-defense, there is an immediately feeling of resentment towards that person and if the laws of the area are not very clear on the matter, they will try to spin them toward the carry being illegal, sometimes even confiscating it when it's otherwise a legal item while not making an arrest. This should never be mistaken as actual law and the officer is technically committing theft when this happens. This is an unconscious matter and the cop is not aware why he or she is doing it; they often try to rationalize it with flawed concepts like "it will just be used against you."

2. The other reason is in areas with "intent" built into the law as a function of legal carry. Carry for self-defense still counts as carrying with intent to use as a weapon, even if that usage itself is not per se illegal. This is because an act of self-defense is actually an act of assault or murder until proven otherwise; it is an affirmative defense for the courts, not a legal immunity.

I will say that the balisong is probably the last weapon I would ever use for self-defense. I don't care how fast and dexterous you are with on, I can open a fixed blade and stab with it faster. I can probably open most folders faster too if it's one I'm accustomed to. And that's not even when you start breaking down the practical issues of using blades in self-defense overall.
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If you know what you're doing then it's an excellent weapon for self defense, I like them for everyday use.
 
I was working with a state senator once, in an effort to legalize the carry of automatic knives in Washington State.

My tactic was to amend the CCW law to include them. It would be a simple matter of adding "or automatic knife" after "handgun" in the already existing Code... then all of the usual laws could apply.... not carrying in a school, bar, courthouse, yada yada yada. All was going along nicely, there was a decent e-mail string going along as discussion progressed.

Then all of a sudden 9/11 happened.

Any thought of getting a politician to assist in relaxing ANY knife law went right out the window as lawmakers began systematically trying to ban anything with a point on it. They even succeeded in denying us a right to carry a nail clipper onto a plane. So I gave up.

If you would like to amend the law so that you can carry a balisong, then kniferights would probably be a good starting point. Send them an e-mail and see what you can find out. Perhaps another state has written a law that allows it. No sense trying to re-invent the wheel.

Or you could get your own initiative going. Look up how to do it in the State of Washington, recruit some folks and get a grassroots effort started. Hell, Washinton just legalized marijuana.... no telling what kind of lenient times we are in.
 
I carry a folder as a utility knife.

As one who's been a cop and cut people out of seatbelts at crash scenes, including myself.

I always try to have some sort of blade on my person or in the car.

No idea if Fixed Blade knives are legal to carry in WA, or not these days, CPL or not.
 
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