Can LEOs Import Autos?

J

jayinhk

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Apr 25, 2006
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Just did some reading on the Federal Switchblade Act:

18 U.S.C. § 1716(g)(2) provides this summary:
Federal law prohibits shipment of automatic knives across state lines, with the following exceptions: Switchblade knives can be shipped: (1) to civilian or Armed Forces supply or procurement officers and employees of the Federal Government ordering, procuring, or purchasing such knives in connection with the activities of the Federal Government; (2) to supply or procurement officers of the National Guard, the Air National guard, or militia of a state, territory or the District of Columbia ordering, procuring, or purchasing such knives in the connection with the activities of such organization; (3) to supply or procurement officers or employees of the municipal government of the District of Columbia or the government of any State or Territory, or any county, city or other political subdivision of a State or Territory; procuring or purchasing such knives in connection with the activities of such government. (4) to manufacturers of such knives or bona fide dealers therein in connection with any shipment made pursuant of an order from any person designated in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3).

15 U.S.C. § 1244 provides, in summary: Knives can be shipped by common carrier, that sale, transportation or distribution, possession or introduction into interstate commerce of switchblade knives is authorized if it is pursuant to a contract with the armed forces or any member or employee thereof acting in the performance of his or her duty may possess switchblade knives and may have them shipped to him and sold to him or her. The possession and transportation upon his or her person of a switchblade knife or a blade 3 inches or less is authorized to any handicap individual who has the use of only one arm.

Does this mean I can legally send autos and balisongs to LEOs in the US (I live in a country where balisongs are legal) if they are to be used in connection with their duties?
 
Answer: Switchblade knives as defined in 19 CFR §§ 12.95(a)(1)(2) (3) and (4) are prohibited from importation and are subject to forfeiture (see 19 CFR § 12.97) unless otherwise exempted. If a knife meets any of the aforementioned definitions of a switchblade (see discussion above regarding the insertion of a spring), its importation is prohibited unless it falls within one of the following statutory exceptions set forth in 19 CFR § 12.98: (1) its importation is pursuant to a contract with a branch of the Armed Forces of the United States; (2) it is imported by a branch of the Armed Forces of the United States or any member or employee thereof acting in the performance of his duty; or (3) the switchblade knife, other than a ballistic knife, having a blade not exceeding 3 inches in length is in the possession of and is being transported on the person of an individual who has only one arm.

Looks like they can be legally imported by LE. :)
 
that is only if you are using the post office. if you use th ups or fed ex then that law does not apply to you. belive me I checked it out.
 
From my interpretation, it doesn't matter if you use USPS or a common carrier--the same laws apply. Armed Forces doesn't include police, however, so only the army, navy, air force, marines and coast guard can import them in connection with their duties.
 
You are right...I think (man that statute is written terribly). Though aren't most of the good switchblades made right here in the US? I know you definitely could order from another state if you are LEO.
 
Importation is under customs rules and regs. The interstate commerce law quoted is for the shipment accross state lines. It is the basis for the Customs ban, but I believe there is a separte wording of thier rules. Check the old post from last year when Customs was trying to ban any one handed opener as someone posted their exact rules.
 
procurement is not done by individual officers, but by the department.

if the agency chose to issue autos to its personnel, they would be exempt in the ordering of such items.
 
jayinhk said:
From my interpretation, it doesn't matter if you use USPS or a common carrier--the same laws apply. Armed Forces doesn't include police, however, so only the army, navy, air force, marines and coast guard can import them in connection with their duties.
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First, they must have written permission from their superiors and in most cases must obtain them thru their procurement officer. Also, some sites may require that you fill out additional legal forms such as THIS before they will ship an automatic out of their state where auto's are legal.
 
glistam said:
You are right...I think (man that statute is written terribly). Though aren't most of the good switchblades made right here in the US? I know you definitely could order from another state if you are LEO.
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yep, without any agency letter head or expressed permission from your Chief. as for the whole from another country, i don't know :confused:

with some letter head and a cool Chief, you can order all sorts of nifty supplies right to your Dept's door :thumbup:
 
(2) it is imported by a branch of the Armed Forces of the United States or any member or employee thereof acting in the performance of his duty;

Pretty cut and dried...any member or employee of the US Armed Forces can import one if they are acting in the performance of their duty.
 
jayinhk said:
(2) it is imported by a branch of the Armed Forces of the United States or any member or employee thereof acting in the performance of his duty;

Pretty cut and dried...any member or employee of the US Armed Forces can import one if they are acting in the performance of their duty.
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Whatever the law says has no bearing on the policies of said agencies.
A majority of LE agencies will not allow carry of automatics without express permission from a commanding officer. The same goes for members of the military. In fact many branches of the military discourage the carry of anything but issued knives. Of course there are special circumstances and exceptions. If you don't believe me make the calls yourself, as i have.
 
jayinhk said:
From my interpretation, it doesn't matter if you use USPS or a common carrier--the same laws apply. Armed Forces doesn't include police, however, so only the army, navy, air force, marines and coast guard can import them in connection with their duties.
Click to expand...

If that is the case then why is all of the big wholesalers/dealers are shipping by ups and nothing is being done about it??
 
Karda said:
Whatever the law says has no bearing on the policies of said agencies.
A majority of LE agencies will not allow carry of automatics without express permission from a commanding officer. The same goes for members of the military. In fact many branches of the military discourage the carry of anything but issued knives. Of course there are special circumstances and exceptions. If you don't believe me make the calls yourself, as i have.
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That's good info. Thanks Karda!
 
richard thurman said:
If that is the case then why is all of the big wholesalers/dealers are shipping by ups and nothing is being done about it??
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Richard, are you talking about UPS into the US or between states? If into the US: illegal unless you're supplying the military. If you're talking interstate, it's legal as long as you're supplying LE or military.
 
Then bench made is out of business. They are selling there switchblades to anyone that has money. They are crossing state lines and are not just selling them to Leo or the military. In the state of Florida switchblades are legal to carry but there is china switchblades are all over the place. If they are from china they had to cross the ocean must less the state lines and the feds are not doing any thing about it. also every one on this site that is buying switchblades that are from another stae is breaking the law too. that law that you are talking about is meant for the use of the post office only.
 
richard thurman said:
Then bench made is out of business. They are selling there switchblades to anyone that has money. They are crossing state lines and are not just selling them to Leo or the military. In the state of Florida switchblades are legal to carry but there is china switchblades are all over the place. If they are from china they had to cross the ocean must less the state lines and the feds are not doing any thing about it. also every one on this site that is buying switchblades that are from another state is breaking the law too. that law that you are talking about is meant for the use of the post office only.
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Nah, the enforcement is simply not very good. Just because it's illegal doesn't mean it gets caught. Customs can't be everywhere and more importantly, autos are not exactly easy to detect. They cannot be sniffed by dogs or chemical testers, and x-ray would have a very difficult time telling them apart from legal non-auto folders. They'd have to rip every box open and play with each knife. In the grand scheme of there duties, Customs has bigger fish to fry.

It has also been my hypothesis for a while that all those companies that sell autos over state lines within the US despite the law are just taking a carefully calculated risk: USPS or UPS, it is very illegal even for law enforcement to open packages without a federal warrant, and something would have to attract their attention to the package in the first place.
 
richard thurman said:
Then bench made is out of business. They are selling there switchblades to anyone that has money. They are crossing state lines and are not just selling them to Leo or the military. In the state of Florida switchblades are legal to carry but there is china switchblades are all over the place. If they are from china they had to cross the ocean must less the state lines and the feds are not doing any thing about it. also every one on this site that is buying switchblades that are from another stae is breaking the law too. that law that you are talking about is meant for the use of the post office only.
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Last I checked, you needed to submit some sort of confirmation that you're with LEO or Military in order to buy one from their website.

My brother still wants an OTF Auto, though I honestly can't see why. It doesn't take much longer to flip open a manual knife, and a wave opening knife is much faster to deploy. I feel he might come around once I get good with my Super Karambit and can deploy and strike with it in less than a second.
 
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