Canada Customs and Axis Locks!

As I understand it, Canada Customs has made their own interpretation of the criminal code. The loophole that exists that makes thumb studs and assisted openers legal has been re interpreted by Canadian Customs. It seems that by their logic, the thumb stud is attached to the blade, which is in turn attached to the handle, ergo, a thumb stud is a switchblade, because the opening device is on the handle. This is a Canadian Customs interpretation, and no modification has been made to the criminal code. This is a bigger problem, as it seems that Canada Customs is enforcing their interpretation of the Criminal Code. Such BS.
 
Onies said:
As I understand it, Canada Customs has made their own interpretation of the criminal code. The loophole that exists that makes thumb studs and assisted openers legal has been re interpreted by Canadian Customs. It seems that by their logic, the thumb stud is attached to the blade, which is in turn attached to the handle, ergo, a thumb stud is a switchblade, because the opening device is on the handle. This is a Canadian Customs interpretation, and no modification has been made to the criminal code. This is a bigger problem, as it seems that Canada Customs is enforcing their interpretation of the Criminal Code. Such BS.
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Wow their logic reminds me of the baker who wanted to charge poor street kids for inhaling the smell of his bred and pies.
Well he got paid with the looks of money.

Maybe we should attach the custom agents paychecks to something? Maybe a Schrödinger box?
 
This is all very simple....

First, it really depends on who checks your knife. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to say that your knife will be confiscated because it's considered a "centrifugal or gravity" opening knife.

Most knives just go through customs without ever being looked at.
I know that the CBSA picks months to "blitz" checks, they can't check everything all of the time.

That being said, I have had many conversations with CBSA and the tests that the knives they have taken from me have gone through.

It's very simple. If they can get the knife open "with a hard wrist flick" they own it under the "centrifugal" law.

Try your knives, I bet that you can get 5-6 out of 10 to open if you try hard enough.

To date I have lost around $2K worth of knives to this lunacy (there really is non better word)

All the knives taken had locking mechanisms that are readily sold in Canada, non of them where "illegal" to own here, but the CBSA is a very different animal then local or provincial law enforcement officers.

I haven't had anything taken in years. I have learned the hard way that if the pivot can't be cranked down to the point the knife won't open then I am not buying it. I have to stick with what I can find in Canada....sad.

It's a sad thing really, and I don't see anything that can be done about it.
 
I recently had a shirogorov snagged at customs, they claimed it was an automatic.

I knew an appeal would be absolutely useless, even though the knife in question is legal, by the letter of their own laws in black and white.

So the only other options are to forfeit the item or export it back to the country it came from.
 
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I wonder if I could re-loop the loophole bringing my Buck 110 into Canada. I purchased a bolt-on thumb stud for the blade which only requires an Allen wrench to attach or detach. Once on, it makes the Buck act like any one-handed manual opener, and I imagine with enough lubricant and enough effort you could get it to "flick" open, especially if they're including the motion of the thumb within that criteria (and, anecdotally, it seems like at least some agents are). But it's not an integral part of the blade. Two twists of the wrench and the stud comes off, turning the Buck into yet another two-handed opening lockback.

Could this be bypassed if manufacturers offered their manual knives with "some assembly required"?
 
People have been prosecuted in the U.S. for importing automatic knife kits - some assembly required to make them automatic.
 
So here's a question. How do all the dealers who sell the same knives that are getting snagged by customs get their knives through?
 
craytab said:
So here's a question. How do all the dealers who sell the same knives that are getting snagged by customs get their knives through?
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Canada border agents sell all the confiscated knives to the Dealers! It's a very slick little operation they have going!
 
craytab said:
Funny. But seriously, how do all the Benchmades come across the boarder to dealers?
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I'm pretty sure it's a different set of people who are from different detachments of the cbsa. The cbsa officer who's trying to wrist flick your mini-grip is not the same guy clearing large commercial shipments.
 
marcus52AR said:
I'm pretty sure it's a different set of people who are from different detachments of the cbsa. The cbsa officer who's trying to wrist flick your mini-grip is not the same guy clearing large commercial shipments.
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Yes, it is more of a rhetorical question meant to point out the irony. I could have trouble shipping a single knife across the boarder but benchmade has no problem. The interpretation of the law is not the same for all.
 
craytab said:
Yes, it is more of a rhetorical question meant to point out the irony. I could have trouble shipping a single knife across the boarder but benchmade has no problem. The interpretation of the law is not the same for all.
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Ah, I get what you're saying. How is it legal for company x to ship a truck full of knives over, but Joe schmoe can't buy one precious, shiny new knife.
 
craytab said:
Yes, it is more of a rhetorical question meant to point out the irony. I could have trouble shipping a single knife across the boarder but benchmade has no problem. The interpretation of the law is not the same for all.
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I know for a fact (talking to a dealer) that all axis lock knives are sent with the pivot tight from BM.

But yes, in the big picture, different rules for the dealers.

That's the problem. The rules change depending on who you ask, and that doesn't work well at all.

In terms of the Police, they are incredibly cool about it, and unless you are an obvious idiot they don't care.

Here is the important thing to remember about CBSA (Customs)

Technically, they do not operate on Canadian soil. The border is not considered "Canada" so the "rules" are their own to apply however they like.
 
marcus52AR said:
Ah, I get what you're saying. How is it legal for company x to ship a truck full of knives over, but Joe schmoe can't buy one precious, shiny new knife.
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Marcus...a Shiro? I feel it in my bones man, I've lost a lot of nice knives, including one really nice custom and some very rare BM's. It's the hard ones to get that they always take....

Just remember that what you bring across will be looked at more carefully after this point...
 
marcus52AR said:
I recently had a shirogorov snagged at customs, they claimed it was an automatic.

I knew an appeal would be absolutely useless, even though the knife in question is legal, by the letter of their own laws in black and white.

So the only other options are to forfeit the item or export it back to the country it came from.
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Forget the appeal.

It is a dead end. You are appealing to the same people that made the decision to take your knife.

What's that saying? They are the Judge and the Jury?!.....

Sending it back has to be done via a bonded carrier that is approved to transport "prohibited weapons"
I am not going to get into the cost or BS that comes along with that.....looked into it.
 
What a racket. :grumpy:

Pick an expensive hobby. Become a customs agent. Hobby not so expensive any more.
 
JR88FAN said:
Marcus...a Shiro? I feel it in my bones man, I've lost a lot of nice knives, including one really nice custom and some very rare BM's. It's the hard ones to get that they always take....

Just remember that what you bring across will be looked at more carefully after this point...
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Yup.. a shirogorov, bronze anodized to perfection with s90v.

And yes, I realize I'm on a list of sorts now for anything that I import from across the line.

I should have known better after hearing all the $#/^ you went through but I didn't.
 
JR88FAN said:
Forget the appeal.

It is a dead end. You are appealing to the same people that made the decision to take your knife.

What's that saying? They are the Judge and the Jury?!.....

Sending it back has to be done via a bonded carrier that is approved to transport "prohibited weapons"
I am not going to get into the cost or BS that comes along with that.....looked into it.
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I gave up on the appeal idea very quickly after talking to a customs officer I know. He said I had about a zero percent chance and that my auto would turn into a gravity knife in most cases.

I did ship it back via bonded courier (ups) and it made it back to the US without issue. Lot of paperwork and phone calls.
 
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