-
The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Carrying a Balisong...
- Thread starter Quijebo
- Start date
Clay
Balisong forum Moderator
- Joined
- Jul 15, 1999
- Messages
- 871
Well, I doubt there's any way to legally carry one in Cali, or most other places for that matter.
As far as what would happen if you got caught with one, it would depend on the situation. If an officer just happened to notice it during a routine traffic stop chances are he would lecture you, or take the knife, or both.
If, on the other hand you were caught comitting a crime and they found it you, expect the worst.
Take a look in Bernard Levine's page and find out what the law specifically says:
http://pweb.netcom.com/~brlevine/sta-law.htm
------------------
Clay
www.balisongxtreme.com
Because......
getting 'em open
is half the fun!
[This message has been edited by Clay (edited 03-19-2000).]
As far as what would happen if you got caught with one, it would depend on the situation. If an officer just happened to notice it during a routine traffic stop chances are he would lecture you, or take the knife, or both.
If, on the other hand you were caught comitting a crime and they found it you, expect the worst.
Take a look in Bernard Levine's page and find out what the law specifically says:
http://pweb.netcom.com/~brlevine/sta-law.htm
------------------
Clay
www.balisongxtreme.com
Because......
getting 'em open
is half the fun!
[This message has been edited by Clay (edited 03-19-2000).]
- Joined
- Oct 16, 1998
- Messages
- 2,395
Butterfly knives are arbitrarily lumped into the category of automatic or gravity knives by the California law enforcement community. Carrying one on your person, or in the passenger compartment of a car is a felony, I believe, pretty serious. Don't do it. Keep your balis at home and carry a nice legal REKAT Sifu.
I live in NY and they are legal to sell here. As far as I understand, they are legal for the reason that for a knife to be classified as a gravity knife, it must open and lock in one motion. A butterfly doesn't do that because it is a separate motion to close the latch. Even though it is 'locked' when you grip the two handles together, if you put it down, drop it, or anything else after opening it, it is not locked. Maybe I'm wrong. I hope this helped.
Steve
Steve
- Joined
- Dec 23, 1999
- Messages
- 127
There are several principles to which I adhere firmly in the world of balisongs.
Here is one:
-All balisong makers should offer full-length scales
Here is another:
-Balisongs are not gravity knives!
If a cop seems like he wants to take your bali, ask him to open it "with a flick of the wrist". This will stump him, and a) you will keep your knife, or b) you will be jailed for flippancy, which seemed to be a crime in certain parts of CA last time I checked.
Shucks. Look at it this way. Clay can open a balisong with a "flick". Bob Munden can shoot a single-action Colt faster than some sub-machine guns. Does that mean that a balisong is a a switchblade and a revolver is a machine gun? No. It means that Clay is highly skilled, Bob Munden is highly skilled, and legislators, as ever, don't know what they're talking about.
All this crap I have just laid down is fairly useless on the street. If you have a lot to lose or are of a shade unpopular with local police, don't carry your balisong. In the event of legal strangeness, it will cause trouble for you.
Here is one:
-All balisong makers should offer full-length scales
Here is another:
-Balisongs are not gravity knives!
If a cop seems like he wants to take your bali, ask him to open it "with a flick of the wrist". This will stump him, and a) you will keep your knife, or b) you will be jailed for flippancy, which seemed to be a crime in certain parts of CA last time I checked.
Shucks. Look at it this way. Clay can open a balisong with a "flick". Bob Munden can shoot a single-action Colt faster than some sub-machine guns. Does that mean that a balisong is a a switchblade and a revolver is a machine gun? No. It means that Clay is highly skilled, Bob Munden is highly skilled, and legislators, as ever, don't know what they're talking about.
All this crap I have just laid down is fairly useless on the street. If you have a lot to lose or are of a shade unpopular with local police, don't carry your balisong. In the event of legal strangeness, it will cause trouble for you.
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2000
- Messages
- 12
According to CA state law, it is a misdemeanor to carry in the driver or passenger area of your car, in a public place, or on your person a switchblade knife. The state of CA considers That a balisong knife is a switchblade knife. This was the Attorney General's opinion in a court case in 1985.
I have spent many hours in front of this computer looking for a loophole in the law, but have found nothing.
You can find a lot of good information for knife laws in any state at www.knife-expert.com as well as the court case that I refered to above.
------------------
John
Balisongs - Because switchblades are just too damn boring.
[This message has been edited by GrossePointe (edited 03-23-2000).]
I have spent many hours in front of this computer looking for a loophole in the law, but have found nothing.
------------------
John
Balisongs - Because switchblades are just too damn boring.
[This message has been edited by GrossePointe (edited 03-23-2000).]
- Joined
- Oct 16, 1998
- Messages
- 2,395
You and I, and every Balisong loving knife collector in CA knows that a butterfly knife is not a switchblade or a gravity knife, but the cold, hard, tyranny is that the law enforcement community has established through precedence and case law that they are. What will happen when you get caught with one depends upon which cop catches you, and your attitude. The letter of the law says it is a felony, and you could very easily be arrested and charged. Always assume the worst.