Dangerous Customs Ruling

[CJ Buck]

American Knife and Tool Institute Update:
AKTI has a board meeting and our annual member meeting at the Blade show every year.

This year a very concerning issue was surfaced. Rod Bremer, from Columbia River Knife and Tool (CRKT) shared a letter he had received from Customs that revoked some previous rulings and shared a new interpretation from Customs that will now consider assisted openers as switchblades.

I checked www.AKTI.org to see if the letters have been posted yet and a link to the ruling is there. We delivered a very strong call to action at the show this year.

The main concern for the knife industry in general is that this goes far beyond just the importation of assisted openers. The potential exists for language used by Customs being adopted for interstate commerce in the future.

The concept Customs is adding to the interprestation of switchblade law is "Human assisted inertia". This is the language they are using to make assisted openers switchblades. You "assist" the knife into an "inertia" opening state and that is just the same as if you pressed a button to open it.

When you really think about that language, it could be interpreted in the future to mean any folder you can "assist" open half way and flick open the rest of the way "inertia" would then be classified as a switchblade.

In other words...every folder ever made could be considered a switchblade.

AKTI is taking this very seriously. We have a conference call this friday to finalize actions and then it will be up to all of us to contact our legislators and prepare to generate some cash should we need to take this to court.

Please keep checking the AKTI website and here on the forums for action updates.

And congratulations Chris and Anne on the new kitchen line...looking good and representing Idaho well... and was good to see Tim roaming the show this year.

 

[biggerjon]

i knew this day would come.

 

[NDIT]

It will not stop till were like England. For now I'm military, I carry an auto in all cold weather.... on duty that is. I don't see a big problem with knives; I guess just like everything else someone will stand to make a buck from this. How sad

 

[Ken C.]

Let's move this to Knife laws where it belongs. We do not want to start potentially politic threads in the wrong forum. Also note that this topic has been discussed at length in several other threads.

 

[joe-bob]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I didn't know that it was up to Customs to make up their own laws.

 

[rwasham]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I didn't know that it was up to Customs to make up their own laws.

Its not....but they are allowed to change their interpretation of existing laws which is what is happening here

 

[Keith D Knight]

god bless america right? whats going to happen to knives in general? are fixies going to reqire permits to own? we are losing allot of freedom for a "free" country.

 

[Let It Bleed]

In general, Congress creates administrative agencies and the enacting legislation will set forth the purpose, scope, and intent of the newly created agency. While a lot will be spelled out in the enacting legislation, Congress will provide discretionary authority to the agency to enact rules and regulations to accomplish their purported goals.

These federal agencies are part of the executive branch and have, depending on your point of view, either broad or limited power to create and enforce regulations they deem necessary. If a dispute arises, all administrative avenues of relief must be exhausted before seeking some form of judicial review.

There are administrative courts and legal proceedings (Administrative Law) built into the system, but it can be a very drawn out process. Additionally, the Courts (Judicial) are deferential in their review of administrative regulations and decisions. Unless there is a fundamental right involved or it can be shown that an agency acted outside their scope of authority, it is unlikely an aggrieved party will prevail. Courts are not supposed to review the wisdom of either the legislation or the effectiveness of its enforcement, but only decide the legal issues involved.

All of the above is simply a cursory “off the top of my head” generalization. The issue surrounding assisted opening knives will ultimately be won or lost in the political arena and not the courts. Regardless of your personal opinion regarding AOs, we should all realize the insidiousness of incremental restrictions as it invariably leads to prohibition.

 

[Zindaras]

Just found out about this and find it very disturbing. Honestly I think this issue is important enough that it would help to have a link to this thread stickied on the main page, as I'm sure everyone on this forum would want to write to congress opposing this issue, but even though I came to the forum looking specifically if there was a thread about it, it still took several minutes of searching to find this thread.

For those who are wondering, the relevant portion of the amendment reads thus:

"We therefore find that knives with spring-assisted opening mechanisms
that require minimal ‘‘human manipulation’’ in order to instantly spring the
blades to the fully open and locked position cannot be considered to have a
primary utilitarian purpose; such articles function as prohibited switchblade
knives as defined by the relevant statute and regulations."

Obviously this amendment would do nothing to stop the criminals and thugs who would be committing knife violence, as they already have access to any amount of more-dangerous illegal knives already, but would instead is directed at the law-abiding citizens like those on these forums that use assisted opening and folding knives for convenience in everyday activities. Many of us are sportsmen, tradesmen, law enforcement officers, and other respectable citizens who use assisted-opening knives in the daily course of our work, but would be unfairly persecuted as criminals if this ruling were to pass. If anyone's interested in reading the actual proposed ruling, here is a direct link to it.

The first sections are decisions made about various knife models BEFORE the proposed ruling, which are later interpreted to be illegal given the proposed ruling. I'll be writing a letter about this today and would encourage you all to do the same, as well as involving as many people from the forums as you can.

Letters on the ruling should be sent to:

19 CFR Part 177
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of International Trade, Regulations and Rulings
Attention: Intellectual Property and Restricted Merchandise Branch Mint Annex,
799 Ninth St. N.W. Washington, D.C. 20229