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Intolerant

Joined
Dec 15, 2008
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6
What is the Great State of Texas coming to?

This class action suit was filed yesterday.

http://www.courthousenews.com/2009/01/08/Switchblades.pdf

The statements made in Paragraph 24 are most disturbing. I am pulling the actual cited case to read the facts and findings.

I bought my first Kershaws in December, a Shallot 110, a Shallot ZDP, and a SG2 Junkyard Dog II. Reading the local news this morning, I find the report on the class action filed yesterday as well as the incorporated reference in the pleading to a prior ruling in Texas regarding the Speed Safe design. Now I'm leery of carrying either Shallot.

I never thought I would see this in Texas.
 
Damn that sucks, i would also never expect that out of TEXAS!

But due to your unfortunate legal circumstance, I see no option other than to see that you surrender your "switchblades" over to me :D
 
That's funny, They cite Texas law which states that in order to be a switchblade the blade must be actuated by pressure on a button ON THE HANDLE. They then state inaccurately that the SpeedSafe knives are actuated by a button on the handle in 21,23.

They do cite that individuals have been convicted of possession of switchblade for carrying the Speedsafe, which I think Kershaw should have fought (or continue to fight) as far as it could go, because of ... well, this very thing. (A judge somewhere says, "Yup, that's a switchblade", and it seems to be law regardless of what the law actually says.

I think Kershaw is safe, actually, because of the way the law is actually written. The assist must be actuated by a button ON THE HANDLE---NOT THE BLADE--- in order to be a switchblade.

They aren't liable if a LEO or Judge can't tell the difference between the handle and the blade.
 
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You cant mess with Walmart and win. Wont happen. They will fight this one and win, and likely reverse the original verdict that AOs are "switchblades"...I'm hoping....
 
They are citing the centrifugal force action under Texas Penal Code 46.05(B).
Note that the definition of switchblade under 46.05 is either (A) OR (B).
See paragraph 23 of the pleading where Plaintiffs allege that all Speed Safe knives "release the blade from the handle or sheep by the application of centrifugal force".

I'm very eager to read the cited case. If it establishes that current law (by judicial determination) is that SS knives are switchblades, they are. End of story until the ruling is overturned on appeal or modified by subsequent decision.
 
They state the SpeedSafe system violates BOTH definitions.

In 21 they say,
"Kershaw folding knives incorporating the Kershaw SpeedSafe technology open the blade automatically by applying pressure to a device located on the handle."

This is untrue.

In 23 they say,

"All Kershaw knives that incorporate the Kershaw SpeedSafe technology open or release the blade from the handle or sheath by the application of centrifugal force."

This is also untrue. What centrifugal force? It actuates by DIRECT PRESSURE upon the thumbstud, not centrifugal force.

If there is case law, it will have to be addressed. Seems like very strong grounds to challenge such a determination.
 
Intolerant said:
They are citing the centrifugal force action under Texas Penal Code 46.05(B).
Note that the definition of switchblade under 46.05 is either (A) OR (B).
See paragraph 23 of the pleading where Plaintiffs allege that all Speed Safe knives "release the blade from the handle or sheep by the application of centrifugal force".

I'm very eager to read the cited case. If it establishes that current law (by judicial determination) is that SS knives are switchblades, they are. End of story until the ruling is overturned on appeal or modified by subsequent decision.
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing. I have played with A LOT of speedsafe knives(read: most of the models they make) and I can't open any of them with centrifugal force.
 
What a waste of time for the Courts and Kershaw. Proof positive there are some Lawyers that would file a class action suit against Starkist Chunk light tuna if they did not find any chunks and chunks are defined as, chunks!!
 
It is interesting that the suite includes people 'knowingly' purchasing items the 'know' to be illegal. Who are they, the governor of New York?

They seem to believe that since the blade moves in an arc that makes it centrifugal force. They also make a logic leap from correctly describing the opening device to be attached to the blade itself, to the blade being folded into the handle, to, since the blade is stored in the handle then the opening mechanism is ON the handle.

It is so sad to me that Americans seem to live so well that some seem to need to find something to bitch about. The law suits against monuments and knives etc. are such a waste of time and money. I do not believe that given the same governmental freedoms these suits would have occurred under harder conditions. I can't believe these would have happened during the great depression etc. When people actually think about putting up monuments to the terrorists of 911 if a monument to the victims is allowed to be erected is amazing.
 
Well, I sure hope this does not act as signs of things to come! Lets hope Kershaw wins this!
 
just ridiculous! Hope this doesn't make it very far., if the plaintiffs win in Texas of all places I'd think it be much easier to do the same in other states.

Don't lawyers and the gov't have better things to do right now than tell us what kind of knives we can own..., like maybe balance a budget or work on the economy(without bail outs)., just a thought.
 
Just another FYI guys - Thomas is unlikely to post about this topic since he works for an involved party, so DONT ask him to.
 
I actually bought a Leek and a Dragonfly for folks in Texas this Christmas, and I really hope I didn't give them a chance to be arrested for the New Year. The clerk assured me both knives were legal, and specifically that the Leek was legal because it didn't have a "button" per se -- though you have to admit that pushing the tang in the back of the notch is pushing the envelope a bit. To the untrained eye, opening a Leek sure does look a lot like a switchblade.

Here's what I find disturbing. The lawsuit alleges people have been convicted for carrying a switchblade because they carried a Leek in Texas. If that's true, Kershaw needs to do a massive recall in Texas and raise bloody hell.

The AKTI link says that ALL one-handed openers in Texas have been declared illegal. If that's the case, Spyderco, Leatherman, Gerber, and pretty much every one else who manufactures so much as a box cutter needs to be joining Kershaw in their "Let's Raise Hell in Texas" campaign.


Does anyone know of anyone busted in Texas for merely carrying a Leek? What actually happened in the case Thomas v. Texas? (Google offers no help...)
 
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This basic premise has been covered before, and in the "Knife Laws" forum, if I'm not mistaken. The Speed-Safe is federally legal, and the "evil switch-blade" laws are also federal. While some municipalities have created laws that specifically outlaw assisted-opening knives, I doubt a state will, if only because of the inter-state commerce laws. And then there's the "one-armed man" disability considerations, which, while not substantial, certainly can play well to the press. I doubt the law will fly, but it will certainly waste taxpayers' money, and Kershaw's.


"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it." -- Mark Twain
 
This is so stupid. Those laws were written to make switchblades and butterfly knives illegal, not one-handed openers. And the only reason they wanted to make these knives illegal is because they were associated with street violence and gangs, not because these types of knives are inherently dangerous to the public. Since they couldn't just say "switchblades and butterfly knives", politicians and/or lawyers had to come up with a definition, and in almost every state that has this type of law, the definition is vague and often an inaccurate description of what they were trying to ban. I wish there was a judge who had the balls to say all this in a ruling and put the matter to rest for good.
 
The case cited will not help them because it was a sham. Noone from any knife company or any defense expert testified. The female judge(s) were entirely in the wrong.

BTW--flipping open a linerlock knife does not involve centrifugal force-no matter how you spell it-and requires movement in more than one direction.
 
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