Gravity Knife

To be defined as a gravity knife the knife must be able to be flicked open by the wrist via gravity or centripetal force and lock into place by itself. The user must not have to unlock to flick open or lock by him or herself to stay in locked position once opened.

On a side note, there are lawyers that defend clients who get arrested for carrying a butterfly knife (in states like NY where gravity knifes are illegal), but they can prove that the butterfly knife is clearly not a gravity knife by way of the above definition.
 
Thanks for your thoughts.

That definition exlcudes butterfly knives which arguably do not lock into place by themselves.

Lawyers in New York have had an extemely difficult time proving that virtually every folding, locking knife is a gravity knife under the definition in New York's penal code, which is quite close to yours.
 
Sorry, I meant to say that lawyers have had a hard time proving common pocket knives are NOT gravity knives.
 
As usual, I hear crickets when I raise this question here.

We are going to have to deal with this issue sooner or later, at least in New York.

Seth
 
New York State's definition of a gravity knife has been limited, by case-law precedent, to include only knives which open to a locked positions "with a simple flick of the wrist". The example given by the court was, IIRC, the motion used in dealing playing cards. While it would be nice if there was no restriction at all, to my mind that defininition is about as clear and as reasonable as one could hope for. So, outside of NYC at least, getting convicted of carrying one in New York is easily avoided by not carrying knives that are sloppy loose. Getting arrested for carrying one is another matter, police officers do not always interpret the law in the same way as the courts. But that is a universal truth, not one limited to either knife-related issues or to one locale.

Can't see that having any organization come up with their own private definition of a gravity knife would have any impact at all on how courts interpret their state's or locality's proscriptions on them.
 
Do you happen to know the name of the case that made an analogy to dealing cards?

Thanks.
 
HotSwat said:
Folding knives should be be exempt from the classification of gravity knife, because let's face it, you flick most any knife open.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I was thinking... we are pretty much screwed because most (if not all) of the folders in the market can be flicked open with the appropiate amount of force. Damn... I see myself carrying a fixed one from now on...

Mikel
 
I'd think here in New York State (not the ever restrictive NYC), that the next battle to be fought will be over assisted openers rather than one that needs a little help with a wrist flick.

My assisted opening "Spec Bump" may one day get the bump and become uncarryable here,.........but my Zero Tolerance 0200 should always be legal,..........

..............even IF i have to tighten the pivot bolt to make it a two handed opener! :eek:

Most of the better assisted openers have gotten so good that the freaks who make our laws will probably argue there is no difference in functional "readiness" between an assisted opener and a switchblade.

........then all knives are unnecessary to carry on the street except those needed for job related cutting. :jerkit:

Someday here in the land of the free we may all be using a plastic knife at home to cut our steak with! :grumpy:
 
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