How is it that spring-assist knives are legal in CA?

D

drjones

Joined
Sep 6, 2000
Messages
913
I just got a Gerber Covert and Kershaw Shallot - the Covert is especially quick to deploy, frankly not a whole lot slower or different than some true automatics, IMO.

How is it that these knives are not considered "switchblades" or "automatics" under draconian CA law??

I'm glad they are legal, just wonder how it is that this communist state hasn't banned them yet!!!
 
Don't know if I'm saying this right, but the main "device" to open the blade is directly attached to the blade or in some way a part of the blade. Switch blade buttons, levers, etc. are not.
And yeah, really who needs an auto, A/O is just as good, if not better IMHO.
 
The whole ban on autos came before one-hand openers. Most of my "tactical" folders flick open as quickly as any auto or assisted opener. The law is catching on to this, for example, in New York City, where any knife that can be inertially swung out to lock open is now considered a gravity knife. Essentially, they've reduced legality to a small slipjoint again.

Fortunately, groups like AKTI have convinced many legislators to see one-hand opening and locking folders as a safety and convenience issue, including assisted opening, but leaving autos out as too emotional an issue to deal with yet.
 
in general, since spring assisted knives have a detente or bias toward the closed position, they do not meet the elements of 653k pc, while switchblades tend to bias toward opening until locked.

the switch or "mechanism" would simply be the thumbstud, flipper, or spring.
 
MORIMOTOM said:
in general, since spring assisted knives have a detente or bias toward the closed position, they do not meet the elements of 653k pc, while switchblades tend to bias toward opening until locked.
Click to expand...

That's an important difference which I had forgotten. In NYC, they claim that being able to deploy by violently swinging the knife outward is the equivalent of a bias towards opening. Pfff :p
 
Esav Benyamin said:
The whole ban on autos came before one-hand openers. Most of my "tactical" folders flick open as quickly as any auto or assisted opener. The law is catching on to this, for example, in New York City, where any knife that can be inertially swung out to lock open is now considered a gravity knife. Essentially, they've reduced legality to a small slipjoint again.

Fortunately, groups like AKTI have convinced many legislators to see one-hand opening and locking folders as a safety and convenience issue, including assisted opening, but leaving autos out as too emotional an issue to deal with yet.
Click to expand...
Safety would be the prime concern, given the large number of lawsuit-happy, contingency-fee personal-injury lawyers out there. Manufacturers have to make their products as idiot-proof as possible in order to avoid being sued into bankruptcy.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
That's an important difference which I had forgotten. In NYC, they claim that being able to deploy by violently swinging the knife outward is the equivalent of a bias towards opening. Pfff :p
Click to expand...


and my car biases toward the ocean when i push it off a cliff.




:D
 
drjones said:
I just got a Gerber Covert and Kershaw Shallot - the Covert is especially quick to deploy, frankly not a whole lot slower or different than some true automatics, IMO.

How is it that these knives are not considered "switchblades" or "automatics" under draconian CA law??
Click to expand...
It's a technicality. The penal code reads:
""Switchblade knife" does not include a knife that opens with one hand utilizing thumb pressure applied solely to the blade of the knife or a thumb stud attached to the blade, provided that the knife has a detent or other mechanism that provides resistance that must be overcome in opening the blade, or that biases the blade back toward its closed position."

Regarding the Shallot, the flipper is the first step in it not being a "switchblade" since it's part of the blade. The second step is that the torsion bar in the knife provides resistance which must be overcome manually. I don't have a Shallot but I have a Leek and IF the Shallot is like the Leek then there is zero bias towards closure, which is why the resistance provided by the torsion bar is relevant. The resistance is negligible/unnoticeable but as long as it technically exists, that doesn't matter according to the way the law is written.

And I wouldn't say California's knife laws are "draconian." Draconian would be the laws we could have been stuck with, which originally would have banned ALL knives that could be flicked open.
 
I'm pretty sure Cali allows fully automatic knives...as long as they have a maximum 2" blade.That's something they got over us Jerseyans.I did little to no research on this.I remember reading it somewhere.Please correct me if I'm wrong.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top