The Wall Street JournalTHE KNIVES ARE ILLEGAL to carry in 37 states and most ban their sale unless they are manufactured in that state. U.S. customs law prohibits the import of switchblade knives.
While industry statistics on switchblade sales arent available, sales are soaring in the U.S. for such manufacturers as SKM of Maniago, Italy. Michele Beltrame, who manages SKMs Web site, says the companys sales to the U.S. have roughly doubled each year to 10,000 in 1999 since its Internet site opened in 1996. The company recently introduced its new Cobra model to Web shoppers in such designer colors as champagne for $90, advertising three-day delivery.
Some other manufacturers, while shunning media attention, acknowledge similar gains in sales. One well-known handgun brand, Tomkins PLCs Smith & Wesson, also has a hot-selling line of knives that includes switchblades.
FEARS OF A PUBLIC BACKLASH
The boom in sales is roiling the knife industry. A report being prepared by Dan Lawson, a Pittsburgh lawyer for the trade group American Knife and Tool Institute, cautions cutlery makers against the marketing and sales of illegal knives, including switchblades and other types that are promoted as military or fighting weapons. If we arent more careful, he says, the knife industry will cause a public backlash similar to the one experienced by the gun industry over assault rifles.
He notes that weapons magazines increasingly are carrying ads for products sold on the Web as battle blades, folding fighters and bad-boy folders. Although most of these arent automatic, the trend in the industry is to make exposing the blade quickly easier in manual folding knives too.
While the U.S. crime rate is falling, the use of knives in murders is rising slightly as a percentage of overall killings. Federal Bureau of Investigation figures show that knives were used in 13.3% of the nations 14,088 murders in 1998, the most recent year for which weapons statistics are complete, compared with 12.7% of 22,084 killings in 1994.
Most police today take special training to defend against knife attacks, especially switchblades because when theyre closed theyre easier to conceal than a handgun even in the palm of someones hand, says John Barthuly, past president of the Law Enforcement Training Officers Association and deputy policy chief in Fond du Lac, Wis.
LIMITED MARKET
The increased popularity has caught the attention of law-enforcement agencies. Thousands of automatic knives were seized last year by a variety of law-enforcement officials, from U.S. Customs agents at the Port of Miami to a gun show at the Spokane County Fairgrounds in Washington. A Louisiana state trooper received a commendation for undercover work in capturing an imported shipment of switchblades in Baton Rouge.
Manufacturers in this country say they are marketing switchblades responsibly and to a very limited market.
I turn down requests for them all the time from people who dont even realize theyre illegal, says Leslie DeAsis, president of the knife-makers trade group and president of Benchmade Knife Co. in Portland, Ore. What is happening, unfortunately, is a proliferation of people who see an opportunity to make money, and theyre playing to demand.
While Mr. DeAsiss company makes switchblades, among other types of cutlery, he says he sells the automatic-opening knives only for use by law-enforcement agencies. Among his recent new customers the U.S. Coast Guard, which issues switchblades instead of fixed knives to water-rescue teams.
But even Mr. DeAsiss distribution system illustrates how out-of-control switchblade sales are. He says he stopped supplying about 50 of his several hundred retail outlets during the past year or so after he discovered they were selling switchblades to civilians. How many could be making such sales without his knowledge? He admits, I dont know.
A MACHO THING
Whats the attraction of switchblade knives to some consumers? SKMs Mr. Beltrame in Italy says he sees little practical use. Most people want them for show, as curios or conversation pieces. They arent practical as tools, he says. So having a switchblade is a macho thing for a lot of people.
The emotional appeal allows manufacturers to charge a premium for switchblades, and profit margins usually run higher than on nonautomatic knives of the same quality. Knife manufacturers say that the typical switchblade sold on the Internet for $20 to $30 brings a profit margin of 60% to 70%, nearly twice that of a traditional folding knife in the same price range. The reason With the buyers attentions focused on the spring and the speed of opening, blades and handles are usually made of cheaper materials than in comparably priced nonautomatics.
Indeed, Mr. Lawson, the knife industrys attorney in Pittsburgh, says, Hardly anyone I know carries a switchblade for the simple reason that most of them are junk.
Mr. Beltrame, the Italian switchblade marketer, dismisses the notion that his customers are criminals. We sell a lot of knives in the U.S., but handguns are so plentiful and cheap there that most criminals would probably buy them instead of knives.
In fact, using that reasoning in part, knife industry leaders such as Benchmarks Mr. DeAsis are discussing the possibility of making legislative pushes in some states to repeal laws that ban switchblades. He reasons, You cant have an accidental discharge with a knife, and kill someone in the next room.
