Hello Don and Others Who Might Be Asking The Same Question:
As the new Communications Coordinator of AKTI, I can tell you that we are moving ahead with concrete action plans that we believe will give us an opportunity to influence legislation in the future.
In the beginning, as AKTI was getting organized (legally and otherwise), we talked in more general terms about our plans for the future and about hypothetical threats to our industry and to individual knife users. After the very dramatic example of the October 2000 U.S. Customs seizure of 50 models of Columbia River locking liner knives, it has become very clear that threats to our industry can come from any number of directions, sometimes without warning.
We have provided a full report on the Columbia River seizure on our website at
www.akti.org and we are also providing a model letter that can be copied, personalized and sent to your national legislators asking them to register their concern about what happened to Columbia River Knife and Tool Company.
In the course of that case, Columbia River was aided by a co-signed letter from its U.S. Representative, Darlene Hooley, and Oregon Senator Gordon Smith. While Columbia River spent more than $30,000 on legal services, it also became clear the above letter speeded up the decision by Customs to drop the charges and end the seizure.
Some five months earlier, AKTI Board Members had organized a luncheon presentation to Congresswoman Darlene Hooley, who represents the Portland area in Congress. She received a professional overview of the knife industry in Oregon and nationally ... clearly for the first time. So when Customs initiated its seizure of Columbia River products, she had already met Rod Bremer of Columbia River at that earlier presentation. She was ready and willing to write a letter on their behalf and to involve Senator Gordon Smith in the effort.
That series of events made it clear we can have an infuence with our lawmakers ... if they know who we are and what we do. We just need to take the initiative to meet them and tell our story.
So we have created the AKTI Legislative Action Plan, modelled after that earlier presentation in Oregon, and we will begin to target key states where member companies reside. We are attempting to put together a presentation in Washington State. We have member companies in Colorado that want to get moving in that state. And we have targeted California, New York, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Florida, as well.
While this strategy is not dramatic and sexy, it's the way to begin to build a national coalition of lawmakers that understand our industry and will support it. It is also a strategy matched to our limited budget.
Another key action taken by AKTI in the past several months was our response to the California District Attorney's Association (CDAA) wanting to take the exemption for one-handers out of the switchblade law. AKTI learned of this effort in mid-February, 2000 and quickly hired an experienced lobbyist who organized a March meeting with CDAA. Four AKTI representatives met with the group and its director. Key language was worked out and AKTI's position was understood and responded to.
As of October, 2000, the California legislative session ended without the proposed modified language being introduced. They reconvened December 4 for the 2001 session and we are monitoring the situation.
But the bottom line here is that AKTI committed to $50,000 for this California lobbyist for 2000 and 2001. We were successful in preventing the loss of one-handers in 2000. And we believe we will save them again in 2001 if the issue comes to the legislature in some modified form. (If we had not gone forward, most one-handers in California would now be considered switchblades because district attorneys were being frustrated in their attempts to prosecute gang activities where gang members carried cheap one-handers that did not have a bias toward blade closure.)
This is evidence of a mature AKTI working successfully within the rules of the system. And as CJ Buck said after his meeting with CDAA, "It was clear AKTI as a group has far more clout than any one company or individual would have."
Finally, AKTI will very aggressively step up its communication efforts both inside and outside the industry. That has already been going on for the past two months. And it will continue.
Quite frankly, our goal is to communicate so often and so effectively that people in our industry should not have to ask ... So, what are you guys doing?
We will communicate through the knife industry magazines and knife club newsletters, in select gun magazines, in the various knife forums, and on our own website.
We also clearly need the financial support of the industry. For example, the $50,000 commitment in California is a very real number.
As you see the continuing AKTI efforts on behalf of individuals and the entire industry, know that we need that financial support. And know that we will be using our limited funds responsibly.
We can't afford to provide bells and whistles and freebies to members. But we can say, "Thank You!" and give you our promise we will keep working on your behalf.
David Kowalski
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Don Rearic:
There are ominous clouds looming on the horizon guys...there is a push to turn The United States into Britain as far as guns, knives and martial arts weapons are concerned.
What does an AKTI Member receive in the way of real, tangible benefits?
Patches, hats, pins and discounts (if they exist) are all fine...but don't really have much to do with reversing knife legislation.
Personally, I would like to see a quiet, sneaky, but firm push to repeal the various laws regarding Automatic, Gravity and Bali-Song Knives.
The best defense is almost always a very aggressive offense. This would be considered an offense.
The defensive side, where you fight tooth and nail to keep what is only marginally legal at the moment, seems to me, doomed to failure from the start.
You have to go to the root of the problem...so what are you guys doing?
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