Spark, I am afraid you miss the point.

E-mails don't mean squat to congressmen. There are just too many ways to fake 'em. They can come from anywhere in the world, from anyone. So, print it, sign it, and put a stamp on it. Read and follow the guidelines on AKTI or Kniferights first about how to write an effective letter. But do so now!
 
I'm not sure I understand this. I've never owned a switchblade, but I used to EDC a Buck 110 that I could easily and quickly open one-handed by pinching the spine and flicking it. I currently EDC a Buck liner-lock with a thumbstud. Does that make either a "gravity knife"?

"Slippery slope" ... well, maybe. I'm no attorney, but I don't see anything in that Customs ruling that has any teeth to it. I do agree that we must defend our right to carry a knife, but I don't see how this ruling changes anything.
 
Twindog said:
Where does it say that? It talks about buttons in the handle activating a spring or a knife that opens simply with gravity, not with the assist of a thumb.

As for non-biased sources: Any credible source without a vested interest in getting people stirred up to promote donations or beef up circulation.

Customs can rule on what is a switchblade legal or illegal for importation, but it will take politicians and judges to actually prevent us from carrying the knives we all carry now.
Click to expand...

Well it becomes clear which side of the question you land on.

Please read the part of the ruling that says that "if there is human assist in opening and gravity or inerita finishing possible" that the knife is then an automatic. Yes this is stupid, when did that stop anyone in government. It still means that if you can lift the blade with your thumb and finger part way and then use the weight of the handle to snap the knife open it is a deadly weapon. This means any slilpjoint or lockback can be opened this way by anyone with strong fingers.

Do you think they will have any trouble finding someone with strong fingers?
 
Gollnick said:
E-mails don't mean squat to congressmen. There are just too many ways to fake 'em. They can come from anywhere in the world, from anyone. So, print it, sign it, and put a stamp on it. Read and follow the guidelines on AKTI or Kniferights first about how to write an effective letter. But do so now!
Click to expand...

Gollnick,

You are 100%, thank you for your help!
 
James_Terrio said:
I'm not sure I understand this. I've never owned a switchblade, but I used to EDC a Buck 110 that I could easily and quickly open one-handed by pinching the spine and flicking it. I currently EDC a Buck liner-lock with a thumbstud. Does that make either a "gravity knife"?

"Slippery slope" ... well, maybe. I'm no attorney, but I don't see anything in that Customs ruling that has any teeth to it. I do agree that we must defend our right to carry a knife, but I don't see how this ruling changes anything.
Click to expand...

JT, You and I are friends, please take my word that this is really a dangerous place we stand in.

If a department of US Customs puts such a ruling into effect then there is already a law from Congress in the fifties forbidding moving "automatics" between the states.

If congress does not act to stop this, it is not a "slippery slope" it is the end of knives in America, making us the same as England and Australia.
 
If there is even a small possibility of losing your current rights pertaining to knife ownership I would urge all interested US citizens to write the letter and send it.

These types of decisions only end up empowering those willing to break the law.
 
Twindog said:
I'm having trouble buying into all the hysteria. Obama let the assault rifle ban stay dead because he wants to concentrate on health care and doesn't want to get caught up in the emotional nonsense of smaller issues that gets floated by all the usual demagogues.

Can anyone link to a non-biased source to confirm this intent to ban all folding knives? Can anyone point to a quote from a single mainstream politician, left or right, who says it is time to ban folding knives? Can anyone point to a single independent news analysis that says passing such a law has more than a rat's chance at a terrier convention?
Click to expand...

Might I ask...

What does it hurt to write Customs and your Congressmen? No one said you had to join kniferights or AKTI. Any effort that makes the wishes of knife owners more visible is a good effort.

We're not talking about a huge amount of time. kniferights has model letters that you can modify to your taste, print, sign, and mail.

My letter to Customs will go out today, and letters to my representatives will follow soon.
 
Twindog said:
I'm having trouble buying into all the hysteria. Obama let the assault rifle ban stay dead because he wants to concentrate on health care and doesn't want to get caught up in the emotional nonsense of smaller issues that gets floated by all the usual demagogues.
Click to expand...
No bills have been introduced about guns ...yet. Don't forget the recent dust up though, when the government decided destroy all the used brass. That raised one hell of a firestorm and the government backed down.

It's nibbling around the edges that will kill us.
 
Wow. just reading the fed document will give you a headache! AG is on the money..as almost ANY knife can be "flicked" with a little wrist action. Put 3 or 4 convicts in a room with common folders and let them show you how fast a Buck 110 can be manipulated...thats the kind of video politictions would/will employ to determine what a"gravity" knife is. This is the kind of thing in which "common sense" rarely is seen when Washington decides to vote. I'd bet you one of AG's WoodsWalkers that most of our elected reps could'nt manage to open/manipulate/use any of the knives this is going to affect...and I dont think they care how many jobs or buisnesses are affected or lost by it.(think about it..have you ever heard of 20,000 people being laid off from Washington's humongous bureacratic "work force"?) I'll write the letters too but I think its a done deal....Sorry Spark and AG. just a stroke of the pen and "bada bing bada boom"..end of the folder industry as we know it.
 
Gollnick said:
E-mails don't mean squat to congressmen. There are just too many ways to fake 'em. They can come from anywhere in the world, from anyone. So, print it, sign it, and put a stamp on it. Read and follow the guidelines on AKTI or Kniferights first about how to write an effective letter. But do so now!
Click to expand...

I agree. It's way too easy for them/congressmen to ignore and delete Email.
Volumes of Letters in U.S. Mail bags is another matter.
Even if not read, it has more of a visual impact.
 
I took a few minutes to try to get the attention of someone at Fox news. I know Mike Huckabee is an avid sportsman and seems like a nice guy. I think we need someone like Fox news to get ahold of this and alert even more people. Unfortunately, the liberal media will not care.
A.G., Mike is from Arkansas, do you have any connections. I think they had a hammer in once on the grounds of the state capitol when he was Governor.

BB
 
Bobby Branton said:
I took a few minutes to try to get the attention of someone at Fox news. I know Mike Huckabee is an avid sportsman and seems like a nice guy. I think we need someone like Fox news to get ahold of this and alert even more people. Unfortunately, the liberal media will not care.
Click to expand...

I hope you're joking... Fox News? The most openly biased source of rabid conservative nonsense is the wrong place for this.
 
A. G. Russell said:
Well it becomes clear which side of the question you land on.

Please read the part of the ruling that says that "if there is human assist in opening and gravity or inerita finishing possible" that the knife is then an automatic. Yes this is stupid, when did that stop anyone in government. It still means that if you can lift the blade with your thumb and finger part way and then use the weight of the handle to snap the knife open it is a deadly weapon. This means any slilpjoint or lockback can be opened this way by anyone with strong fingers.

Do you think they will have any trouble finding someone with strong fingers?
Click to expand...


Actually, you don't know my position. My position is that spring-assisted folding knives are just fine and should be legal. What bothers me is the hysteria. I see nothing to suggest that the government is on the verge of a liberal conspiracy to take away all of our folding knives.

The Customs decision, as I read it, affects only spring-assisted knives. The ruling does not affect slip joints or folders that can be opened easily with a thumb stud or thumb hole.

The Customs decision does not affect the treatment of balisongs or gravity (flick) knives. Those knives remain treated as they did under a Customs position set in 2001.
Customs is really revoking an exemption to the switchblade law for "utilitarian" knives, saying the method of opening knives is more important than blade design.

Here's the key to the change at Customs: “We therefore find that knives with spring-assisted opening mechanisms
that require minimal ‘‘human manipulation’’ in order to instantly spring the
blades to the fully open and locked position cannot be considered to have a
primary utilitarian purpose; such articles function as prohibited switchblade
knives as defined by the relevant statute and regulations.”


What OUR letters should say is that spring-assisted folding knives are a new technology that make knives somewhat easier to open and do not make them more dangerous or more likely to be used in a crime.


What we need is for one of the rights groups to find a congressman to sponsor an amendment that would specifically allow spring-assisted knives by re-establishing their "utilitarian" exemption.
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We can not just sit here and allow this to happen!!!

I will do whatever it takes to help.
 
Celebrities seem to have a lot of "vocal" pull. Don't we have a few celeb members here at BF's that could help? Keifer Sutherland, Anjolina Jolie, Sylvester Stallone? :confused:
 
Bobby Branton said:
Do you think ABC, CBS or NBC will care???
They are too busy with their nose's up Obama's ass.
BB
Click to expand...

I support Obama, but since this isn't the political arena, I won't go into it. But I think if we make enough noise they'll all care.

But I don't think the major national media outlets are the best place. People still read newspapers and the papers are still pretty influential. Write letters to the editor, if you know someone on the editorial staff of a paper talk to them, get them to write an editorial.

Start something in the papers, if people listen it'll spread from there.
 
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