STUPID KNIFE LAWS!

First off.....Man am I glad to be back in the USA!!!

Now for the subject at hand. Stupid knife laws....US Customs takes the cake on this subject if you ask me.

Upon receipt of my orders re-assigning me to Ft Bragg, I set up an appointment for my "stuff" to be shipped home. Well, here's the kicker. According to the Customs agent, I could not ship my knives (any of them) in my unaccompanied baggage, back to the states. Now, of course, it's totally legal to ship them TO your overseas location, you just can't ship them back......Huh?

So I asked what was the best way to return them to the states.....He said "use the post office".....Now, as we know, you CANNOT mail certain knives through the postal system....But, according to him, as long as my orders were attached to the box, the knives were exempt from customs inspection because they were "goods returning to the US from US origin"....

What the @#$% are you saying?? I can mail them and be exempt from all laws I break by using the USPS??? Well, in a bizarre way....yes....

So, needless to say, my stuff was shipped out, and I mailed my knives.....and they were here at my house when I got home Wednesday night. The words fail me as to how the hell I just pulled this off, but I am not complaining!!!
 
I'm not sure if this is an actual law, but all the knife shops enforce it. Last2 times I tried to buy a knife out of a storefront all I hear is "You have to be 18, is your mom around?" and "You look like a responsible kid, but your just not old enough to buy knives yet" :P. Same goes for rifle/pistol ammo. If I want to buy any my mom better be right there beside me.

Sincerely,
Adam

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Self improvement is a hobby of mine :).

 
There is a city ordinance in Los Angeles about selling knives to anybody under 18, but I haven't seen a California statute, and I seriously doubt if there's anything in US federal law to that effect. There are probably enough state and local laws out there that merchants assume that they're everywhere. Besides, if we don't sell to teenagers, we won't have to face the wrathful moms of teenagers.

One day last year I set up at a charity event in a park, selling knives with the most relentlessly politically correct approach that I could manage, leaving anything that looked like a "fighter" home. It turns out that if I hadn't had to worry about angry moms or an angry law, I could have made a bunch of money selling the cheap switchblades I didn't have and the ninja stars I didn't have to all the boys (11-16) who asked if I had them. As it was, sales of good knives to adults were such that I'm not doing it again. I should have just written a check to the organization for what they wanted for a booth, and deducted it as a donation, and saved the time and effort.

Now Adam has brought up the question of whether the laws that dealers comply with always exist. The answer is that sometimes dealers obey laws that do not exist. For instance, Smoky Mountain Knife Works will not ship any double edged knife to California, even though there is no law against selling a dagger in California, but only against carrying one concealed, and a double edges are not mentioned in the statute.

And a Gerber factory rep. once told me that they made the single edged version of their Applegate folder partly because some dealers in California had told them that cops had told them they couldn't sell the double edged version. So it would appear that some cops also try to enforce laws that do not exist.


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- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
 
I also so a sign about 18 and up only at the ONLY knife shop I can find in Charlotte. I don't care, 'cuz they were sellin' everything WAY over what I can get them for over the internet, etc.
On the other hand, I ordered my 710 and Native from Top of Texas without question, even though the name on the card I used is my mom's. It would have been dealt with if there had been a problem, as I had my mom's permission. Then again, people say I sound very similar to my dad. Oh well. I don't know if I've mentioned it, but the service was great. Very friendly people, Priority Mail shipping, great prices.

Howie
 
I was in a store in Maine recently when a kid asked to look at a knife and they told him he couldn't unless he had an adult with him. The kid was cool, but I ... um ... well, I was fairly cool ... I guess.... They explained quite frankly there wasn't any law about it; it was just that the owner of the store was afraid if a kid looked at a knife and cut himself his mother would hassle them about it. If the kid came in with an adult and he looked at a knife and cut himself, they didn't anticipate any hassle would arise. They didn't insist a parent be with him, any adult would do ... I guess they figured if he came in with some adult friend and looked at a knife and cut himself his mother would yell at the friend who was with him instead of at the store owner.

The kid looked about 16 or so ... old enough to cut his own steak at dinner, you might think....

A sporting goods store in Vermont I patronize recently stopped selling shuriken because of all the wives and mothers who came in yelling, "YOU SOLD HIM THAT THING???" They decided the small part of their business that came from selling shuriken wasn't worth the hassle.

Governments are not our only enemy....

-Cougar Allen :{)
 
There is no clear cut knife law in Ohio. It basicallly says you would be guilty of CCW if you were carrying a dangerous weapon. No length, double edge or anything like that. The determination is left to the arresting officer. Oh, I almost forgot, no ballistic knives and something strange about manufacture of switchblades.

A friend of mine was recenly arrested for CCW while carrying a 5" Voyager. Actually, it was more his stupidty than the knife. Anyway, the deputy found the knife clipped in his pocket when he was getting patted down. The deputy opened the knife and laid the blade across his palm. He said it was too long and took my friend in custody. His lawyer got him off easily and said that unless you have a record or are doing something real bad, knife charges rarely stick. They are more just to cause you a hassle than to put you in jail.

We have some LEO's who aren't worried at all about the knife you carry or how you carry it. Some look at 4" as the measure and some will give you up to 8". The more I think about it, the luckier I think I am in this state, compared to many others.

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Paranoia is only smart thinking
when everyone is out to get you.




[This message has been edited by Dirk (edited 12 December 1999).]
 
i think all states should permit, people who aren't potentially dangerous to carry unconcealed knives on them. i think it would lower the amount of attacks, becuase i don't know to many people that would rob a man with a 16" bowie hanging from his belt, with a dinky little concealable knife.
 
how to determine who isn't dangerous is the problem that someone will argue...
 
Um ... how about assuming innocence until guilt is proven? There's a radical concept for you....

-Cougar Allen :{)
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This post is not merely the author's
opinions; it is the truuuuuuuuth. This post is intended to cause dissension and unrest and upset people, and ultimately drive them mad. Please do not misinterpret my intentions in posting this.
 
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