Switchblade arrests

I agree with R W CLARK . Federal law only holds on interstate commerce and on federal land, ie Post Office, Indian res., army bases, federal Court houses, etc. The states dictate what weapons laws are with in their state. The one arm man part is strange but true, since it was raised as an agruement by one of the Seantors who was opposed to the ban. It was granted as a part of the law to take the wind out of his sails, and get the law passed. In NY ( my state and the first to ban switchblades) there is a similar part to the law that allows someone to carry a switchblade or gravity knife while fishing or hunting. This was allowed to stop a few upstate state senators from argueing not to ban the knives in NY.
 
Uh. . . the "One Armed Man" exception to the Federal Switchblade Act ONLY applies to switchblades and/or gravity knives with blades less than 3".
 
I am having a hard time following this logic. It is not possible for anyone to be arrested for carrying an otherwise legal knife. Where I come from (Southwest) after an officer makes an arrest, local or federal, the officer must contact an Assistant US Attorney or an Assistant district attorney and present the facts of the arrest. The attorney on duty who takes the call then has the final say whether to prosecute the case or decline it.

Using this formula, how can anyone be charged, arrested, let alone convicted for carrying a legal knife.

As for someone commiting a "minor" infraction, then being arrested for carrying a switchblade, thats called good police work in my world. Example: Someone is stopped for a "minor" registration violation and subsequently 100 pounds of dope are found in the trunk. Does the fact that the original probable cause for the stop being "minor" lessen the severity of the dope charge? I dont think so.

If a person is loitering, has a burned out headlamp, or is commiting any other "minor" violation to draw the attention of a cop, the stop is on good legal grounds. If, subsequently the subject if found to be in possession of a switchblade, bag of dope, or any other illegal item, then the arrest should stand.

This is good police work. Its called starting at the bottom, mere suspicion and working your way up tp probable cause for an arrest. Many excellent cases have started this way. I believe Tmothy Mcveigh was stopped for a "minor" registration violation after the Oklahoma City bombing. A cop knows his beat, the people, the vehicles, the businesses, parks and schools in the area. This experience helps the officer decide when "something is just not right" and allows the officer to investigate a scenario a little bit closer. It is the basis of good police work. An FTO once told me that after a few years a cop developes a sixth sense, if you will, that tells him when something is wrong. So if you are comminting a "minor" infraction that draws the attention of a cop, then youd better hope you arent doing anything else wrong. A lot of good cases have been made this way. As for the subject being convicted or allowed to walk, this is decided by grass eaters in court. Unfortunatley we dont get to decide which laws are "minor" and can be ignored or which laws should be enforced. Usually the "minor" law is the one that you are commiting at the time....
 
Firewalker 42 said:
has anyone ever heard of someone being arrested for carrying a switchblade when they were doing nothing else illegal or suspicious to otherwise attract LEO attention. In other words any examples of an overall law abiding citizen being arrested and prosecuted for nothing more than having a switchblade.

No. Never.

I'm a computer geek who hangs out with good crowds in good places and I've never been in trouble in my life. I seriously doubt that a cop is going to cuff me and drag me in because my pocket knife has a button and a spring.

It's like turning signals. Ever heard of anyone being pulled over for not using a turning signal? No. But if someone does something BIGGER wrong, they'd get a ticket for THAT and then one for the turning signal on top of it. Same with the auto knife. You're already in trouble for something ELSE and they tack that on to make it worse - perhaps to hold you longer while they get more evidence.

That's not to say that you'd get arrested for an auto knife because you had a tail-light out and they pulled you over to tell you and saw the knife. It'd probably have to be more than that. You'd have to be standing with a group of suspected drug dealers, or in a fistfight at a bar or pulled over for a roadside sobriety test or something more serious than the knife to begin with.

Every time I meet a cop (in a social situation or something) I take the opportunity to ask him/her about this. They all confirm what I said above. That either (A.) you'd have to be already being something else wrong enough to get you busted or (B.) you'd have to be behaving like an unbelievable a**hole when they otherwise found it. If they see it and you're cool, they all say they'd probably just say something like, "take that thing home" or "get it out of my sight" and forget about it.

This is not targeted toward anyone on this thread - they were just answering your question, BUT...
I've often felt that the people who are most paranoid and rabid about telling you how much trouble you're going to get into are probably jealous that other people are brave enough to carry what they wish they were allowed to carry. Some people just like to be angry at "the man" and this gives them another reason. They're probably the same people who always have to complain about what ever ordinance their neighbors are breaking instead of minding their own business.

I was once at a knife table at a gun show. I was watching the girl behind the glass show some Microtechs to a rather large group of interested potential customers. One of them asked if they were legal. She said, "Well..." when some self-righteous S.O.B. some distance away shouted over that it would get them "mandatory jail time" (which it won't) then went on a mini tirade about it and scared her customers away. I wish I could've smacked that self-satisfied smirk off his face. He was real proud of himself.

Ever wonder how all those companies sell all those auto knives they make? Including all those chinese crap autos you see on ebay and at flea markets? That's a lot of auto knives. Millions. They're not just going to cops and military. There are a LOT of auto knives out there in people's pockets and cops have WAY too much to do than to hog-tie some insurance salesman or software engineer and drag them off to jail because they happen to have one in their pocket.

Carry what you want to carry. Stay out of trouble. If the cops see it, be nice.

But that's just my opinion.:cool:

.
 
This Thread is alive again.....To answer the real question about anyone being arrested for simply weapons violation, YES several. After doing the gun and Badge thing in NYC for several years, I have seen many arrest where the only charge is weapons possession, most due to clearly visible knives, on a belt or clipped in a pocket. Good old Mayor Koch passed a Administrative Law that forbid carrying any knife "exposed". It is encouraged to carry it conceled. This law is a low level unclassified Misdomeanor, but once the LEO handles the knife in question and can flick it open, it is now a Class A Misd. which is just below a felony. I have seen about ten percent of lockback or linerlock folders that I could NOT flick open. These arrest tend to occurr during the last five days of any given month, when officers may have some pressure on them to make a arrest for the close of the month ( 20 parking tickets, five movers, one collar....) , They are legal, valid arrest where the weapon was clearly displayed in violation of a little known law.....check all you expensive folders and see if you flick them hard enough, I bet most will open ( now a gravity knife)and many assisted openers will flick open too. This may seem unfair to most and I agree and never who have gone after this type of arrest, but that being said, many fellow Officers felt the person was displaying the knife( on a belt or clipped to your pocket) to threaten others and intimadate the public. Most states state that if you can flick a knife open it is Gravity knife or even a Switchblade......test your knives and see how many can flick open....then check your local laws, and in most cases you are carrying a knife that is just as illegal as a switchblade. I have about five pocket knives that I have selected that can not be flicked, and as a civilian now, that is all I would ever carry.....
 
susntorm said:
I should have added that a one-armed man is also the only person that can legally "import" and carry a switch-blade knife.

Keith

Sounds like b.s. to me. I suggest you read 19 C.F.R. "Switchblade Knives" -"Permitable Importations" and that doesn't even include the major statutory provisions of the United States Code (Specifically 18 U.S.C. & 15 U.S.C.) in regards to a so called "switchblade" knives. There is also the issue of "SMTJ" which includes areas that are not even physically within the United States. If you don't know what "SMTJ" is, well this is what it means: "Special Territorial and Martime Juridiction of the United States". And that even includes areas that are not even really "lands" within the United States, Outside of Customs Territories and Insular Possesions (Guam, Somoa). Specially Maritime and Territorial Jurdiction of the United States can even be located within in a foreign country. Well, a Switchblade Knife has a spring. So an intelligent person would realize that a knife without a spring is not a Switchblade. Oh, yea - it might be a "Gravity Knife"....... A product of over interpretation of laws is for lawyers who want to make more money. No need to be paranoid, however. Life is simply too short. :rolleyes:
 
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