Texas Judge Rules AO same as switchblade!

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JTR357

JTR357

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I just got my issue of Blade yesterday(August 2008).There's a very disturbing(to say the least)article about this outrage on page 10 & page 52.I don't have the time or the energy to write it it out word for word.Those of you that are subscribers to Blade Magazine will see what I'm talking about.
This is an outrage!Of all places Texas!I wouldn't be surprised if it happened in NJ or NY.When something like this happens,from past experiences,other states usually follow suite.
I apologize for the limited information.Maybe someone can find a link for it.I'm pressed for time right now,& I figured I'd let you guys know.
This is just another example of the government chipping away at our rights/freedom little by little.
Take care guys have a good day:)
 
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The 3 judges who made this desion were female and to the eronious word of a non expert that the AO knife meet the definition of switchbade. The discription of swithcblade includes by pushing a button or lever on the handle , but as most of us know on a AO you push on a blade stud. In Texas you can carry 5 1/2 " blade folding or fixed conceled . I say how can a small AO knife be more dangerious than a 5 1/2" fixed blade .
I have given a AO to a friend in TX and caled him to warn him of this ruling.
 
mkhop said:
The 3 judges who made this desion were female and to the eronious word of a non expert that the AO knife meet the definition of switch bade. The description of switchblade includes by pushing a button or lever on the handle , but as most of us know on a AO you push on a blade stud. In Texas you can carry 5 1/2 " blade folding or fixed concealed . I say how can a small AO knife be more dangerous than a 5 1/2" fixed blade .
I have given a AO to a friend in TX and called him to warn him of this ruling.
Click to expand...

I couldn't agree with you more.A fixed blade,which requires no opening,is much more deadlier than any folder or auto.WTF??
 
Damn, I've been carrying a SOG Flash II for the last couple of years...guess I will have to rethink that situation.
 
disappointing, but not surprising. i would also not be surprised to see changes in various state codes to include ao's.
 
I am not a regular reader of Blade so the first I heard of this case was on Saturday morning at the Blade Show.

Do not expect this to be the final word in Texas on AOs.

I spoke at some length about this case with Jeff Goddard from Kershaw. Kershaw was not aware of this case at all until they read about it in Blade. No one bothered to contact them throughout the entire process. Not the defendant, the defense attorney not even the staff at Blade made one mention of it until after the issue hit news stands. No one contacted me, AKTI or Knife Rights about it.

This case was a screw up from begining to end. Had the defense bothered to introduce any qualified experts I am 100% positive it would have went the other way. There is a stack of cases in Texas where the courts have ruled that AOs are legal in Texas.

I am not going to lose any sleep over it. Like I said, this is not the final say. It may take alot of time and energy to fix what one stupid lawyer screwed up, but it will get fixed.
 
It's the knife companies, like Kershaw, that have the best organization and resources (and the incentive) to fight this.

Looking forward to them taking appropriate, intelligent, and effective action.

And if they need our help, they know where to find us.
 
Butterfly knives, gravity knives and switchblades have all been outlawed in Texas because they are seen as "Evil". Like handguns in other locations, people who are not familiar with them only judge them by what they see in the movies or on TV. (We can thank Hollywood for all the scenes where the bad guy goes through a very intimidating exercise with a bali while threatening to carve up the innocent young girl.) So now knives which open by centrifugal force are illegal here. If court cases and laws like this are allowed to stay on the books someone will grab a Buck 110 by the blade in front of a judge, and flick his wrist and snap it open by using centrifugal force and we will have Buck 110s being declared a switch blade. Heaven help people who have flippers like Grooves or CRKT M-21 etc. That wrist snap may be argued to be centrifugal force. There are overzealous prosecutors and police in every state and county who wish to "make a name" as someone who is hard on crime or who pulls in the most felony arrests. I know as I was a cop for 23 years. I shudder every time a case like this comes up and gets upheld by an appeals court. Unfortunately, I believe that the next assisted opener case in Texas will find the ruling and the appellate courts decision as Case Law allowing or perhaps mandating the court to do whatever the Prosecutor/Judge wants and instead of following the letter of the law as written, the case will be tried using "Case Law" and again our Lawyers and Judges get to decide what the law is reguardless of what the Legislature wrote and totally outside what the citizens desired in the first place. If someone here on the forum hears of a case that comes up locally they could perhaps post it here. Referal to some of the large manufacturers such as Kershaw, Benchmade etc. might yield some legal advice and some actual "Expert Testamony" to assist the defence rather than one persons incorrect testamony to convict a person of a crime he did not commit.
 
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Hello,

Reading this makes me think that some judge's a$$es must be seriuoulsly kicked!!! And believe me, in almost every countries, not only in the USA!!!

But to compare some laws (I know there's a complete thread about), imagine what our German friends are suffering now from their gorvermental laws :
one hand opening knives are forbidden now !!!

take care,

Bob
 
mikehopkins said:
Referal to some of the large manufacturers such as Kershaw, Benchmade etc. might yield some legal advice and some actual "Expert Testamony" to assist the defence rather than one persons incorrect testamony to convict a person of a crime he did not commit.
Click to expand...

I noticed yesterday that the Kershaw website (www.kershawknives.com) now has a link to the American Knife and Tool Institute.

Joining AKTI and creating - or strengthening - a lobbying group for ourselves IMO is a wise course of action.
 
Mike, I totally agree with you. This is how it started in NY. Back in 1958, Ny banned switchblades and gravity knives, but it took till the mid 1980s for enforcement to start including a knife that could be flicked open. This was held up in several court cases, and is now the practiced law. Then along came Spyerco with the "hold the blade and flick the handle open" method and the courts have now allowed this to stand as a gravity knife also. That knocks out most knives that lock in NY for daily legal carry. As a former NYC LEO, I have seen this law go from a knife charge never being considered for a sole charge in an arrest to it being a good arrest on its own merits. With any police force of 40,000 ( bigger than a small country's army), there are always those officers looking to make a CPW arrest and knives are the easy target. I truely wish those states that wish to strictly enforce the law in this manner would first go after the makers/sellers before those who legally use their products. If the makers /sellers where chased down and arrested we would see a real court case on knife laws that I pray the knife guys would win, but instead the little guy gets in trouble for carrying a knife he just bought at Walmart !!!!! In fact, there was one case in Ill. that Walmart was accused of selling switchblades for selling Kershaw assited openers, and guess what, Walmart went to court and explained the difference......
 
Picked up a copy of Blade this weekend while on vacation.
Couldn't believe what I was reading. My first thoughts were of the
ignorance of the officer not knowing what a switchblade was or looked like.
How many of his fellow officers carried one?
Then the button/handle question arises again. If people could only read.

There is an article in Knives Illus. also about the subject.

I'm angry, sad and confused all at the same time.

mike
 
rifon2 said:
I noticed yesterday that the Kershaw website (www.kershawknives.com) now has a link to the American Knife and Tool Institute.

Joining AKTI and creating - or strengthening - a lobbying group for ourselves IMO is a wise course of action.
Click to expand...
The current Illinois Assisted Opening debacle prompted me to join the AKTI. Better late than never, I suppose.
 
I agree with a recent TX ruling that an assisted opening knife is a switch blade. I mean the blade does flick out just like the switch blades I’ve seen. I’m not understanding why a knife that opens easily with the push of a button would be something bad. Anyone that uses a pocket knife knows, that normally, when you need to cut something you’re holding it with the other hand. What exactly is it that that one is likely to do with a knife that opens automatically that you won’t do because you had to use a thumb stud? Stab somebody? Would that person be concerned about the legality of his knife?
Most serious of all, with gasoline at $4.76 (in my area) why, are elected officials concerned with the way a pocket knife opens? I can’t believe this is even brought up. They have better things to do. Our government is way too big!!!!
 
switchblades and assisted open are NOT the same(others will define the differences better )..if you dont understand the purpose of the law,welcome to the club..switchblade laws tend to be leftover 1950s mentality oriented and IMO should be changed or disposed of..
 
By definition according to the Texas Penal Code a switchblade is any knife that folds, closes, or retracts into the handle or sheath and that: (A) opens automatically by pressure applied to a button or other device located on the handle; or (B) opens or releases a blade from the handle or sheath by the force of gravity or by the application of centrifugal force. AO knives do NOT use gravity or centrifugal force, and do NOT open by putting pressure on a button or other device on the handle. The officer in the court case even testified to this fact.

The other problem is that the court said the knife was spring loaded making it a prohibited weapon, but cited no law that prohibits knives with from having springs or being spring loaded.
 
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