To the LEO's:

CJZ

CJZ

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Dec 18, 2012
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To any BFC members who are LEO's, i've always wondered something. Have you ever seen someone with a knife on them, and it was a "gravity knife" (decided by if it can flick open or not), have you confiscated it?
Or have you ever said "Oh what the hell, i'm a knife guy, obviously this guy is too", and let hm be?

What i'm trying to say is, tell me whether or not you've ever not confiscated a knife simply because you yourself were a knife guy.
 
A better question is how is a knife defined as a gravity knife? One of my older thumb strut knives got used so much the blade eventually worked itself loose to the point a good flick of the wrist was enough to snap it into the open position. When exactly is it a gravity knife and when exactly is it a loose blade that needs to be tightened up?
 
Charlie_K said:
A better question is how is a knife defined as a gravity knife? One of my older thumb strut knives got used so much the blade eventually worked itself loose to the point a good flick of the wrist was enough to snap it into the open position. When exactly is it a gravity knife and when exactly is it a loose blade that needs to be tightened up?
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I would assume it doesn't matter to most cops. If it's able to be wrist flicked open, they consider it a gravity knife.
Tighten those pivots, Charlie.
 
CJZ said:
I would assume it doesn't matter to most cops.
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That depends on your location and how the LEOs are told to interpret your laws. No one in Germany considers radial force when it comes to gravity knives ("Fallmesser").
 
CJZ said:
To any BFC members who are LEO's, i've always wondered something. Have you ever seen someone with a knife on them, and it was a "gravity knife" (decided by if it can flick open or not), have you confiscated it?
Or have you ever said "Oh what the hell, i'm a knife guy, obviously this guy is too", and let hm be?

What i'm trying to say is, tell me whether or not you've ever not confiscated a knife simply because you yourself were a knife guy.
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You need to be clear that you are strictly talking about New York LEOs. Knife laws are extremely different in each state. Some states don't even have any knife laws! In Arizona I can carry a 10" OTF switchblade or a katana. And most states don't actually have any laws on gravity knives, or when they do they sole apply to butterfly knives or true gravity knives like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xjsyAFSl6s
New York is both unique and quite aberrant from all other states in both interpretation and enforcement of knife laws.
 
Kansas recently did away with its law on all knives and knife-like implements. Whether or not a sword can be carried will have to be proven. In the meantime I ordered a BK9 to celebrate and I intend to wear that wherever I can.
 
I doubt any leos will come on here and out themselves as corrupt scum, or admit ignoring the ludicrous laws their superiors expect them to follow.
 
The only time I will confiscate a knife is if I've already arrested someone for something else. I don't go looking for clipped knives on people who aren't causing any trouble.
 
Retired N.M. LEO. I never confiscated a knife unless it was actually used in a crime. New Mexico has some fairly liberal knifes laws so you can carry pretty much whatever you want
 
I had a young person came to the flemarket and asked what the switchblade law was. at the time the law was up in the air and the flemarket ask us to please pull them off the table. his attitude was terrible. I has a off duty police officer at the booth at the time and I didn't know it. I said he didn't get busted for the switchblade he got busted for his attitude. the guy told me I was right and showed me his badge. they where told to not do anything about the switchblade unless they have no other choice. they wanted to see what the governor was going to do about it first.
 
Rat Finkenstein said:
I doubt any leos will come on here and out themselves as corrupt scum, or admit ignoring the ludicrous laws their superiors expect them to follow.
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I think a lot of people on this forum bring the heat down upon themselves by advertising the fact that they are carrying. Just keep the blades completely concealed and 99% of the arrests/LEO hassles that people complain about here would never happen!
 
TOM1960 said:
I think a lot of people on this forum bring the heat down upon themselves by advertising the fact that they are carrying. Just keep the blades completely concealed and 99% of the arrests/LEO hassles that people complain about here would never happen!
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that depends on where you live and what your attitude is towards the police officer. most of the time I hear about getting busted for a just carrying a knife it came down to they ran there big fat mouth. keep your mouth shut and ask very nice why so you can learn and most likely they will let you off with a warning ticket instead of locking you up. I always use my pocket clip and I never had any problems with the police officer over my knife. some state have knife laws so are so stupid it is not funny. I feel bad for the knife people that live in those states.
 
I live in NYC and I've carried a knife clipped to my pocket for about 2 years and noone ever blinked (except my employees when I would take it out to cut stuff) until one day I saw 2 cops aggressively pulled up in a cruiser to some older gentlemen walking on the sidewalk, approached him and immediately asked what's that clipped to his pocket? Turned out to be a hair comb IIRC but the whole demeanor and the attitude told me that these guys have orders to look for knives clipped to the pockets and not just on the teenage trouble makers. This guy was well into his late 50's-60's and didn't look too suspicious. After that I stopped "open" carrying, it's dumb but I just don't need the hassle.
 
Tymah123 said:
one day I saw 2 cops aggressively pulled up in a cruiser to some older gentlemen walking on the sidewalk, approached him and immediately asked what's that clipped to his pocket? Turned out to be a hair comb IIRC but the whole demeanor and the attitude told me that these guys have orders to look for knives clipped to the pockets and not just on the teenage trouble makers. This guy was well into his late 50's-60's and didn't look too suspicious.
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Welcome to the police state. :barf:
 
I'm retired, so I can say anything I want. As a rule, the enforcement action I took depended on the attitude of the person I was dealing with. I never took a knife, or even a handgun, from a nice polite citizen who didn't have a rap sheet.
 
What I'm getting from this thread is this, I could be wrong.

As long as you are nice and polite, and don't show any attitude you'll be fine, Oh, and legal.

Otherwise, if you are carrying a legal knife but show some attitude or impoliteness you could have your knife/gun confiscated and be subject to arrest.

Does that seem like the way its been explained by the other people and a few officers/LEOs in this thread?
 
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It doesn't sound like they are confiscating legal guns or knives, even from those who are being impolite (unless committing a crime). But it does sound like when there is a grey area, knife too big, no concealed carry allowed, switchblade, etc., then the individual LEO has great discretion to decide whether to make an issue of it, part of which is decided by the individual's behavior towards said LEO.
 
Yep, you're right,(rereading from top to bottom, instead of bottom to top) it was mainly the last post before mine that started me leaning to the possibility of confiscation based on attitude and politeness.
 
ToneGrail said:
The only time I will confiscate a knife is if I've already arrested someone for something else. I don't go looking for clipped knives on people who aren't causing any trouble.
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NMpops said:
Retired N.M. LEO. I never confiscated a knife unless it was actually used in a crime. New Mexico has some fairly liberal knifes laws so you can carry pretty much whatever you want
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snowsnake said:
I'm retired, so I can say anything I want. As a rule, the enforcement action I took depended on the attitude of the person I was dealing with. I never took a knife, or even a handgun, from a nice polite citizen who didn't have a rap sheet.
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There are a few comments that are heavy on generalizations in this thread.. Which is fine, to each his own.. But know that every officer isn't the same, and most try to be honest, and not hypocritical :)

That being said, I look at this issue in a similar regard to these gentleman's comments above. If I confiscate a knife/handgun (whatever), it's usually because I have been called to a messy situation, and the subject is either giving off serious attitude, or has broken the law to some degree or the other.

Neither I, nor my fellow officers have ever just randomly stopped an old man for walking for what looked to be a clip. The amount of attitude one gives off (and crime committed) is a important indicator of how the sequence of events pans out for the subject - from the original stop.. to confiscation and/or arrest. Basically treat a cop the same way as you would treat a civilian, and you'll be fine ;) - Basically don't be a deuche
 
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snowsnake said:
I'm retired, so I can say anything I want. As a rule, the enforcement action I took depended on the attitude of the person I was dealing with. I never took a knife, or even a handgun, from a nice polite citizen who didn't have a rap sheet.
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I took a lot of administration of justice classes and majority of the teachers were current/former LEO's, I can tell say with almost 100% certainty that they would have the same approach as you. Vast majority of LEO's I've encounter if your polite and show them respect they will do the same and things go a lot more smoothly and probably a lot more favorable for you than if you were a jerk.

I find the general stereotype of LEO's being jerks mostly untrue, though there are definitely exceptions and I've definitely encountered them before. And from my experience they tend to make it their life's goal to be jerks and tend to drag the general image of the entire police department down. Thankfully though they are very few of them.

One of the other little tricks you should keep in mind when carrying a knife is don't pat the knife when it's in your pocket to make sure it's concealed, just assume it is. If it's not and your legally carrying, don't worry about it. Doing so will just draw attention.
 
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