WA State Spring Blade

SharpJax

SharpJax

Joined
Dec 7, 2014
Messages
191
Was wondering if anyone could bring some authority to the question of whether "Spring Assisted" knives, such as the many ZT knives that add a spring assist to a flipper design, would be legally considered a "Spring Blade" under the current WA statutes? I did read one thread here that posited that the term "spring blade" was probably defined long before there were any "spring assist" knives were invented, and that the term was dated. I thought I'd try asking the question again here to see if I could get further input. Here is the way the law is stated currently:

Definitions of Various Types of Knives

A spring blade knife is defined by Washington statute as a knife with a blade that is automatically released by a spring or other mechanical devise or with a blade that opens, falls, or is ejected by the force of gravity, or by an outward, downward, or centrifugal movement (spinning the knife). No other knife is defined by the statutes or by the case law. When the legislature fails to define a term, the Court will generally use the plain English meaning of the word, which is the meaning giving by Webster’s dictionary
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Spring assisted knives require you to manually move the blade a certain distance before the spring takes over. The law you quoted specifically details the definitions of automatic: push of a button, wrist flip and so on. So you are fine with spring assisted knives. Look up HB2347 if you want more details.
 
That thread you are talking about was likely prior to a very recent piece of legislation in WA which altered the wording of the knife statute. The full current working can be seen here: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=9.41.250

This new language is what you posted above and was not part of the statute until recently. Before that time, it really was up in the air what "spring blade" meant. However, this new language was specifically inserted into the law to exempt assisted opening knives.
 
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