Washington State Laws and Balisongs

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brady.kevin07

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Dec 7, 2011
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The new knife laws go into effect on June 7th 2012 and can be found here http://apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/billdocs/2011-12/Pdf/Bills/Session Law 2012/2347-S.SL.pdf my question is can I now legally carry a balisong because the part about being ejected in position by gravity, or a downward, outward, or centrifigul motion has been removed. The way that I have interpreted the laws is that only an automatic is illegal now but i'm hoping you guys can shed some light onto the situation because I don't want to misinterpret the new regs. Thanks in advance for any input.
 
the language in the crossed out section is repeated in the the new part. so, balisongs are still illegal, but spring assisted knives are clarified to be legal. sorry about that.
 
jackrl98 has it right. This revision of the law was primarily aimed at removing assisted opening knives from the WA definition of a prohibited switchblade and allowing the manufacture of switchblades and assisted openers in WA. We will have to go back to do knife law preemption, hopefully next year if we can raise the funds, and elimination of the prohibition altogether, which will depend a lot on the upcoming elections.
 
July 7th can't come fast enough.I started collecting assisted openers over the last few months thinking they were legal in WA state.Then i stumbled on a link when i was checking knife laws about legal size to carry here in WA..Wow i was shocked i'd been carrying illegal knives.I was very disappointed till i found knife rights and seen the change coming.I will be joining knife rights very soon.But till then my Tenacious ,and skyline,and Rat1 will do just fine :)
 
Honestly, the issue of spring assisted knives is one that would varry from county to county, and prosecutor to prosecutor. I had convinced the prosecutors in my county that spring assisted knives were ok, even under the old law. I sat a few down, showed them the statute. Showed them the federal import statute that already allowed for their import, and expressly exempted them from the the definition of switchblade. I also showed them a slow motion video, and explained the differences in how the actions worked, and differed.

Prosecutors in my county have just been dismissing these.


That said, I had not been carying mine, and discouraged othere from doing so as well (by explaining that officers would still seize the knife and charge and possibly arrest them,in addition to just seizing and issuing a criminal citation
 
Knife rights told me i should carry a copy of the bill showing the change till police become more aware of the law change.I'm not worried come July 7th .Most cities follow state code except Seattle that i know of.I'm sure afew more have there own but assisted wouldn't be a part of them.Just size and fixed blades most likely
 
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