Why can't I find butterfly knives / balisongs on Amazon or a few other sites anymore?

gonebad395 said:
So you just decided for your location to be California it says it in the upper right corner of every post you make
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Did you read? "East Coast California"
California is not on the East Coast.
East Coast and California are antinomic. There is no State of California on the East Coast.
 
gonebad395 said:
http://www.knifeup.com/california-knife-and-balisong-law/ you know why they don't like to ship them because of the 2" law that's why.
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Just a heads up, but that site is notoriously inaccurate in it's explanation of California knife laws. Specifically, "dirks, daggers, and stilettos" are definitely NOT illegal in this state. Not illegal to own or carry.

But it's explanation of California's switchblade/butterfly knife laws is accurate. :)
 
Überfuchs;16489127 said:
Did you read? "East Coast California"
California is not on the East Coast.
East Coast and California are antinomic. There is no State of California on the East Coast.
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So why don't you put your real state instead of trying to make some kind of stupid joke with your location?
 
Who cares what location people offer. There is no rule here that says an accurate location must be provided, or that ANY location must be provided. Lots of members provide a joke location, LOTS of members, and it's been going on for as long as this forum has been online.

Lighten up.
 
killgar said:
Who cares what location people offer. There is no rule here that says an accurate location must be provided, or that ANY location must be provided. Lots of members provide a joke location, LOTS of members, and it's been going on for as long as this forum has been online.

Lighten up.
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A joke location? No way!?

Could be a number of reasons why such sites no longer sell balisongs.

Vendors/manufacturer issues
Legal issues
Change of vendor's company policies

Who knows?

IMHO, buy from a sponsored and/or dedicated legal knife site, or the exchange here.

If you are a looking for a cheap knockoff or cheap in general, go to a flea market or Chinatown, etc.

Sent via pony express
 
They are illegal to own or carry in WA state. And it was one of those things that happened over night with no real public notice. One day they are considered legal to own and the next day they were classified with switchblades which you can't legally own here.
 
K.O.D. said:
Vendors/manufacturer issues
Legal issues
Change of vendor's company policies

Who knows?
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So, I decided to do a little bit of research. It looks like most of these companies have changed their policies on knives.

"Switchblade knives, such as:

Butterfly knives
[...]"
That's right from Amazon's weapons policy page. That's really depressing, but it answers my questions, I think. Thanks for the helpful replies to this thread. I'm trying to avoid the markets I've used in the past, so I'll go check the vendor section on this site now. ^_^
 
Oddly enough, Amazon still sells switchblades.

Amazon is funny. A while back I ordered some K&N oil filters for my motorcycles on Amazon, but they refused my order saying they wouldn't ship them to California. I have no idea why, as they're only filters, and they are sold in stores throughout this state.

Not too long ago I had a nostalgic interest in butterfly knives (I had one as a teen). I didn't want to pay hundreds of dollars, and if I recall correctly Knifecenter.com and Bladehq.com had a selection of inexpensive butterfly knives (they are both sponsors of Bladeforums). I didn't actually buy any though. My nostalgic feelings passed.
 
Before I was forced to move in with my parents/put stuff in storage/compartmentalize I kept an old butterfly knife in the junk drawer. Nostalgia made me mess with it occasionally. After my brain tumor was removed, one of my dad's long lost high school buddies came to visit. This was about 3 months after my surgery, I was 12. He had heard from another friend about my illness. He took us all down to North Pier in Chicago for dinner. There was a little Asian shop by the restaurant that sold cheap knives, swords, etc.

My dad's friend took me in there and bought me whatever I wanted.

Ended up with a small dagger, the butterfly knife, two large throwing knives with sheath that fit both, and a three small throwing knife set with a wrist sheath.

I was a mall ninja before there was such a thing.

I still have one of the large throwing knives with sheath, and the three little ones too.

This was 25 years ago, still fond memories. North Pier mall closed in 1997.

I've often considered buying a quality bfly knife but spending $200+ on a knife I'll never carry is stupid to me.



Sent via pony express
 
Überfuchs;16489093 said:
How is looking for larger retailers that usually sell knives for cheaper looking to evade U.S. law? Butterfly knives / balisongs are NOT illegal in my State.
I do NOT live in California.
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Then change your profile to be accurate
 
If you continue to have problems buying a knife, I would suggest you attend a gun & knife show. Many dealers will carry such or at least they do in my area. Have no idea where your area is. Don't really care. These knives are legal in my state. They had always been legal to own prior to a law change, but were illegal to carry.

My guess is that online vendors simply don't want to deal with the hassles of legality (state by state) for a few bucks and hence will not ship.
 
2 problems, I think: #1 complicated state laws. Every state is a bit different. Here in GA we can buy and carry anything anywhere any time almost. Most other states have some combination from legal to own and carry to legal to own but not to sell to legal to sell but not to own, legal to own and sell but not carry- it's just hard as an online retailer with lots of private resellers like Ebay or Amazon to setup rules to make sure they and their millions of sellers from all over the place in different states with different rules are selling legally and that they're not going to get into trouble. Issue #2, most of the big retailers are based in west coast cities which generally more strict about such things. A long, long, long time ago you used to be able to buy guns on Ebay. CA laws on online gun sales ended that and now the only decent size online firearm auction site is based in... (wait for it)... GA.
 
So people understand with firearms.... you may sell it "on line", but in most cases if you ship the gun it has to go to a FFL dealer before transfer to the new owner. If you sell "on line" to someone in your own state, you can arrange to meet and do a face to face private sale or transfer if that is legal in your state. But again, you really didn't sell the gun online. You might say you advertised it on line.

Trying to remember, but I believe prior to the law change in TN last year where all knives are legal to own and carry. With switch blades, it was legal to own them and legal to sell them in-state, but not out of state, and not legal to carry them on your person. Hence the online retailer limitations that were imposed. I believe elephant ivory now has a similar restriction.
 
Well I'm in California and I have had zero problems ordering whatever auto knife I want. We can legally own autos of any kind. We can't carry them. Nothing is changing out here anytime soon. I have taken them out backpacking and camping in more remote areas but carry in the city..not taking any chances.
 
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KnifeCenter of the Internet Automatic Knife Acknowledgment and Representations:

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18 USC 1716 (G) (2) (1-4) provides this summary: Switchblades knives can be shipped to civilian and armed forces supply or procurement officers and employees of the Federal government ordering or procuring or purchasing such knives in connection with activities in the Federal government; supply or procurement officers in the National Guard, the Air National Guard or militia of the state or territory of the District of Columbia ordering, procuring or purchasing such knives in connections with the activities of such organizations; to supply or procurement officers or employees of the municipal government of the District of Columbia or the government of any state or territory of any county, city or other political subdivision of a state or territory ordering, procuring or purchasing such knives in connection with the activities of such government.

5 USC 1244 provides in summary: Knives can be shipped by common carrier, that sale, transportation or distribution, possession or introduction into interstate commerce of switchblades knives is authorized if it is pursuant to a contract with the armed forces or any member or employee thereof acting in the performance of his or her duty may possess switchblade knives and may have them shipped to him and sold to him or her. The possession and transportation upon his or her person of a switchblade knife or a blade 3 inches or less is authorized to any handicapped individual who has the use of only one arm.

Police Officers and Armed Forces Personnel must fax a copy of their official identification material and government employees seeking to procure these items in their official capacity must enter the order on their government procurement forms.
Our FAX number is: 540 693 4950

LIST ALL AUTOMATIC OPENERS WITH PRICES AND AVAILABILITY
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Knifecenter auto knife restrictions for example. Pretty much all vendors require the same acknowledgment which basically is just registering the transfer of already been tagged. All autos are now checked-in/checked-out.

So, if you've ever sent or bought an auto, or balisong, you needed to sign the form, or vendor won't touch it.
 
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