Why?

The General

The General

Joined
Jun 6, 2000
Messages
3,625
Why was the Balisong ever banned?

After seeing and using one, it strikes me as quite possibly THE perfect design in a folding knife. Easy to use, almost impossible to get the 'lock' to fail and the blade is 100% covered by the handles. Oh and its great fun to flip one!

Look at a modern knife like the Spyderco Military. The one hand opening hole makes the Military a more silent and rapid way of opening. Yet to me a Balisong is more about skill and practice, hell its a work of ART!

Am I right in thinking then, that the Bali was banned when most pocket knives were boreing multi blade stockman types and the Balisong was the 'tactical' knife of its day? Was that the reason? It just strikes me that the Balisong is quite possibly the most miss-understood knife around and certainly one of the most banned world wide.

I showed a number of non knife people pictures of a BM42 and every single one identified it as a Butterfly knife and was very aware that they were illegal, this from a group who could not tell you the difference between a Leatherman and a $10 copy never mind HOW a Bali worked.

I have no doubt that a Spyderco Military or many new 'tactical' blades are an intimidating sight to non knife people (I have done some research on this) but the classic butterfly knife pattern as seen in the BM42 was seen as a far more scary knife! I think it is one of the most attractive and functional classics ever invented.

I think this is unfair and outdated thinking. Make it illegal NOT to own one!
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Any history or stories are most welcome and I look forward to any viewpoints.

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Wayne.
"To strive to seek to find and not to yield"
Tennyson
Ranger motto

A few useful details on UK laws and some nice reviews!
http://members.aol.com/knivesuk/
Certified steel snob!
 
preach it, brotha'!

I concur- Why is everyone so afraid of them? If it wasn't associated with crime and I was to pull mine out and open a box, would people still freak?
 
Where i am most peple dont even seem to mind.The girls at work just are amazed at how i get it open without butchering my hand.

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I have a sword in my pocket!
 
It was banned for the same reason as the nunchaku, 80's martial arts movies. Kids saw characters using twirling nunchakus and flipping balisongs, so they went out and bought them. Law makers thought that for some reason that these were popular with gang members (more from 80's movies) so they banned them all. Nevermind the fact that if given a nunchaku most people will just end up smacking themselves in the forehead, and when given a balisong they'll cut their fingers up.

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Small minds discuss people,
Average minds discuss events,
Great minds discuss ideas.
 
Well, you know guys, we've been over this before. Some people have fears and Politicians being the Opportunists they always are, court people who have fears and then they try to alleviate those fears with meaningless legislation that only effects honest people.

I'm not a fearful person. Why should I fear that which I cannot change? That's pointless, a silly endeavor to me.

If I were scared of knives, I could ignore the fact that if I were to be attacked with one, it would most likely be a kitchen knife or a razor knife, or perhaps something else in the "Edged Weapons Category" that is not a knife, like a screwdriver. And I could then concentrate on disarming my neighbor who has a knife collection.

Without turning it into a rant, if you cannot understand the problem from just that, there is no way to make you see it at all.

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Usual Suspect
Ipsa scientia potestas est aut disce aut discede
Some of my Knives and other neat things
 
Thank you for the imput, I suspected a lot of what you said was true
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Still, there are always ways to get what you want, right?
wink.gif


------------------
Wayne.
"To strive to seek to find and not to yield"
Tennyson
Ranger motto

A few useful details on UK laws and some nice reviews!
http://members.aol.com/knivesuk/
Certified steel snob!
 
you mean such different ways as thrusting and back cutting?
wink.gif

seriously, though, that's why i think a balisong organization like the one proposed a while back is a good idea. it could help get the bali and its owners more exposure, and a chance to show that we're not really all bad.
peace.
aleX.

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"i flip you... i flip you for real..."

"come and get one in the yarbles, if you've got any yarbles."
 
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by The General:
Still, there are always ways to get what you want, right?</font>
Click to expand...

Of course there is. But that is not the point. The point is, in a Society where any type of weapon is restricted, you can still get weapons.

You're an honest person, you just have a hobby or maybe a means of Self-defense, or both.

You do not want to go to Prison.

The Criminals, they don't care about going to Prison, that's why they're Criminals. If a Man is willing to rob you and face 20 years in Prison for Cutting, Stabbing or Shooting you, what does he care about another 1 to 5 year sentence because he had a "Prohibited Offensive Weapon?"

They don't and they never will. And you can never keep weapons out of their hands, ever.

Weapons Laws are not designed for Public Safety and they are not designed to Disarm Criminals because the group of people they say they want to disarm, the Criminals, don't abide by any laws to begin with. That's why they're called, Criminals.

The laws then become a form of controlling the honest people.

And that's all they ever do. And they do it piece by piece, step by step. One day it is a Machinegun [1934 National Firearms Act, not banned, but more tightly controlled], 24 years later the Switchblade [1958 Switchblade Act], they bounce back and forth taking different classes of weapons so not too many people get offended at once.
 
Don't forget all of us white-colar criminals.

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Smoke the La, Flip the Bali.
 
You tell it like it is Don, as a local gun shop advertises "If you ban guns, only the criminals will own guns"

What does a criminal care? Am I a criminal for owning a BM42a? Or is it the actions of a person that count? If voters wanted more knives, politicians would repeal stupid laws.

Fact is, people have been indoctrinated by the few really anti knife people over the years, that knives are bad. Exposure of Bali's and autos has not helped (thanks Hollywood). I am looking at a film right now as I type this (kiss the girls?) and a person has just pulled a small gerber mk1? and the music tells us he is a bad man with a bad knife... Sucks. The general public then find that there is an ethos of anti knife culture and go along with it as a rule. We are the discordant, rebelious elements of society? The 'real' force against our knives are often hidden from view. Don't blame most politicians, they do whatever it takes to get the votes. Look for those who are pushing behind the scenes...

Who are these people? Exactly... They are the ones pushing for firearms controls all in the guise of greater public saftey? Private control more like.

I will sign off now, just call me spooky Mulder
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The truth is out there!

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Wayne.
"To strive to seek to find and not to yield"
Tennyson
Ranger motto

A few useful details on UK laws and some nice reviews!
http://members.aol.com/knivesuk/
Certified steel snob!
 
For me, I question if they are really illegal. In the United States the courts rule about half in half. About 50% of the time they say a butterfly knife is illegal, and about 50% of the time they say it is a legal knife. In order to make it illegal, they have to call it a switchblade. They never actually passed a law against butterfly knives, they just try to ban it under the switchblade knife laws.

As far as I am concerned in the Federal Court, where it counts the butterfly knife is a legal item. But no one wants to pay attorneys to fight it out in the court system. I filed lots of paper work with customs and in the federal court system, but they do not care, they live to do paper work, they eat it up and spit it out for lunch.
 
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by e_utopia:
Some states do have specific laws against balis.

--JB

</font>
Click to expand...

That is correct, but alot of time it is just lumped in with Switchblades, Gravity Knives, etc.

The basic idea is, own what the hell you want, they're banning everything anyway.
rolleyes.gif




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Usual Suspect
Ipsa scientia potestas est aut disce aut discede
Some of my Knives and other neat things
 
I don't understand how it can be classified as a gravity knife under the Federal Switchblade Act or the California statute. If memory serves me correctly, both have a clause saying a switchblade has the appearance of an ordinary pocketknife. Balisongs don't look like ordinary pocker knives at all... so I don't get it.
 
i dont see why a switch blade is more illegal than a handgun. that to me doesn't make sense. this store in my area wasn't allowed to sell me a switch blade because they are illegal... but i coulda bought a friggin mase, or a sword. and theres no laws against that. does this make sense to u? it seems like u can do alot more damage with a gun or a MASE then u can with a tiny little switch blade
 
boy I tell ya', it's alllllllllll going to hell

every day more freedoms are removed; stolen from you.
You can't defend yourself
You can't practice martial arts
You can't own something unless the makers own you
You can't watch DVDs on a platform not owned by the MPAA
You can't share music
You can't exersize your freedom of speech and insult major companies without getting sued for using their name
You can't do **** anymore and no-one in congress cares because it's all about the illusion of safety.
If you can't own that knife, then idiot sheeple will think crime will disapear.
If you can't share music, then those who passed the DMCA will think they have stopped all piracy forever.
If you can't open your mouth without being sued, then consumerism and mass ignorance will flourish.

It's all a game- let's hit restart.
 
This country was Founded on certain principles and alot of the Founders were Inventors.

I'm sure that more than a few of them, including Benjamin Franklin, would have looked at a great Balisong, Emerson Waved Folder, Microtech Masterpiece, Ultratech, Halo, Nemesis, LCC D/A or any other number of things that we admire, and they would not only admire them...they would have owned them and actively promoted the development of such things.

[They were "Gun Nuts" too]

I don't think they would have looked at any of these things as "Gang Weapons" or weapons of criminality. They would have immediately focused on the Human Element and acted accordingly. Meaning People that misused such things would have been targeted and punished. Not honest people.

That is the History of this Country and they call it "History" for a reason...it is something in the past.

It does not really exist anymore, you get your Liberty in little snippets, some States, yes, some States, no.



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Usual Suspect
Ipsa scientia potestas est aut disce aut discede
Some of my Knives and other neat things
 
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by e_utopia:
Some states do have specific laws against balis.</font>
Click to expand...

True. But they are few and far between. It seems that the only time it happens is when it has come up in a trial somewhere and it becomes "Case Law". But that sort of situation can help things sometimes too. Here's a New York Case Law from Bernard Levine's knife law website as an example...

- Butterfly or "Balisong" knife, a folding knife with a split handle, did not have blade released by force of gravity or application of centrifugal force, and did not constitute a "gravity knife"... (1987).

Here's the link to knife laws for all 50 states, compiled by Mr. Levine. http://pweb.netcom.com/~brlevine/sta-law.htm

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~Dave

"One in the hand is worth two in the sheath"
 
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