The USA tightening up the knife laws ??

[fearn]

That one had me scratching my head, because I actually went and read the customs documents linked to.


So far as I can tell from the document (and remember, I'm NOT a lawyer), customs (and the law) defines switchblades as having a button on the handle causes a spring to open the blade. The design that customs wants to declare a switchblade has it set up so that you open the blade slightly with the usual thumb stud on the blade, and then a spring takes over and snaps the blade out without further work on your part.

Just to play devil's advocate, I can kind of see why customs would want to expand the definition of switchblade. As they note, knife designers have been trying to figure out how to have spring-opened blades without the button that triggers the regulations, and the customs people want to expand regulation of the set of mechanisms that trigger spring opening.

Since none of my knives are spring-opened, it's not clear whether I'm going to have trouble with the new mechanisms. I can open a knife just fine with nothing but a thumb stud. If they make THAT kind of one-handed open illegal, I'll be very unhappy.

Leaving aside arguments about whether switchblades should be regulated at all for a paragraph, what I would suggest is that ANYONE who needs a spring-opened blade for something they're doing, especially as part of work, send a letter to their congresscritter explaining why the new law will mess with them. I suspect that will have more impact than the AKTI letter form, especially with the democratic lawmakers who are currently in the majority.

As for legality of switchblades, I don't think that there's much that's rational about the non-gun weapons laws in the US, and I'm pretty sure lawmakers don't want to deal either. "I'm for law and order, and I think that switchblades should be legal." Right. I'm trying to figure out how any politician could say that with a straight face.

However, if Mr. Smtih, the old farmer in the heartland of America, needs that one-handed spring assist to open his knife because of his arthritic hands (and he can't retire, because he lost it all in the financial crisis), and he needs his knife to open the seed bags to plant his fields, that's a much better argument. Mr. Smith needs his spring-opened knife for his everyday work.

In any case, the AKTI links to the customs documents, and I'd be much happier if someone who is a lawyer will go through them and figure out what it is customs is trying to outlaw, and how many knives it will actually affect. If they're going to outlaw any one-handed opening mechanism, spring or no spring, that's a really good reason to protest. If they're trying to expand the list of prohibited mechanisms for spring-assisted opening, it would be good to get an idea of how many knife designs would actually be affected.

Best,

F

[kronckew]

i think that the main problem is that they DO ultimately want to ban all one-handed opening knives, then they can start on all folding knives next. today assisted opening, tomorrow ones with thumb studs, the day after the ones with....

by setting a precedent that an agency like the customs can effectively make it's own laws by redefining the semantics in defiance of previous judicial case history and judgements, we are going down a slippery slope. it's the death of a thousand cuts by stealth rather than a more obvious law passed by congress, or even an executive order. once you start allowing customs to make up regulations based on partisan political considerations you're stuffed, they already have their foot in the door...

customs of course only is involved in the foreign import/export of these items, but if they get away with it, what's to stop the post office or other agencies. of course the mfg. who currently import such things could set up a factory inside the U.S. to make them, creating more non-outsourced jobs. OSHA or some other agency would probably then ban them by regulation.

the price of freedom is eternal vigilance

[fearn]

Hi Kronckew,

I'll take the devil's advocate position again. As I understand the situation (based on the custom service's own documents), the current switchblade definition has stood up in court repeatedly. Oddly enough, they can make the slippery slope argument too. Right now, you can make a spring-opened knife that's the functional equivalent of a switchblade, except that it's not opened by a button on the handle. Why shouldn't switchblades be legal as well?

If you're worried about the being allowed to carry, I think it's important to educate people that a knife is a tool as well as a weapon. The fact that I'm carrying one poses precisely no threat to their health or well-being (why should I tell them how actively I'll defend myself if attacked?), and that my knife is useful to them during daily life? That's politics too.

There are some things I'm quite honestly bugged with AKTI about with this campaign:

--One is that it's not clear (to me, at least) whether all folding knives are on the block, or just this one type of not-quite-a-switchblade. How many knives are affected?
--Nobody's polling the US to find out how many knife owners are out there. Starting with all first responders, boy scouts, anyone working in a rural area (including a lot of environmentalists and other liberals), any tech worker (at least the blade on his multi-tool), I'd guess that we're talking about a large majority of the adult population. Outlaw all folding knives? Right. AKTI needs to point out how many people own the knives they're worried about.
--What's the upside for a politician supporting the AKTI? After all, their opponents are going to accuse them of being "soft on switchblades" if they support AKTI and all the customs law is about is the definition of a switchblade.

This is why I'd suggest that AKTI needs to talk about numbers and to put a face on this issue. Everybody owns knives, right? And given the aging population and, in the current economic unpleasantness, there are old people out there who need folding knives that are easy on their arthritic hands to open. If customs is taking the knife from Mr. Smith's crippled hands because they're worried about the mechanism, that's a really good argument for a politician.

Right now, it's just us "weirdo hobbyists" and our "dangerous" fixation on knives who are asking for protection.

Best,

F