Spyderco Forums

Who has really been stopped by a police officer who just happened to spot your pocket clip?

I haven't, but I hope to learn from others' experience. Of course I know to never ever say it's for self-defense purposes. So...wha'd ya say? How'd it go over? Anyone lose their knife...or worse?

Location of incident, type of knife, TYPE OF POCKET CLIP... the more pertinent details, the more educational.

Thanks.

And/Or:
Would a Manix 2, or any BBL knife, definitely be considered a gravity knife? I'm in NYC often.

I have. It was during customs control (since the borders to our neighbors are open, customs officers sometimes check cars at truckstops near the border) when they were searching my car for contraband that wasn't there, one of the officers noticed the standard pocket clip of my Spyderco Military model, which at that time was legal for me to carry.

He asked: "Is that an automatic knife?", so I said "No, it isn't.", showed him that it wasn't and that was the end of it.

The lesson here is that the customs officer was disappointed that he had wasted his (and my) time w/o finding something and he was grasping for straws. In Germany the concept of a leagal reason is relatively new, so police officers didn't ask what you needed the knife for b/c it was none of their business.

Now that you do need a legal reason to carry a one handed opening knife, there is hardly a reason they will accept, although the politicians who made the new law said that the lawful carry/use of knives should not be infringed (yeah, right...) and that the new law was a way to let police officers take knives from juvenile troublemakers who are up to no good whereas before they had no lawful way of doing so (as if...).

Despite the original intention, if they do find a OHO on your person they will most likely conficate the knife and you'll have to fight through the courts to get it back. That is unless you are in the state of Bavaria where the secretary of the interior has issued a directive that police officers should only confiscate knives if ppl are using them in an irresponsible manner, which indeed was the idea behind the new law.


Ookami

It wasn't a cop but I work at a casino and the head of security spotted my pocket clip.(we're not supposed to have one) It was my old trusty Delica, and the clip is almost completely silver with wear. If the clip was all black he would have never seen it against my black pants. He said I should leave it in my car, then whispered that I should just carry it in the bottom of my pocket.

NYC is a crazy place. NYC law states if you carry a knife, it must be concealed. If you don't conceal your knife, you're technically breaking the law (doesn't matter how dumb the law might be).

So you can carry something like a 27cm traditional Navaja, as long as it's concealed?

What a nice city.

I've never had a cop call me out but I've been stopped and frisked and I've openly disclosed that I was carrying a pocket knife. 9 out of 10 times your success in these situations depends on a few simple things. 1) don't be a jackass to begin with and give cops a reason to even pay attention to you. This is the best and easiest solution. 2) don't carry more than you need or more than is allowed. Even if you have no length laws in your area, for EDC you can lower the risk in these situations by carrying reasonable sized knives. It's hard to explain away a folder with a 6 inch blade. 3) be respectful. Police get a lot of grief and people often forget that they literally put their lives at risk each day they go to work. They have to be on high alert at all times and they can't assume you're an honest good guy knife user. You may not see your Para 2 as a weapon but to a cop it's a lethal device that he has to take seriously. If you're carrying and get stopped for any reason and you think you may get patted down, tell them before hand what you have on you. The last thing you want is them getting surprised by it, that's how you get thrown down on the hood of a car and cuffed. In the end it's always better to lose your knife than get arrested or worse and you have a lot of control in how these situations end.

And/Or:
Would a Manix 2, or any BBL knife, definitely be considered a gravity knife? I'm in NYC often.

Yes, NYC DA Vance is out of control. Why do you think Knife Rights is suing? Also, yes NYC cops will stop you if they see a pocket clip. A close friend who's a Federal Agent wasn't displaying his shield while plain clothes in NYC and was, in his words, "almost tackled and then harrassed" by a uniform NYPD officer who saw the pocket clip of his knife. He said he thought the NYPD knife clip paranoia was all rumor until it happened to him. If they'll chew out a Fed after he identifies himself, I can't imagine how they'd treat you or me.

Glad I live in Arizona. I have a concealed carry permit & am 99% of the time armed, also have a knife everywhere I go, no exceptions. If stopped, just tell the officer you have a "weapon" (not a gun) and ask how they want to handle the situation. The lunacy I read about in other states & countries is appalling to me.

noseoil wrote:The lunacy I read about in other states & countries is appalling to me.

Me too.

I had a cop here see my clip and ask "is that a Spyderco? Can I see it?" Then he pulled out his Benchmade to compare.

It was basically the same experience I had while shooting on BLM land, except then he wanted to see my FS2000. He even asked if he could shoot it (and I let him).

There are many nice things about living in a small town in Idaho.

Never had anyone notice a knife while clipped to my pocket. My last encounter with the law was when they pulled me over for (legally) running on the side of the road they didn't notice my knife. Or they didn't care.

~ 10 years ago a cop spotted my buck odyssey clip and commented saying nice knife. Other than that never.

You guys in strict states need to move! No problems in NH.

To the OP, it is not just gravity knives that are trouble in NY. DA Vance is evidently insane, as it is also any locking blade also. That is why box cutters are an issue also. These are among the examples that have caused MANY retailers/dealers to not ship to NYC, and some are even avoiding the entire state.

It is becoming increasingly evident that NYC (and a few other cities) needs to secede from the state/country and become a sovereign nation. Then, if you are hassled by authorities, it will be your own dang fault for leaving the U.S.A. I will never step foot in that insane place. I say this with a little sarcasm, but not much. :rolleyes:

noseoil wrote:Glad I live in Arizona. I have a concealed carry permit & am 99% of the time armed, also have a knife everywhere I go, no exceptions. If stopped, just tell the officer you have a "weapon" (not a gun) and ask how they want to handle the situation. The lunacy I read about in other states & countries is appalling to me.

Personally I would never use the word "weapon" either. I prefer to use the word "firearm".

While I agree it is best to cooperate with LEO's and disclose any concealed firearms, etc (required by law for CCW holders in many states) I never refer to a knife as a 'weapon'. I consider a knife to be a tool which can if necessary be used for personal defense; my .45 is a weapon.

Depending on circumstances it may be a 'pocket knife' or a 'fishing knife' or a 'whatever knife' but it is no more a weapon than a ball-peen hammer or felling axe (both of which could of course be used for personal defense if necessary).

Every time I cross the border the nice person asks if I have any weapons and the answer is always NO. But I may have a shotgun for hunting or a knife for fishing....

I went out with a group of friends for one of their birthdays and the place they chose does patdowns of the guys coming in, I currently had my military and techno one me in the right front and back left respectively. I was prepared for the "oops I didn't know I wasn't allowd to bring knives out" talk, but he actually did not notice either of them. Some pat down.

Vance is most definitely out of control and some of the things that have happened in NYC since he took office defy belief, but carrying a knife clipped to your pocket with the clip visible was problematic there for years before he took office. The NYC law that requires knives to be concealed was originally aimed at sheath knives, both fixed blade and folding, and existed before Sal came up with the idea of pocket clips. Requiring concealed carry makes some degree of sense in an area, like Manhattan, where the resident population density is over 70,000 per sq. mile and almost doubles during the day on weekdays when commuters flood into the city. Personally, I think that if you're in a crowded city where the concept of "personal space" is almost non-existent in many public places, and especially in public transport, carrying a $100 knife in a manner where it can be seen doesn't make any more sense than carrying a $100 bill that way.

As for the Manix 2, I'm fairly certain you'd be in deep trouble if caught in NYC with it, or any other knife where the blade swings open relatively freely once a button on the handle is moved by your finger while the front of the handle is pointing downward. Outside the city, it's going to depend a lot on how you look and/or the circumstances under which the knife was spotted. If you're being arrested for something else, you can pretty well bet a "possession of a gravity knife" charge will be tacked on for good measure. Also, you can call it profiling if you wish, but cops tend to follow the "if it looks like a duck..." theory when deciding whether someone's combination of age, dress, location, demeanor, and associates make them worthy of closer scrutiny.

Sully wrote: Would a Manix 2, or any BBL knife, definitely be considered a gravity knife? I'm in NYC often.

IN NYC no exposed knives even partially like visible clip, no locking knives. Possibly UKPK will be OK, but when I go to NYC once in a while I am taking SAK and remember that it cannot be exposed.