President signs swithblade amendment into law.

[golddot370]

http://www.blademag.com Read all about it.

[Blerv]

"This no doubt will go down as the most important victory ever for Americans' right to own and carry knives," said Steve Shackleford, BLADE editor. "Everyone who participated--individual knife enthusiasts, knife manufacturers, knifemakers, lawmakers, AKTI, Knife Rights and others--all contributed. It is their victory and rightly so. Congratulations to them all."

Woot woot!

I'm not an AO type of guy but like the fact that I have the right. Good work to everyone else who mailed in letters and made a fuss.

[clovisc]

This is great news. I'm glad that our lawmakers, and our president, have come to such a good decision. :D

[catamount]

Will this amendment have any impact on non-assisted openers ( :spyder: s), that can be flicked open, being considered "gravity knives"?

[D1omedes]

Not to be a downer but does this have any real effect on the states? I still think I'll get busted in NYC for carrying an AO.

[DMgangl]

Awesome. I am not a huge fan of the AOs but I wouldn't mind trying one of Spydercos Citadel models. And now I don't have to worry about carrying one.

DM

[MCM]

So it will have no effect on states where assisted opening knifes are legal?
Or does it make auto's legal in all states now?

[The Deacon]

Zero impact on the situation with regard to Spyderco balisongs. Zero impact on state and local laws. Whatever was legal yesterday will still be legal tomorrow, whatever was illegal yesterday will still be illegal tomorrow. If a state or municipality wants to ban AO's in the future, it will probably have zero impact on that. All it does is is prevent Customs from considering AO's as switchblades.

[Blerv]

Yes, it's all classification of "assisted opening" knives. These are knives which must be pushed past a detent before the spring assists the opening. It still required some thumb stud/hole pressure.

Knives which can open/close by the press of a button are still considered switchblades, which are illegal.

Sorry guys. I'd like a Citadel too but it won't happen with my line of work.

[rljohns]

Not to be a downer but does this have any real effect on the states? I still think I'll get busted in NYC for carrying an AO.

I thought toothpick greater than two inches were ban in NYC. I have heard all locking blades are illegal in NYC and San Antonio, TX.

[golddot370]

In a nut shell any knife that can be opened with one hand for example the spider hole, thumb stud, assisted opener would have been cosidered illegal. This is a big victory for us knife nuts. Read more about it at http://www.kniferights.org.

[golddot370]

U.S. Customs has proposed revoking earlier rulings that assisted opening knives are not switchblades. The proposal would not only outlaw assisted opening knives, its overly broad new definition of a switchblade would also include all one-handed opening knives and most other pocket knives! ACT NOW TO PROTECT YOUR RIGHTS!

http://www.kniferights.com

[Sequimite]

It may not have much immediate effect, but it is real strategic victory. Rights were being eroded because of ambiguous language, and this law clarifies where the federal government draws the line. While this will have no immediate effect on state and local laws, the federal definition will be the default position when new laws are written. Over time it's effect is likely to grow.

[feeny]

personally i've never understood the ban on switchblades either...

Ill wager my manix that most people can get aforementioned manix out of their pocket and open as fast if not faster than any AO / switchblade ...

[Jay_Ev]

Ill wager my manix that most people can get aforementioned manix out of their pocket and open as fast if not faster than any AO / switchblade ...

Probably one of the reasons why they want to include all one-handed opening knives.

[Blue72]

I thought toothpick greater than two inches were ban in NYC. I have heard all locking blades are illegal in NYC and San Antonio, TX.

From my understanding you can have a knife up to 4 inches, but it has to be completely concealed. No pocket clip exposed.

[defenestrate]

The Deacon is spot on about this not having an effect on the current legality of any of Spyderco's knives, but I know there were some concerns about Customs talking about all one-hand-openers, quite possibly Spydies included, and if nothing else, this amendment does help protect us regular Spydie owners from any overzealous feds in theory, and that is definitely A Good Thing. Anything that doesn't take away more of our rights as knife carriers is a plus in my book, considering how often someone tries to take them away.

[Blerv]

In a nut shell any knife that can be opened with one hand for example the spider hole, thumb stud, assisted opener would have been cosidered illegal. This is a big victory for us knife nuts. Read more about it at http://www.kniferights.org.

That was the slippery slope argument.

The assisted openers were looking down the barrel from this law. The definition of "gravity knife" or thumbstuds/holes on blades were where it could have gone eventually.

If they were talking generically about any "one handed opener" you would have seen a bigger team of lawyers from Spyderco, Kershaw, Benchmade and the other companies than what came out of the O.J. Simpson case.

It's still a big win for the knife community. Id rather not leave generic laws in place for congress to revisit later.

[rosconey]

and whats totally crazy is the fact 90 some percent of all knife incidents are from kitchen knives-

[mm1]

I'm glad this passed but, I will carry what I want within reason no matter what the law states, F*#@K'em! Besides I haven't been stopped by a cop let alone searched by a cop since I was a teenager anyways.