Another step toward disarming the populace...

[Okla-homey]

Knives people. frickin' knives! Read the DHS proposed rule here:

http://www.nraila.org/pdfs/CBPkniferuling.pdf

If Knives Are Outlawed…Customs And Border Protection Proposal Could Ban Many Pocketknives

Friday, June 12, 2009

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a proposed rule change that directly targets the importation of "assisted opening" folding knives. The proposed regulations would designate all these knives as "switchblades" (despite the fact they do not fall under the federal definition of "switchblades"), and would make them illegal for import into the United States.

The proposed rule could affect all knives that can be opened with one hand, because it also includes changes in the interpretation of "gravity and inertia" opening knives in a way that could outlaw all knives that can be opened with a single hand. This means the new regulation could ban the importation of most of the pocketknives that are now in popular use.

And it could have a far greater impact. The American Knife and Tool Institute and Knife Rights, Inc. have both reviewed the proposed new regulations and are very concerned that the impact will be far greater than just a ban on the importation of assisted opening knives. If the new regulations also affect the broader category of single-handed opening knives, it could make millions of knives illegal for import.

More importantly, many local jurisdictions and some states depend on the definitions used by the CBP. These changes could make hundreds of millions of knives now in regular use, illegal. And, of course, millions of hunters use and rely on their knives and would be adversely affected by this proposed regulation.

CBP is attempting to expedite this rulemaking and is only keeping comments open until June 21, 2009. The American Knife and Tool Institute and Knife Rights, Inc. are leading the charge against the. For more information and to make your voice heard in opposition to these new regulations, please go to: http://www.kniferights.org/index and http://www.akti.org/.

[Scott D]

so let me get this straight...you're upset about imports?

Why do you, and those lobbies hate American made knives?

bunch of damn commies if you ask me!

[Vaevictis]

After reading the majority of the PDF (probably about 75%), the reasoning in the new interpretation seems pretty, well, reasonable.

The problem is the switchblade act, passed in what, the 1950s? -- so, really, they're not trying to ban any knives, the knives are already banned.

From the Switchblade Act:

The term ‘‘switchblade knife’’ means any knife having a blade which
opens automatically—
(1) by hand pressure applied to a button or other device in the handle of
the knife, or
(2) by operation of inertia, gravity, or both[.]

It looks like DHS is looking at their previous interpretations which basically stated that you could have inertia or a spring that pulls it open so long as you have to open the blade somewhat to get it to do that. (One of the knives does so at 30% open.)

The new ruling says that if a spring pulls it open or inertia does so at any point, then it's a switchblade.

I think the new ruling is a little more sensible.

Not that it matters, really. I have a knife that pretty trivially opens one-handed, and it requires physical manipulation all the way until it locks. That wouldn't be a switchblade under the new ruling, but it's nearly indistinguishable in function.

[yermom]

knife laws are so dumb.

i can legally buy a gun that will fit in my pocket. i can't carry it without a permit, but even with that permit, i can't buy an automatic knife legally

knifes aren't weapons intrinsically. they are tools. lots of tools could be used as weapons...

you can pry my one-hand opening knife from my cold dead hands

it's already not legal in the UK, NYC and Chicago, i believe

[JLEW1818]

shoot, i carry a hammer on me

[mdklatt]

I've never understood why a switchblade is considered "evil" compared to a regular knife.

[Okla-homey]

so let me get this straight...you're upset about imports?

Why do you, and those lobbies hate American made knives?

bunch of damn commies if you ask me!

Many of the good folders you can open with one hand are made in Nippon. Also, if you happen to travel outside the USA, and subsequently attempt to return to the Fruited Plain with such a knife in your baggage, regardless of its place of manufacture, that consitutes "importing." Just sayin'

[Okla-homey]

knife laws are so dumb.

i can legally buy a gun that will fit in my pocket. i can't carry it without a permit, but even with that permit, i can't buy an automatic knife legally

knifes aren't weapons intrinsically. they are tools. lots of tools could be used as weapons...

you can pry my one-hand opening knife from my cold dead hands

it's already not legal in the UK, NYC and Chicago, i believe

FWIW, I know a lot of reasonable folks, myself included, who consider many firearms to be "tools," primarily used for harvesting game. To wit, my hunting rifle and shotguns.

I'll grant you, however, my handguns are weapons. They're for killing homo sapiens, which, the Okie legislature has not (yet) deemed "wildlife" or "vermin" suitable for harvesting and/or other eradication or management.

[Okla-homey]

I've never understood why a switchblade is considered "evil" compared to a regular knife.

Me neither. I'd bet a month's pay and give you odds more people are murdered by ordinary kitchen knives, especially "butcher knives," than any other sort of edged tool.

[Vaevictis]

When I was buying my knife I looked into the legality issue pretty carefully, since I wanted to be able to carry it basically anywhere.

One of the things I remember reading about was how the switchblade act came about. Essentially, it was a tough-on-crime thing. Remember all those movies in the 50's and 60's about the tough guys who were always carrying around switchblades?

Yeah.

If you read the PDF:

‘‘In supporting enactment of this measure, however, your committee considers that the purpose to be achieved goes beyond merely aiding States in local law enforcement. The switchblade knife is, by design and use, almost exclusively the weapon of the thug and the delinquent. Such knives are not particularly adapted to the requirements of the hunter or fisherman, and sportsmen generally do not employ them. It was testified that, practically speaking, there is no legitimate use for the switchblade to which a conventional sheath or jackknife is
not better suited. This being the case, your committee believes that it is in the national interest that these articles be banned from interstate commerce.’’ S.Rep. No. 1980, 85th Cong., 2d Sess., reprinted in 2 U.S. Code Cong. & Ad. News 1958, at 3435–37.

[Scott D]

Many of the good folders you can open with one hand are made in Nippon. Also, if you happen to travel outside the USA, and subsequently attempt to return to the Fruited Plain with such a knife in your baggage, regardless of its place of manufacture, that consitutes "importing." Just sayin'

You wouldn't get to travel from the USA to outside of the USA with such a knife in your baggage in the first place, therefore any knife you obtain in travels would be outside the USA making it a non domestic purchase hence making you a terrorist. Just sayin'

[sooner ngintunr]

well, at least you still buy these.......for now.

http://shopruger.com/Ruger-Mini-14-M...uctinfo/90035/

they aint disarmin shiit.

[Vaevictis]

You wouldn't get to travel from the USA to outside of the USA with such a knife in your baggage in the first place, therefore any knife you obtain in travels would be outside the USA making it a non domestic purchase hence making you a terrorist. Just sayin'

Nah, you can take that sort of thing out of the USA, you just can't carry it into the cabin of a plane.

[Scott D]

Nah, you can take that sort of thing out of the USA, you just can't carry it into the cabin of a plane.

quit arguing the fact that Homey is clearly an America hating communist terrorist

[Spray]

What about my mace? Can I keep that?

(And by "mace" I mean super-sweet medievel weapon with chains and balls and pointy sharp parts).

(And that brings up a tangential question- what is the plural of "mace"? Maces? Meece? Maci?)

[Okla-homey]

What about my mace? Can I keep that?

(And by "mace" I mean super-sweet medievel weapon with chains and balls and pointy sharp parts).

(And that brings up a tangential question- what is the plural of "mace"? Maces? Meece? Maci?)

You are describing a "flail." A "mace" is a club with metal business end.

Just sayin'

[Spray]

See how educational the SO can be!

I never knew. Okay, so the plural question- what's the answer to that?

[Scott D]

Maces

[Sooner98]

They can take my knives, but if they try and come after my nunchucks, there's gonna be trouble.

[yermom]

You are describing a "flail." A "mace" is a club with metal business end.

Just sayin'

i blame Casltevania for this confusion