CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
June 29, 2009 – 12:08 a.m.
Cutting Edge Debate Over Switchblades
By Shawn Zeller, CQ Staff
The National Rifle Association strikes fear in politicians and bureaucrats who might be tempted to restrict gun sales. Now it’s warning the Department of Homeland Security that it also won’t tolerate efforts to restrict knife imports.
The spat centers on a decision by Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection division last month to classify knives that can be opened with one hand as switchblades — even if they don’t open with the simple press of a button, the method best understood in popular culture. The sparsely worded announcement said the department was planning to revoke previous guidance to manufacturers that knives that open with the help of spring mechanisms are not switchblades.
Customs spokeswoman Jenny Burke said in a statement that the agency had in the past issued conflicting rules — some permitting spring-loaded knives, others forbidding them — and that the rule change would clarify the agency’s stance. “Health and public safety concerns” were an important consideration in banning the knives, she added.
But in an e-mail message sent to members earlier this month, the NRA warned that the proposal “could make hundreds of millions of knives, now in regular use, illegal” — and in so doing adversely affect hunters.
The American Knife and Tool Institute (AKTI), a trade group, and Knife Rights, which says it represents individual knife owners, are lobbying to block the proposal. The institute’s lobbyist, J. Nicole Bivens Collinson of Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, has pressed lawmakers to weigh in, and last week more than 80 House members, led by Republican Bob Latta of Ohio and Democrat Walt Minnick of Idaho, signed a letter asking Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to reconsider the proposal.
“We’re struggling to understand the rationale for this, because there’s been no rash of crime having to do with folding knives,” says David Kowalski, the AKTI spokesman. Nor, Kowalski says, is there any evidence that the knives pose a safety hazard. The institute claims that about four in five new knives sold in this country would fall under the switchblade definition, including such ubiquitous models as the Swiss Army knife.
Congress banned switchblade imports half a century ago, and the commonly accepted definition of “switchblade,” the institute says, is a knife that’s concealed in its handle but springs into view with the press of a button. The knives at the center of this dispute typically require the user to pull the blade 30 degrees away from the handle by hand before a spring takes over.
The knifemakers say the ruling promises to be especially galling in overturning guidance issued to one manufacturer just last summer indicating that its spring-loaded knife would be “permitted unrestricted entry into the United States.”
And while the Customs ruling, if finalized, would affect only imports, knifemakers fear the precedent could spread to the domestic knife market. That’s because, under the 1958 switchblade law, anyone who “knowingly introduces, or manufactures for introduction, into interstate commerce, or transports or distributes in interstate commerce, any switchblade knife,” shall be fined or imprisoned, or both.
Comments
This law banning switchblades should be the final nail in the coffin for the dangerous street gangs known and the Jets and the Sharks.
We're struggling to understand the rationale for this, because there's been no rash of crime having to do with folding knives," says David Kowalski Here's the rationale: power. They have it and they like it and they want more.
I carry a tiny Leatherman Micra, a pocket tool that includes scissors, three kinds of screw driver, a nail file, tweezers, and a knife blade. It is as far from a switchblade as a folding knife can get. Check it out on Amazon. I'm an elderly, not very well coordinated, scholarly sort, and I just opened it with one hand. Boy, that felt criminal!!
Usually you don't see anti-knife frenzies until a generation after gun use has been restricted to police and criminals.
Typical. I wonder how many border patrol officers carry knives that would fall under this defination. I work in the Emergency Preparedness field and I would say that I hardly ever see a cop, fireman, or emt who does not have a knife on them and sometimes more thane one. The vast majority would fall under this rule as a "switch blade".
If knife-controls worked, the UK wouldn't have so much trouble with knives used in violent crime - they are the weapon of choice there thanks to the gun laws.
I will give up my Kershaw when they pry it from my cold dead fingers.
This is utterly ridiculous. Such overreaching by government only hurts moderates and liberal politicians, it doesn't reduce crime or violence. I collect swords, and I carry and use a pocketknife every day that could potentially fall under this restriction. What do I use it on? Boxes, at work, mostly. Occasionally I scrape gunk off of things, cut things that need cut, or use it as an improvised screwdriver or prybar for small uses. I've not so much as even been in in a fistfight since my teens, but I use my knife as a tool every day. And well, it's always there if I ever do need to defend myself, just like the sword that rests by by bedside. The government has no right taking these things away from me. Cutting people in any other circumstances but legally defined self-defense is already illegal, just as is shooting people. Banning tools or weapons in an effort to stop people determined to break the law from doing something already illegal is pointless, ineffective, and only serves to restrict the rights of law-abiding citizens. Britain proves that this is a slippery slope, as they've managed to get rid of most guns but then saw knives rise to take their place, and criminals threatening people with swords. They're banning those now. What's next on the ban list? Sharp sticks? Large rocks? Electrical cords you can strangle people with? The hands and feet of anyone with martial arts experience? Fact is, human ingenuity can turn almost anything into a weapon, and once you eliminate the higher-tech stuff you get into the realm where anyone can make the banned items. Or improvise. Kitchen knives. That heavy statuette. A glass bottle. The corner of a stone countertop, if you can get your victim's head to collide with it at sufficient velocity. By the time you ban all "weapons", you have a populace stuffed in rubber rooms with no access to any objects whatsoever. It recalls the famous Ben Franklin quote, "Those who would trade liberty for the illusion of security deserve neither".
Next up from Britain - a total ban on blunt objects.
"Next up from Britain - a total ban on blunt objects." Actually, the next step for them is to take their inspiration from the Taliban and start pre-emptive double hand amputations. After all, isn't it hands that cause all the trouble? Without hands, how are you going to hold a gun or wield a knife? The downside is the government will have to assign you a personal butt wiper to follow you around and attend to your hygienic needs, but hey, think of the employment opportunities it will provide. It's a win-win situation for everybody.
john: Cops and soldiers (and people with missing hands) are already exempt from switchblade laws (at least, everywhere I've looked). As for the Customs department, I refuse to believe they even believe "Health and public safety concerns" internally without some SPECIFICS. There is no public safety issue with a thumb-stud-opening knife. Or a spring-assist knife. Or honestly, even with a real honest-to-god switchblade. They're legal here in Oregon (to own, at least - concealed carry is restricted), and oddly there's no rash of drive-by switchbladings...
Does this mean the little two inch pocket knife I carry on my car keychain will be deemed an illegal weapon? What about all the knives I possess as a wood carver? What about my kitchen knives (which don't fold, admittedly, but are nevertheless, sharp)? Will scissors be included, seeing as they do fold? This is a stupid, ridiculous proposal, albeit typical of the present administration.
My name is Pete Ekizian with a company called Executive Gift Shoppe. We carry every kind of Swiss Army Knife you can imagine. I've also always carried one myself and I can't tell you how many times it has gotten me out of a jam. From a screw that needs tightening on my car to a wire that needs shearing, there are a million uses for these things. As far as being a weapon goes, I am reminded of something a friend said. Down south, where there is not much gun control, there is far less crime. No one is going to rob a WalMart when they know everyone in there is packing heat. The people who want guns to do bad things with aren't getting a license anyway!
Crazy. I have a constant need to open my knife with one hand since the other is busy holding the object I have positioned and want to cut. I can't put an opened pocketknife back in my pocket - I'd have to wear a sheath knife or grip it in my teeth like a pirate while positioning the work. Also, many times I've needed to cut something while securing my body with the other arm. Example: cut a fouled line while holding onto the boat. Pretty soon it will be illegal to be in public with anything sharper than a t-shirt. "Cut". Just listening to that word makes me shudder. I mean, who reaally needs to do something so dangerous and anti-social? Best left to licensed professionals.
Soon the only kind of implement that will be allowed will be KFC sporks. Surely those couldn't be used for some deadly dastardly purpose... or COULD THEY!?
It's not about getting rid of whatever is most dangerous. It's about relative harm. Relative risk between an automatic weapon and a hunting rifle is one example. Another is between a knife that requires an obvious motion to eject and one that's only purpose is in a sneak attack. And please - those of you posting comments, use names. There is no big conspiracy and no hidden agenda, so we can do without the "theys".
I think this is a good thing. You can whine about "slippery slope" all you want, but this is opening up the domestic market. They never said a ban on ALL spring-loaded blades, just imports! That means AMERICAN manufactures, supplying AMERICAN jobs, here IN America will have a completely unhindered market.
So Mike, I imagine that you don't drive imported cars, drink imported spirits or buy anything made in China? I personally enjoy having a choice in what I can acquire, it's also akin to an idea known as freedom. P.s. Are you a union thug? Did you know that unions are the top reason that you can't hardly buy anything made in America anymore? Chiefly because they [unions] have made most American based businesses noncompetitive through the overvaluing of jobs. It's simple economics.
I shall continue to carry what I want, where I want, when I want!
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