Posted on 12/08/2010 7:08:17 PM PST by marktwain
By assigning knife regulations to its legislature, the state of Arizona has eliminated a patchwork of conflicting local laws and become what a report in The New York Times calls “a knife carrier’s dream, a place where everything from a samurai sword to a switchblade can be carried without a quibble.”
Arizona’s transformation, and the recent lifting of a ban on switchblades, stilettos, dirks and daggers in New Hampshire, has given new life to the knife rights lobby, the little-known cousin of the more politically potent gun rights movement.
A main driver behind this “transformation” is Knife Rights, “a membership advocacy organization…dedicated to [p]roviding knife and edged tool owners an effective voice to influence public policy and to oppose efforts to restrict the right to own, use and carry knives and edged tools,” and other objectives defined in the mission statements of the lobbying group and its companion foundation.
Naturally, as the movement gains momentum, it gains opposition. While it’s refreshing to learn of the progressive stance taken by the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police on lifting the switchblade ban, opposition from The Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police advocating local jurisdiction seems tailored to guarantee knife owners being caught up in a tangle of edicts designed to make the safest “legal “course one of personal forfeiture of rights. And Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. sounds like he’s copied his objections from the Brady Campaign playbook:
“What makes these knives so dangerous is the ease with which they can be concealed and brandished,” Mr. Vance said of the illegal switchblades and gravity knives, which require a wrist flip to open instead of a switchblade’s spring, that were bought by undercover agents.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
“I am astonished and incensed that my children were not allowed to carry pocket knives in elementary school. We have gone far downhill in society since I was a youngster. “
Your generation didn’t have gangsta rap. Give a knife to a kid these days and he’ll cut the teacher if he gets punished.
I would get whipping if caught without a knife by some of my grandparents (WW2 Lessons they learned I suspect, not sure). Always getting lectured that having the knife with me could be a matter of life and death.
In the scouts we learned how to use our knife to do everything from take care of snake bites to making fishing spears.
My Grandparents always believed it is the 1st tool of survival (not counting your brain and hands of course).
Pocket knives, h*ll, the 2nd amendment also applies to swords. Every gentleman should go about wearing a small sword. I’ll have to see if I can find the sword cane I used to have.... but perhaps one would need a concealed carry permit for a sword cane....
The switchblade ban is a relic of the 50s. It is a joke.
“Keeping and bearing arms applies to knives as well as guns”
I actually felt a frisson when I read that.
[hey, it’s not just all about whips, ya know]
;]
What about pointed sticks?
Gibbs’ Rule #9: Never go anywhere without a knife.
Until the recent law in Arizona, you needed a concealed carry permit to carry a sword cane in public, legally.
With the recent law, you do not need such a permit if you are 21 years of age or older.
Yet, you can easily improvise a weapon more destructive than a knife in almost any environment...
My kids would not, and I am certain that most kids would not. We should not coddle sociopaths who would do that, they should end up in jail at the minimum.
Exactly. Some schools are already banning pencils! Geeesh!
Back in the early 80’s a couple of guys in my office asked the state’s attorney about concealed weapons laws. He sent us a copy of the statute and I was amazed at the amount of things banned.
One which really caught my eye was a slingshot could not be carried concealed.
I also recall reading the Florida statutes around the same time and specific wording banned “Buck Knives”. I am sure that would not have survived a court test but they probably meant the Buck 110 model.
I suspect both states have updated their laws since.
Oops, I should have said “Commonwealth’s Attorney” for Virginia as that is what they call it.
I wonder how they figure that a pencil is more dangerous then a ball point pen. Maybe our kids will have to go back to using a quill and a bottle of ink........
Cajun's rule #1 on knives:
Never go anywhere without 3 knives, one in front pocket (Case XX), one in back pocket (Buck lock blade), small one (Buck flat) in wallet.
Note: Cajun likes knives ;^)
Absolutely. It’s about damn time.
I have a sizeable knife, spear and sword collection. And yes... I have learned how to use them properly. :-)
I carry at least two or three knives at all times. My house is just littered with edged weapons and polearms. A high quality, sharp european longsword is a surprisingly effective and indeed frightening close-quarters weapon. Same with a seven-foot viking spear. :-)
It’s long past time to legalize switchblades. I’ve got assisted-openers that are functionally indistinguishable from a switchblade— yet they’re perfectly legal, when a switchblade is not. Somebody needs to tell the legislature that *how* a knife *opens* is unimportant. It’s what is done with it —after— it is open that matters.
What about pointed sticks?<<
OUTLAW THEM!...and the tree they fell out of!
Like people and myself keep pointing out on here, rational thought and logic don't exist in legislatures, especially the US Congress/Senate. It's all about the emotions and feelings they could drum up for support.
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