Posted on 06/12/2012 12:56:31 PM PDT by KyGeezer
He has completed the community service, and he has paid the fine. Because of the way that Clayton Baltzer sees the world, he believes this must be part of God’s plan.
Still, the Grove City High School graduate now has a New York weapons charge on his record. Baltzer, 19, is a Bible-college student — a camping-ministry major — and took his pocketknife to New York City on a field trip. He did not know about New York’s strict knife laws. He now has some fame among knife-rights advocates because of what happened to him.
“I have never been in trouble before,” Baltzer said.
His fine-arts class at Baptist Bible College & Seminary in Clarks Summit, Pa., went to New York City on March 27. It was Baltzer’s first trip to the city. On the schedule: the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the World Trade Center site, Times Square and an opera at Lincoln Center.
Baltzer and his class were at the Times Square subway station when someone grabbed him by the arm and said, “ Don’t move.” It was a plainclothes New York City police officer.
(Excerpt) Read more at dispatch.com ...
Used to be tempted to visit there, just for some its historic sites, but frankly, the way things have gone, from its liberal nanny-state insanity to the fag-marriage garbage, there’s just no well in hell I’m going to ever set foot in the depraved place.
Always carry a large folding non flick BUCK knife in NYC. Completely concealed.
Some knife laws are stupid because the legislators know nothing about knives or how to use them. Or the laws date back to when they were afraid of some greasy-haired “Armando Stiletto” hood.
In VA, I have a concealed carry permit for a handgun, but am still restricted as to what knives I can carry.
It was W.T. Sherman, not Dr. Johnson, talking about Texas.
So stupid. I work with people who know about a dozen different ways to kill you with a paper clip.
Was it a 5” Cold Steel locking Tanto blade? Or a 5” Gerber locking dagger-bladed Applegate-Fairbairn? Or a 1.25” Swiss Army pen knife?
I lived in NYC for decades, and I'm still in and out constantly, subways included, and often clip a one-hand-opening knife with about a 4" blade to my belt. No one has ever looked at me twice.
And such is the specialization of labor in NYC that I'll bet it's been 40 years since a white person has attacked someone with a knife there. I guess the NYPD needed some collars to show the limp-wristed mayor—who has other men carry the knives for him—that his latest program is a genuine crime-fighting measure. It goes nicely with his campaign against over-large sodas.
I followed the link and saw the kid's picture. The last time a mild, milk-skinned, bespectacled kid with a Midwestern accent was a threat to anyone in NYC was probably, um, never. As someone who has dealt with his share of New York louts, rowdies, and thugs, I can't imagine pulling that kid from the crowd or confiscating his toothpick, never mind charging him. The City of New York actually needs many more kids like that carrying knives.
***I remember walking around with him in an extremely seedy Times Square***
Not any more! It is nice and clean with lots of life! I just got back from there three weeks ago and I had a GREAT time.
Of course I had to leave all my personal defense tools behind. That was the first time I felt safe in a big city, but was still on alert for anything out of the ordinary.
I wonder if assisted opening knives are exempt. I have been carrying a Kershaw Assisted opening knife for years. You have to push the release on the bottom of the blade. It will NOT open by flicking the wrist. It is only about 2 3/8” but I never leave the house without it. Also Have a 3.5’ Buck folding knife. The Kershaw is so much easier for us crips with bad appendages.
In short, blame the brass, not the cops on the streets.
Just to get a bit pedantic for a moment ... if you have to flick it to open the blade, it’s not a “gravity knife”. You might call it a “momentum knife”, or a “flick knife” — but, unless the blade opens when you simply hold it a certain way, it’s not a “gravity knife”.
It would be interesting to see how the law is written. A strong enough “flick” could impart enough momentum to cause any blade to open — or at least any blade held in place by a spring, rather than a catch of some sort. It took the cops several tries to get the knife to open by “gravity” (flicking) — if I were the one charged, I’d have asked the judge to try to open it by “gravity”. Then I’d ask him to open it by pulling the blade out. If the judge had a hard time opening it with “gravity”, I’d ask him to rule that the knife was not a gravity knife.
Regardless of the ruling — the law is still asinine.
Oh absolutely. I’ve been there many times since Rudy cleaned it up. Fun to visit - if only the hotel rooms weren’t microscopic and just a tad pricey.
I got this thing from Pakistan ~ a regular old pig sticker even though they don’t do pig sticking. It folds up ~ about 8 inches long then. Can slaughter a sheep in seconds.
About twenty five years ago I was in Central City, Colorado. We were visiting the town while camping in the area. I was walking down the street when a cop grabbed my shoulder while pulling my hunting knife from it’s belt sheath. Apparently it was illegal to open carry a knife in town.
The cop did use his discretion and just let me return it to my vehicle, but did warn me that the local judge would have fined me if I went before him.
Surprised the hell out of me; back home I had no trouble carrying a revolver down the street on my hip and into the bank.
The problem is not with switch blades because they are defined by the spring mechanism that opens the blade. The problem is gravity knives, which are defined, by statute, as follows: “Gravity knife” means any knife which has a blade which is released from the handle or sheath thereof by the force of gravity or the application of centrifugal force which, when released, is locked in place by means of a button, spring, lever or other device. (Penal Law §265.00(5))
A typical Boy Scout pocket knife, Swiss Army Knife, or similar type jack knife is not a gravity knife because the blade is opened from the handle, not by gravity or centrifugal force, but by prying the blade open using a fingernail and a grove in the side of a blade. Even the dumbest cop knows this is not a gravity knife. The problem is with pocket knives that have a thumb spur on the blade that is used to manually remove the blade from the handle often with the assistance of a flip of the wrist (centrifugal force) once the blade has been partially opened from the handle using the thumb spur. There are several court decisions that have already ruled that this type of knife is not a gravity knife because the blade is not released from the handle — and cannot be released from the handle — solely by use of gravity of centrifugal force and most importantly, the blade can be completely removed from the handle solely by use of the thumb spur.
I suspect the kid's knife has a thumb spur. When the cop was unable to open the bla solely by gravity or centrifugal force, he accidently on purpose used the thumb spur as he flipped his wrist to open the blade and then illegaly arrested the kid for possessing a legal knife. If he had the time and money to fight the charges, then he would have been convicted by some low-life, liberal hack, who calls herself a judge, who would have sentenced him to a year in jail (Riker's Island) if only because he had the nerve to stand up for his rights and reject the plea offer. A year or two down the road, an appellate court would have overturned his conviction at a cost of $30,000 to $40,000 or more in legal fees and expenses. Sure, he could sue the City and police officers for violating his civil rights and he would probably win big bucks, but in my opinion, a year or two in a NYC jail is not worth it when offered a plea baragin like he was offered.
I’ll bet the real reason the system, from the cop to the court, dumped on the kid was to “teach that bible thumping clinger a real lesson.”
I worked in Manhattan for a lotta years. Its funny how folks there reacted to me when they found out I was actually from PA and couldn’t wait to get out of the city every night.
Just a personal observation.
By this standard "flicking the knife open and locking into place" ANY lockback folder is effectively a "gravity" knife. I can open just about any folder by rotating the knife about its pivot pin, and stopping. The blade continues and locks open.
A list of gravity knives (among those I own):
NYC liberal sesspool.
If I understand the article correctly, the kid had his knife in his pocket but hooked on the outer flap so that the eagle-eyed (and obviously underemployed) cop saw it. The kid wasn’t fooling around with his knife. A smart cop could have said: Hey, kid, I’m confiscating your knife. I wonder if he had to make so many arrests that day. Honestly, it’s like an episode of Car 54.
A lot of our NY cops are fat and lazy (as well as incredibly short). I’m sorry to say that but it is true. You can’t get into a Dunkin’ Donuts because of the sea of blue. Of course, I think the article states that it was a plain clothes cop. And yes, I think, it was easier to arrest an eagle scout rather than some out-of-control homeless guy.
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