That’s one of about 50 definitions of a bowie knife.
Check this out. http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=168603
Post 8 is especially interesting.
If guys on a knife forum, who seem to have some expertise cannot agree on a common definition, how can a law possibly be written to give police and prosecutors a leg to stand on and limit the citizenry thereof?
The actual “Bowie” knife is lost to history but is rumored to be more of a small sword with an 18” or so blade. Thus, the law should be more tightly defined.
I have an OLD WEST (or True West, Frontier times) magazine with an article on the SMITHWICK BOWIE. It is claimed to be taken from the original pattern for the first Bowie knife.
The handle is six inches long, the blade is 11 inches long, 2 inches wide with a “clip” on the point of the blade. A simple flat hilt. Nothing fancy like many of the Bowie knives made for movies.
I made a couple of them for myself, they are heavier than a .44 Mag pistol, so I made another from an old machete blade. Much lighter.
I think the Arkansas Toothpick would be a more “agressive” knife. Looks much like a sykes fairbairn dagger of WWII.