NRA opposes knife ban

M

maestro pistolero

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This issue seems to be heating up. Do we really have a problem with knives? What could the motivation be for going after these knives? It sure seems that we have much bigger fish to fry.

This, in my opinion, is a 2A issue, because 2A doesn't distinguish between arms. And it shouldn't, in terms of what arms can reasonably be used for self protection, IMO. The most common arm, was a bow, sword or dagger for many thousands of years. If something were to interrupt the supply of guns or ammo, we should still have 2A protection. We ignore trends like this at our own peril.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news...er_must-read-stories-today_more_news_carousel

"Everyone from our first responders, law enforcement officials, Boy Scouts and hunters will be affected by this regulation," said Rep. Bob Latta, Ohio Republican, after the House Rules Committee rejected his bill to block the change. "It is unacceptable to think that we as citizens cannot carry a pocketknife for work or recreation purposes."

Critics of the regulation - including U.S. knife manufacturers and collectors, the National Rifle Association, sportsmen's groups and a bipartisan group of at least 79 House members - say it would rewrite U.S. law defining what constitutes a switchblade and potentially make de facto criminals of the estimated 35 million Americans who use folding knives.

Opponents are in a race against time because of the quick pace of the rule-making process - a 30-day comment period that ended Monday, followed by a 30-day implementation schedule.
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I almost wonder if this is a 'trial balloon. If a ban on certain types of knives works the next attempt could be to see what could be done to ban certain guns. Don't want it to sound like a conspiracy but I'm a bit skeptical about this administration and their goals.
 
Has anyone figured out what the point of this is yet? I've looked it up a few times, and I've found lots of explanation of the "what" but just about nothing about the "why" of it. Is it really as wide-reaching as critics claim? It had better not affect knives currently owned... I paid a crap-load of cash for my knife!

Of course, from a certain position this could be much ado about nothing. I guess we'll wait and see.
 
Wow! The anti's in the good ole' US of A are WAY ahead of the curve! It took Great Britain decades to get around to banning knives after they took everybody's guns away.
 
Has anyone figured out what the point of this is yet? I've looked it up a few times, and I've found lots of explanation of the "what" but just about nothing about the "why" of it.
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Exactly. Where is a good investigative reporter when you need one? This is the central question: Who and why? Someone is at the root of this, we need to know who.
 
As far as I can see is that they cannot be taken into the USA.

Another part said those in the USA cannot be transferred across state lines.

Does my Smith and Wesson knife with a large thumb stud to assist in opening the blade with a gloved hand a switchblade now?????

Do I as a paramedic now need to carry a fixed blade knife because that doesn't scream weapon at all????

The folder can be easily described as a tool.
 
Do I as a paramedic now need to carry a fixed blade knife because that doesn't scream weapon at all????

The folder can be easily described as a tool.
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In actuality, fixed blade knives are vastly superior to folding knives as weapons. Folding knives are necessarily weaker at the lock.
 
Exactly. Where is a good investigative reporter when you need one? This is the central question: Who and why? Someone is at the root of this, we need to know who.
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That would never work! Unless the investigative reporter concluded that the knife ban was the work of one person, acting alone, it would be called a "conspiracy theory" by all the "experts". They would sight Occam's Razor or some such to assert their superior intellect, maybe throw in a few Latin words for effect.
 
As I understand it, Customs is upset about the importation of what is known as "assisted opening" knives.

An assisted opening knife is like a cross between an ordinary pocket knife and a switchblade. Generally, the user will press on a thumbstud like on an ordinary knife, and then when the blade has opened something like 30 or 40 degrees, a spring mechanism will kick the blade the rest of the way into the fully extended and locked position.

In practice, such a knife is functionally similar to a switchblade. Instead of pressing a button on the handle of a knife, the user presses a thumbstud on the blade, which then snaps open under spring tension.

Why isn't it (federally) considered a switchblade, then?

Federal law requires a knife to open automatically with hand pressure applied to a button or other device in the handle, or through the operation of inertia and/or gravity.

Because Customs hasn't found a lawyer clever enough to successfully argue that a thumbstud on the blade is really a device in the handle, most of the major knife companies have a line of assisted opening knives. Many of these companies import them.

So, we have most major knife companies importing knives that are functionally similar to switchblades but which legally are not, which has upset Customs.

So, then, the obvious solution is for Customs to sidestep asking Congress to amend the Federal Switchblade Act, and instead take matters into their own hands by proposing a ruling which will reclassify these knives as switchblades.

There are several problems with this.

There's the doomsday scenarios about using this as a club to fine these knife companies into bankruptcy and making however many million owners of these knives insta-felons.

Furthermore, the ruling is so sloppily written that most folding knives, including slipjoints and multitools, could potentially be reclassified as switchblades.

It's a mess. However, some of our Congress critters are a bit upset about this and are threatening with amendments to deny them funding. There's also a letter with signatures of 80 representatives who are against it.
 
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