spring-assisted knives are not switchblades/springblades.


Generally, a spring blade knife is a k... pressed[/B].



RoadsideImports LLC : Assisted Knife Laws


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I agree that with the knives available today, spring assisted opening isn't all that beneficial but it hasn't been all that many years since opening a typical pocket knife was a two handed operation.

I don't see much purpose for an assisted opening knife either. I can open my waved Endura faster than any other knife, autos included. Besides, it only takes gross motor skills - it's just a matter of puling your knife out of the pocket. Whereas with any assisted opening/auto knife you need to fiddle with a button.

Seriously, if speed is of concern, get a waved knife. As simple as that and (still) legal.

my best switchblade story---summer 1964 i'm doing the high school kid hike around Europe..i'm in the French Alps,maybe..
someplace like that--i see a knife shop..i'm looking at stuff and ask to see one of the switchblades of course..the old lady behind the counter get one out--a big one--and snaps it open..
"fishing knife"----

I removed the spring from my kershaw so there would be no grey area. I was afraid that officers or security guards who didn't share my legal opinions would confiscate it.

The real social problem with any quick opening knife is the act of showing off opening it.It's not unlike the many tricks you can perform with a Colt SAA or a martial artist getting into an exaggerated fighing stance.
By the time you've twirled your Colt, flipped the filipino butterfly or braced yourself the other person has either already shot,stabbed or drop kicked you between the goal posts.
It's a nice feature for emergency one handed opening. Otherwise, I save the mechanism undue wear and let the italian hard sausage and cheese sweat a few more minutes like Richard Widmark did in his first movies.

It seems like non-spring-assisted and spring-assisted locking knives are generally legal, provided that they aren't concealed.

It seems like a knife clipped to one's pocket or the like is not considered concealed. Is that the general consensus?

I'm always willing to add in some useless and potentialy wrong trivia to a topic like this - back in 1985-87, there was and probably still is a ban on the importation of switchblades into the US, however a one-armed person could legally import switchblades for personal use. I remember reading the reg, and was so pleased when the T/F question actually appeared on the customhouse broker's license examination the year I took it.

The other good bit from that exam had to do with cattle that roamed across a free range border were not considered illegally imported. I could imagine a smart rancher setting up his operations uphill on the Canadian side, and letting his cattle go down to the slaughterhouse under their own power.

There is the apocryphal and probably wrong story about my grandfather, who made it part of his business to import whiskey during prohibition, by rolling barrels of the stuff downhill from Canada somewhere near Buffalo. But I already digress from the switchblade topic...

Probably this varies by state. In Colorado, "a knife" is defined as something with a blade over 3-1/2", so you don't have to worry about carrying blades smaller than this, either concealed or not (but I don't know about short-bladed "assisted opening" knives - they may be different). There are exceptions to this blade length for hunting, fixed blades, etc., but 3-1/2" is about the biggest practical pocket knife so I just stick with that so I don't have to worry about it. The bigger blades do better in sheaths or holsters anyway, IMHO.

Somewhere I remember reading a piece about how a cowboy saw a switchblade and bought it on a whim. Late getting home he was at full gallop on his horse when he was reminded of it when he heard a slight click and pressure in his pocket.

Bouncing vigorously up and down on a horse with a pointy piece of steel wedged firmly into your crotch, according to his account, isn't a good thing. Made for a good story as I remember it.

Safety can be a concern when a knife is designed to open automatically at the touch of a button.