On this Thanksgiving, one New York citizen is giving thanks to Knife Rights Foundation for a holiday without the threat of a year in jail hanging over his head.

The New Yorker, whose name is being withheld to prevent possible harassment, said, "words cannot express my thanks to Knife Rights Foundation for coming to my aid and helping me gain a measure of justice when things looked pretty bleak for me."

"Knife Rights is pleased that our legal team's first foray against New York County District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. is resulting in dismissal of charges against a wrongly accused citizen," said Knife Rights Foundation chairman Doug Ritter.

Charges against the defendant, who was carrying a Gerber one-hand opening pocketknife used daily in his work, were resolved with an Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal (ACD) in the first case in which Knife Rights Foundation lent its assistance. This citizen originally faced up to one year in jail and a criminal record which could have jeopardized his professional license and livelihood. Until the Knife Rights legal team became involved in his defense, an ACD had not been offered, even though it had been sought. After Knife Rights' research and legal arguments were stated in an extensive brief, the DA offered the ACD rather than proceed with prosecution of the case. A typical ACD results in dismissal of a case after passage of a brief period of time and satisfaction of certain conditions (often a brief period of community service), and that was the result in this first case.

Knife Rights Foundation denounces the DA's continuing expenditure of scarce time and taxpayer dollars to prosecute innocent citizens carrying perfectly legal pocketknives. "Police and prosecutors ought to be focused on real criminals who threaten the safety and livelihood of hardworking taxpayers," said Ritter.

Due to their practicality and added safety, one-hand opening pocketknives represent 80% of the pocketknives sold in America today and were specifically excluded from being considered a gravity knife or switchblade by a bipartisan act of Congress in 2009. Ritter also noted that "New York's statutes prohibiting gravity knives and switchblades clearly do not cover these popular tools." A recent ruling by a Federal District Court in New York made this clear and pointed out that arrests for mere possession of such knives would have the unintended consequence of "transform[ing] thousands of honest mechanics into criminals, subject to arrest at the whim of any police officer" (United States v Irizzary).

"At least through the efforts of Knife Rights, this honest citizen will not have a criminal record to besmirch his good name and can enjoy a truly thankful Thanksgiving with his friends and family."

"Clearly, we'd prefer to take a case to trial where we feel confident we will win on merit. Just as clearly, the DA doesn't want to us to establish clear legal precedent and the ACD was tantamount to an admission that he had no real case against the defendant, just as he hasn't a case against the thousands of honest citizens that the police are wrongfully arresting for carrying lawful pocketknives," said Ritter.

Sooner or later, however, the legal issue is going to be heard by a court and the DA's perversion of New York law and persecution of innocent citizens, along with his waste of taxpayers' funds, will end. Knife Rights Foundation is expanding its efforts to aid law-abiding citizens and businesses caught up in the DA Vance's unfortunate persecution of these lawful tools.

Knife Rights Foundation is available to assist honest citizens or businesses targeted in DA Vance's illegitimate effort to proscribe perfectly legal pocketknives. Those arrested for possession of a so-called "illegal knife" in New York can contact Knife Rights at nycity@KnifeRights.org or 866-889-6268.

Knife Rights Foundation has launched the Sharper Future Legal Defense Fund™ to fight these civil rights violations by DA Vance. Tax-deductible donations are accepted at www.KnifeRights.org that others may be helped.

Knife Rights Foundation is a grassroots non-profit foundation working towards a Sharper Future™ for all Americans. The Foundation encourages safe and responsible use of knives as tools, provides educational resources and defends and advances knife owner civil rights through litigation when necessary.

Download Knife Rights Press Release:
www.KnifeRights.org/Knife Rights Press Release 11242010.pdf

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ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! ALERT!

If you are a retailer or individual who finds yourself targeted for the sale or possession of so-called illegal knives (one-hand opening and assisted opening knives), we urge you to immediately contact Knife Rights at: nycity@KnifeRights.org or toll-free: 1-866-889-6268. You have a constitutional right to seek help and counsel.

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Make a Contribution to our fight against the DA's assault on our pocket knives: http://bit.ly/fj9fxE

Join or Renew your Knife Rights membership today! http://bit.ly/2QEVMP

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I hadn't seen this story. Thank you, Doug!

Doug,
One thing I've been meaning to ask - How have the DAs of the other 4 counties in the city acted RE this? They doing the same, or is this a Vance Jr only thing?

They have not yet made it the "crusade" that Vance has. Having said that, honest folks are still being arrested in the other four boroughs on the same trumped-up charges.

Living in Queens, this obviously distresses me

A key to not being arrested, at this point, is to be sure you DO NOT carry a knife clipped to your pocket in NYC. That is the "probable cause" of almost all the arrests we are seeing that involve no other "criminal activity." Whether that is legally probable cause is another issue entirely that has gone both ways in lower court rulings.

leatherman is a BIT bulky in my pocket - sigh, I have to get out of NYC, but SWMBO....

Of course the DA prosecution is absurd, and I'm glad for the conclusion BUT "the ACD was tantamount to an admission that he had no real case against the defendant" doesn't sound quite accurate. An ACD in NY usually means the parties have simply come to an agreement to settle things without any final resolution. Kind of a Gentleman's Agreement that if the defendant keeps his or her nose clean for a year, everything will be forgiven and the case is expunged from any kind of record. If is not an admission that the City had no case.

I think you missed a very critical point. The ACD was previously requested and not offered prior to Knife Rights getting involved. After we submitted our extensive brief, they changed their tune. You can view it however you want, but it is clear to us that there was no case and the DA didn't want to go to trial because he was going to lose and set a bad precedent.

An ACD isn't technically an admission by the DA to anything, clearly, but that doesn't prevent us from drawing obvious conclusions. 1+1 still equals 2

Doug, Good Work. Is that legal brief available on-line?

No, for obviously reasons it is considered proprietary for now.

It is unfortunate that New York is indulging in irresponsible application of a non existent law.

Canada is slightly different in some respects.

The Criminal Code specifically states that gravity, mechanical activated, punch knives, etc are deemed prohibited weapons.

There is much rumor about a rule of thumb utilised by the police that a knife must have a 3" long blade or less. However, this is just a rule of thumb. As Canada is comprised of such diverse regions it would be almost impossible to enforce.

Here is some of what I have learned or discovered over the years in Canada:

1) Do not behave like a fool. Always conduct yourself as though you are being watched. If you do not act irresponsibly there is no reason to believe you are a threat.

2) Respect those spaces not your own. On more than one occasion I have wondered onto a site where the floor manager has requested that I surrender my utility knife (to pickup later) or do not bring it into the space. Although inconvenient, I do my best to comply.

3) Your knife must be on display (in my case attached to my belt on the right side). LEO(s) must be able to see it otherwise it will deemed a concealed weapon.

4) Don’t bring a machete to an urban area, unless you are chopping down vegetation. The police take a dim view of this.

5) Finally, if the LEO attending a scene deems that the knife constitutes a threat you must surrender it.

I forgot, this is my first post. Hello everyone.

Thanks for this advice. I go into the city quite often, and I always have a knife clipped to my pants pocket. I need to be better about dropping it IN to the pocket before going into NYC.

BTW, any thoughts on the consequences of them finding an assisted opening folding knife in my bag during one of the "random bag checks" before getting on a subway or the LIRR?

I cannot speak to the LIRR. The DA and the NYPD, acting as his surrogates, are treating just about any one-hand opening lock-blade knife as a gravity knife and any assisted opener as a switchblade.

After your arrest, please contact Knife Rights immediately. <no g>