A close friend of mine recently returned from visiting the St. Louis Arch minus one Buck Rush knife. Apparantly, one of the employees considered it a switchblade and confiscated the knife. He has spent countless hours trying to recover a knife that could bought at the local Wal-mart. When they indicated that it would be taken...he wasn't allowed to take the knife back and not enter. <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> Who are these people? Why are Americans letting this take place? The short version is that he now has to pay a fine and have a record because some high-school girl freaked out about seeing a knife that does not violate any federal statue for pocket carry. Also, found out that the Park ranger openly admits to trying to get manufactures to quit making these knives...hmm seems like the founding fathers already worked that out. Contact your congressmen..or woman! Get them to create a bill, make a law, get it voted on...These vigilante do gooders are really getting on my nerves. Sorry for the rant, but come on!!!!
It really burns me up.

My friend was planning on fighting..but after reviewing the statues, it seems that many states have outlawed the particluar knifes...Oklahoma of course has not, but I am sure it on it's way in some pork added to a bill that we will never get to vote on...but the real reason is that he did not relish splitting hairs with a federal judge. You see the federal statue says that it would be excluded from being considered a weapon with a blade of "Less than" 2 1/2 inches...the Buck Rush is marketed with a blade length of 2 1/2 inches. So he might have continued in his quest for justice had the statue been written with the words "less than or equal to".

He's a regular lurker on the forum..Here's to you Bulldog for taking your lumps and for providing me the warning to leave the Buck Rush at home next time I visit a Federal Park or facility.

Still burns me up. <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

I visited the St. Louis Arch not too long ago (late 2004) and remember there were concrete barricades and Humvees surrounding the property, metal detectors at the entrance, and armed rangers standing nearby.

Seeing that the Buck was not only 2.5 inches in blade length but also an assisted-opening knife probably didn't help matters. Just curious, but you mentioned in your message that someone saw the knife and was alarmed -- was this the reason it was confiscated or was it at the metal detector?

National Parks (DOI) seem to be pretty strict about weapons, while National Forests (USDA) are more relaxed. Supposedly that's to allow for National Parks to retain their original wild qualities and accomodate hordes of tourists in a controlled (read: perceived "safe") setting.

What's too bad is that the NPS didn't allow your friend to turn around and leave minus a citation, or give the option to put his knife into an envelope and label it for his exit from the grounds (similar to the TSA). Then again, the NPS probably doesn't want to have to deal with the legal complications of holding people's possessions for them.

Best of luck to your friend and it's a good suggestion of yours to write our Congressmen and -women.

BTW - The NPS weapons regulations page currently has no information, it says it's being "updated":
http://www.nps.gov/pub_aff/e-mail/weapons.htm

I think it's absurd that he wasn't allowed to take the knife back to his vehicle. Were her jackboots nice and shiny? <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

I agree that the situation stinks but this is why I make sure I know the laws of the land I am visiting and if I don't then I don't take chances. I have nightmares about driving through some small town where I don't know they have some unusual local law regarding knives and I am stopped and my Sebenza is confiscated and when I go to pick it up from the police station later that day they know nothing of the incident. <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> Texas is a great place to live for knife owners with our generous 5.5" blade length restiction but even in Texas there are a lot of cities with tighter restrictions.

By the way... Isn't this more of a Campfire topic?

Couple of comments:

1) This probably belongs in the "Around The Campfire" forum.

2) It seems a little unclear what happened. The comment about the girl freaking out makes me curiuos about the circumstances around the incident.

3) I'm not real familiar with that particular knife, but it does appear many dealers are selling it under the switchblade catagory and certainly it claims to have some sort of assisted open. If switchblades are indeed against the rules there and the knife in question *appears* to be a switchblade, I'm not sure what you expected.

4) Typically, not knowing the rules isn't considered a defense.

5) There is a difference between agreeing with the rules and following the rules.

For example, a while ago my wife and I were planning a vacation and I wanted to visit Mt. St. Helens National Monument. There are various trails around there that I thought would be fun visit. However, I noted that dogs were not allowed anywhere but in the parking lot. As a result, I skipped the trails and had to be content with the view from the parking lot. Certainly I could have ignored the rule - however, if I was caught I would feel obliged to take my lumps.

I'm not trying to be unsympathetic, and certainly, there are a lot of rules I don't agree with, many them revolving around dogs and weapons! :-) But it is up to you to know them and decide if you are going to follow them.

-john

Well I figured that it related more to the problems surrounding everyday carry alot more than the entire discussion surrounding the Henry Rifle. Not that I mind reading about that, but I just wanted to alert everyone that it seems the Federal employees working at these parks don't even know the rules.

As I replied to Brian..I felt that this topic was as relevant for this forum as the discussion surrounding the Henry Rifle..at least it relates to EDC.

The girl in question is a federal employee who upon seeing the knife in the plastic tray as my friend went through the metal detector, picked it up opened it and exclaimed.."We've got a switchblade...obviously she didn't have a clue about it.

He did know the rules..Federal law permits blade lenghts up to 2 1/2 inches..the knife in question is permissible under federal law...but the federal employees obviously aren't required to know the law.

Just thought others might want to know.

"The short version is that he now has to pay a fine and have a record because some high-school girl freaked out about seeing a knife that does not violate any federal statue for pocket carry."

The fine is probably trivial. More serious IMO is this talk about a "record". If this is considered a criminal violation then I suggest he get an attorney. It is not out of the realm of possibility that one day your state legislature passes a law that says that anyone convicted (read "who pleads guilty") to a weapons violation is prohibited forever from carrying a concealed weapon. Then your buddy is out of luck.

Odds are an attorney will be able to plea bargain it down or maybe even make it go away entirely if the prosecutor decides it isn't worth pursuing.

Regards, Vince