I don't own an assisted opener, but I looked at some of the Kershaw models in a local store. To each his own, but I think the assist detracts from the knife rather than enhancing it. The thing did open quickly, to the point of being almost scary and a wee bit dangerous IMHO. The thing that got me, was the trigger bump (for lack of a better term) could be accidently pushed while in your pocket. The result would be an inadvertant opening stab-ouchie at minimum, a bloody mess worse case.

There was a lock that would prevent the knife from triggering. You would need that for safety in your pocket. But doesn't that defeat the "speedy" purpose of an assisted opening? Pull it out of your pocket, orient it in your hand, release the lock, reorient it possibly, then use the assist.

And there's no guarrantee that what may be legal in some states today will not be illegal tomorrow. Could happen that the legislators see one of these things and realize their switchblade laws don't cover it. So they amend the laws. Oops - your previously legal knife is now illegal.

If I really needed speedy knife handling, I'd just duct tape a fixed blade to the palm of my hand (being careful to not thoughtlessly pick my nose, or let it get to the point where the call of nature made hasty action necessary).

"Assisted opening" seems like a solution in search of a problem to me. But to each his own.