No offence Mr Ritter; but your post reeks of a smear.
Lots of 'appears to be', and 'reported'.
Did this happen or not? If it did; please say so.
Name one company and say they have been (not 'reported to' be or 'appears to have been') shaken down.
This has been a bad week for right wing claims of government shakedowns. So you'll understand me being sceptical. Is this a 'shakedown' like the PHRASECENSOREDPOSTERSHOULDKNOWBETTER. claim the 20 billion GP has to put aside to compensate oil spill victims is a 'shakedown' for a white house 'slush fund'.
Ie nothing of the kind.
The Sock

Oh and the PHRASECENSOREDPOSTERSHOULDKNOWBETTER was the name of a political party beginning with 'D'. Not profanity.
The Sock

Sorry I meant a political party beginning with 'R'. Be patient with me. Head full of a cold so I'm not firing on all cylinders.
I'll drop out of this thread now; I'm obviously not up to contributing properly.
The morale of this story is: when you've filled your jacket pockets with survival gear, don't then leave it on the train and catch a cold!
The Sock

We need to install mandatory provisions requiring anyone who seeks to ban anything to prove that a ban is necessary, feasible, and that it would work with no 'unintended consequences'. They should also have to produce a third party economic impact statement. All major bans and prohibitions in the past have been proven failures and have only increased crime wth no loss of ability to obtain the banned item.

Folks, I recognize that this is an emotional issue and it does involve politics because that's one aspect of how this is developing, but I'd appreciate it if we could stick to the direct issues here and not go off on political rants, which is a different thing entirely.

We can discuss the issues without rants and getting into wider issues.

Thanks much.

Mr Ritter,

I am actually quite interested, since you are in the trenches with this struggle, on the thought processes involved amongst the opposition. Surely some of the features or operating principles of these knives and their subtle differences must not escape those that seek to outlaw them.
How do they justify some of the illogical and inconsistent arguments they propose?
I suppose the most pressing one is, what really differentiates a knife of the folding variety, regardless of the opening principles, from a fixed blade knife of similar dimensions?
That is something I have never been able to fathom.
If a knife opens in a tenth of a second that is hardly much different than just whipping out a fixed blade. Why all the hoopla about such things when it would be much easier say, to just pass a law saying that within a certain jurisdiction, all single edged knife blades of greater than 4" are banned for concealed carry.
It would seem that it would be much easier for law enforcement officers as well as the general public to comply with such rules than the current maze of rules and regulations.
I carry a knife every day. Prior to the post 9-11 paranoia, I would keep my Swiss Army Knife in my pocket in all international and domestic flights with nary a problem. The very idea of attempting to use such a knife in any kind of offensive or even defensive action is ludicrous, the blade would probably snap. Surely there are logical and scientific methods that could be employed to educate those in the opposition who are rational and not motivated by fear. I know how difficult it is to reason with someone with a phobia.
As much as I use my knives all the time, I would rather not have to face prosecution, especially when, if you knew me, how ridiculous is the thought of me engaging in any kind of mano a mano combat.

So, if I understand correctly, that Ka-bar folding knife I have in my car, which locks open, is illegal in NY State?

The knife in question is the kabar dozier folding hunter. Seems to be illegal, as I read the comments in this thread.

All I can say, without resorting to vulgarity, is WTF!

If Bloomberg is suing people for selling knives like this, it's beyond ridiculous.

Tim

The law is outrageous. I am all for states rights, but I am not sure states should be able to make laws reducing liberty. I see laws against certain knives as about the same as seat-belt laws and helmet laws. It is already a crime to assault someone so specific tools do not need regulation.

That being said, NY has its own definition of a switchblade. As you said, it does not match the federal definition. In Massachusetts, a Firearm is defined to mean a handgun. In MA, a rifle is not a firearm! Go figure. States have their own definitions of things. They are allowed to though.

While this law should be overturned and certainly not enforced, I think I am going to disagree the knives in question don't meet the NY definition of switchblade.

Here is the law:



An assisted opening torsion knife does have a blade which opens automatically by hand pressure applied to a device or spring in the handle of the knife. When you push the tab on the blade (which I agree is not a button), you apply hand pressure to the spring. And a blade might even qualify as a device.

Also, most locking pocket knives meet their definition of a gravity knife.

You may disagree, but I can assure you that an assisted opening knife does NOT meet the NY definition of a switchblade and I am not aware of a single instance where there was competent legal representation where it was found to be otherwise in numerous instances in many states with similar or identical language. Moreover, there are a myriad of other related issues which are involved that also preclude the assisted openers being considered switchlades. Knife Rights has the preeminent legal team in the country, in terms of knife law, working on this. Trust me when I tell you the DA doesn't have a leg to stand on in this regard. More soon...

Doug,

From just looking at the slide show of pics put together by the DA, I would think safety of the user comes into play. I noticed the typical box-cutter, that is in every tool kit in America, pictured and would think if you take the one handed blade deployment away, that most of the time they would be left in the open position between cuts and there you go with an important safety consideration. And even tossed back into the tool box in the open position.

While the DA in NYC might not be able to relate to me being able to cut a rope on a horse in a panic situation with one hand, he should be able to picture someone cutting up some carpet or whatever that requires two hands and putting the open knife down between cuts.