I've never been quite sure what the supposed advantage of a 'spring assisted' knife is supposed to be. IMO most every type of folder worth having has a 'opening hole' or notch that allows it to be opened single handed about as fast as anyone could want. If you need it faster than that use a fixed blade.

One of the reasons I like the Leatherman Wave is that both main blades, differentiated by the notches ground into the back of the serrated blade, have these holes and are quite easy to get out of their holster and open in one smooth move. I always know which blade I'm flicking open because I always store the knife in the same orientation within the holster.

The Leatherman has two advantages that tend to avoid legal conflicts. First, is that it is automatically seen as more of a tool and less of a weapon. Being able to honestly state that I use it in my job only reinforces this point. Second, it has no spring action in blade opening.

Spring action of virtually any kind starts brings to mind the switchblades from the 50s street punk movies. Butterfly knives have similar bad press from the 70s low-budget martial arts movies.

Sure, people can [censored] and moan about how stupid knife laws are but anything short of objections forceful enough to actually change the law you have to deal with them. Get over it. Moderate your equipment selections and presentation to avoid scaring people and catching the eye of the law and you will likely never have a problem. Pretty much common sense and common courtesy.