The American Knife & Tool Institute (AKTI) won a Blade Magazine 2012 Industry Achievement Award® for stellar work in the area of pro-knife legislation at the recent BLADE Show (www.bladeshow.com) in Atlanta.

    Another organization receiving a Blade Magazine 2012 Industry Achievement Award was Knife Rights, also for its efforts in protecting Americans’ right to own, use and carry knives.

    Accepting the award on behalf of AKTI was AKTI Executive Director Jan Billeb (pictured above). “It was a real pleasure to accept the Industry Achievement Award from BLADE® Magazine on behalf of the AKTI Board of Regents and all members of the American Knife & Tool Institute who have diligently worked since 1998 to ensure that our liberties to make, own or use knives or edged tools have not been further restricted, and to successfully remove knife law restrictions.  We are pleased that BLADE Magazine recognizes the achievements of our organization on behalf of the knife industry and all knife owners,” Billeb said. “There is still a lot of work to be done to make reasonable and responsible changes state by state and we appreciate the support of the entire knife community.”  

    In May, the Louisiana governor signed AKTI-supported legislation that made it clear that a knife with a bias toward closure is not an illegal switchblade. Bias-toward-closure language is a concept that has stood the test of time since AKTI introduced it in California over a decade ago, an AKTI press release reported. Several states, including Texas and Kansas, have since adopted it, as well as it being incorporated into the Federal Switchblade Act. This language clarifies that assisted-opening knives are not classified as “illegal” switchblades or gravity knives. More information about the bias-toward closure-concept and AKTI’s past successes recognized by BLADE is available at www.akti.org

    AKTI is working with legislators in South Carolina to pass pre-emption language, Pennsylvania to remove all knife restrictions, Michigan to remove the switchblade prohibition and other restrictions, Alaska to incorporate the bias-toward-closure language, as well as in several other states to remove or lessen knife restrictions.

    In an interview after the ceremony AKTI President Bill Raczkowski commented, “Thanks to BLADE Magazine for honoring AKTI with an Industry Achievement Award acknowledging the proactive efforts of our organization. Our members sincerely appreciate the many ways that BLADE Magazine and the BLADE Show help us spread the word about the importance of AKTI’s efforts to keep knives in American lives.”

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