The BLADE Blog w/Steve Shackleford

According to the American Knife & Tool Institute, a Pennsylvania bill has been introduced to ensure knife liberties for the citizens of the Keystone State. HB 2548 would amend Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes. If the measure passed, the current definition of “offensive weapon” would be updated, including removing switchblades—such as the Pro-Tech Stinger pictured above—as an offensive weapon.

    For over a year, AKTI officials indicated they have been working with Rep. Marc Gergley (D-35) and Jeff Pyle (R-60), and more recently with Rep. Michelle Brooks (R-17), to add Pennsylvania to the growing number of states that do not restrict knives based on their classification, for mere possession, nor allow cities to enact laws that are stricter than the state’s knife regulations.

    Dan Lawson, AKTI legal contributing counsel, has been committed to seeing his home state remove all prohibitive laws on knives, including switchblades. In proposing an amendment to Title 18 to Rep. Marc Gergley in December 2010, Lawson commented, “It may be interesting to note that there are a number of states which never adopted a switchblade prohibition. These states include Oregon, Idaho, North Dakota and Arizona. I would suggest…that there is no discernible difference in knife crime in states with extremely stringent knife laws and states with relatively lenient or no knife laws.”

    Since Nov. 28, when Rep. Michelle Brooks announced her intention to sponsor knife legislation, several other legislators have agreed to sponsor the bill, including Representatives Gergley, Pyle, Gabler, Cutler, Evankovich, Geist, Grove, Haluska, Harhai, M.K. Keller, Marshall, Metcalf, Perry and Youngblood.

    In explaining the need for the legislation, Rep. Brooks noted, “The intention here is to remove the strict prohibition of switchblades and instead require that the implement must be, ‘for the infliction of serious bodily injury [and] which serves no common lawful purpose.’ In other states where switchblades are not strictly prohibited, these implements are used for various lawful purposes. For instance, many first responders use switchblades so they can open a knife quickly with one hand. This can be critical when trying to save someone’s life by cutting a seat beat or other obstruction to an injured person.”

    For more info on the law click on http://www.akti.org/news/pennsylvania-bill-will-remove-all-knife-restrictions

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Federal Magistrate Judge Ronald Ellis has granted Knife Rights’ motion to amend its federal civil rights lawsuit against New York City and District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr.,  adding as plaintiffs New York knife retailer Native Leather and Knife Rights Foundation. Native Leather was one of the retailers originally targeted by Vance on charges of selling “illegal gravity knives and switchblades” which in reality are legal one-hand opening and assisted-opening folding knives. An example of a one-hand opener is the Timberline SOC pictured above.
 
    Native Leather, Ltd., is one of the New York retailers Vance accused of selling illegal knives. Like other retailers who were threatened with prosecution (Home Depot and Ace Hardware among them), Native Leather surrendered much of its knife inventory, made substantial monetary payments, and stopped selling a number of common pocketknives (mischaracterized by the City as “gravity knives” and “switchblades”) to avoid the DA’s wrath. Because of the vagueness and inconsistency in the way the City and DA interpret state law, Native Leather still has no definite means of determining whether the DA’s office will once again allege that its knives are illegal in the future.

    The lawsuit challenges New York City’s and District Attorney Vance’s attempt to mischaracterize the most widely-owned pocketknives in America as contraband. The case seeks a judicial determination that the New York State laws regarding “switchblades” and “gravity knives” are unconstitutionally vague as applied to these common pocketknives with a bias towards closure, including one-hand opening and assisted-opening folding knives.

    Knife Rights Chairman Doug Ritter said, “Adding Native Leather as a plaintiff allows us to provide the court with an example of a retailer victimized by DA Vance’s misinterpretation and misapplication of state law to knife retailers.”
 
    Judge Ellis’ opinion and order can be downloaded at:  http://www.KnifeRights.org/58_Opinion_and_Order.pdf
      
    “District Attorney Vance’s politically motivated assault on, and continued threat to Native Leather, a small, law-abiding retailer simply trying to make a living in New York City, is unconscionable ” said  Ritter. “I applaud Native Leather for joining our lawsuit and showing the courage of its convictions in standing up to DA Vance’s bullying tactics.
 
    “One-hand opening pocketknives are legal tools, used and carried every day by millions of law-abiding professionals, tradesmen and sportsmen for work and recreation. Shame on D.A. Vance for demonizing common tools and turning honest citizens into criminals for purely political ends.”
 
    Also added as a plaintiff is Knife Rights Foundation, Inc., which has provided valuable support for the lawsuit.
 
    The original plaintiffs remain in the case: Knife Rights, Inc. and two private citizens (John Copeland, an internationally acclaimed artist, and Pedro Perez, an artist and fine art dealer, both New York City residents). The defendants remaining are the New York County DA and the City of New York itself. Knife Rights is represented by attorney David D. Jensen, Esq. of New York.  
   
    The Memorandum of Law in Support of the Amended Complaint and a red-lined copy of the Amended Complaint can be downloaded at:  http://www.KnifeRights.org/KRvNYamendedcomplaint.pdf  
 
    For more on Knife Rights click on www.KnifeRights.org.
 

For the latest knives, knife trends, knifemakers, what knives to buy and where, knife legislation, knifemaking instruction, and much more, subscribe to BLADE® Magazine, the World’s No. 1 Knife Publication. Click on http://www.shopblade.com/blade-magazine-one-year-subscription-us/?lid=blss091012