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BLADE Show Welcomes New Pro-Knife Law

Steve Shackleford
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BLADE Show Welcomes New Pro-Knife Law
new pro-knife bill signed
A new pro-knife law expands the blade-length limit for knife carry in Georgia, home of the BLADE Show, to 12 inches. Jerry Fisk’s bowie features a damascus blade and stag handle. (Chuck Ward image)

A new pro-knife law signed into law this week in Georgia comes just in time for the 36th Annual BLADE Show.

Signed May 8 by Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, the new pro-knife law (HB 292) increases the legal carry length of a knife blade in the state from 5 to 12 inches.

“With the BLADE Show coming up June 2-4, attendees and exhibitors will have more freedom to carry their larger knives without fear of legal entanglements,” Knife Rights reported. It is language from Knife Rights’ Georgia Knife Law Reform bill, SB 49, that is included in the new pro-knife law.

Held annually in the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, the BLADE Show is the world’s largest and most important knife show and will feature over 1,000 exhibitors from every continent but Antarctica. Thousands of patrons worldwide will invade the Cobb Galleria show hall to enjoy the latest in factory and custom knives, knife collections, knife instruction via the show’s 4th Annual BLADE University, knife demos, the BLADE Magazine Knife-Of-The-Year® Awards, the BLADE Show custom knife awards, inductions into the BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall Of Fame© and much more. As such, the passage of the new pro-knife law is most welcome news for show exhibitors who sell larger knives like bowies, camp knives, combat knives and other models that fit within the new expanded length restrictions.

The new 12-inch length limit became effective as soon as Deal signed the bill. Since Georgia passed Knife Rights’ Knife Law Preemption in 2012, any lesser length restrictions in cities and towns are now voided by HB 292. Moreover, neither can local jurisdictions enact prohibitions more restrictive than those in the new pro-knife law.

The BLADE Show and blademag.com express their gratitude to such organizations as Knife Rights, the American Knife & Tool Institute and others that fight for common-sense knife legislation. Both organizations will be among the exhibitors at the BLADE Show and blademag.com encourages you to stop by the booths of each for more information on how to protect your right to own and carry knives.

 

Save Legal Ivory & Mammoth Ivory Now!

Steve Shackleford
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Save Legal Ivory & Mammoth Ivory Now!
Ancient walrus tusk handle.
Kevin Casey uses ancient walrus tusk for the handle of his knife. (SharpByCoop image)

Your help is needed to derail bills designed to ban not only ivory but also mammoth ivory—the latter ivory from animals extinct for thousands of years—that are pending in several states. Meanwhile, your support is needed for a federal bill (HR 697) that would effectively end U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s draconian moratorium on the sale and trade of legal ivory and also assist anti-poaching efforts in countries with elephant populations. (For more on the latter, visit http://elephantprotection.org/app/write-a-letter)

Hawaii, Maryland (HB713), Iowa (SF 30), Oklahoma (HB1787) and California (AB96) are all considering legislation that would or could be used to ban both ivory and mammoth ivory, and four bills are pending in Connecticut that could do the same. The penalties for violating any of the state bans if they were to pass run anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000 in fines up to classifying as felonies.

Meanwhile, a house bill in Washington (HB1131) eliminated mammoth from the definition of ivory, though the bill (SB5241) has yet to pass the state’s senate.

For more on these laws and what you can do to protect your right to sell legal ivory and mammoth ivory, including your knives with handles of the materials, visit elephantprotection.org.

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See the latest knives, swords, and edges of all types, and explore the latest trends in blades, steels, styles, and materials. Gaze upon a “State of the Art” section parading engraved, scrimshawed, jewel-inlaid, carved, etched, sculpted and forge-welded, and Damascus and mosaic-damascus knives. Click here.

NYC Anti-Knife Ruling Has Disastrous Implications

Steve Shackleford
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People falsely arrested or threatened with arrest cannot sue in a federal lawsuit against New York City and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., according to a Wednesday anti-knife ruling by a U.S. District Court Judge.

If not overturned, a Knife Rights (KR) news release reported, the anti-knife ruling could have wide-ranging effects on knife enthusiasts throughout the USA, including re-classifying legal knives as illegal “gravity knives” and/or “switchblades.”

Judge Katherine B. Forrest ruled plaintiffs falsely arrested or threatened with arrest over “common pocketknives” cannot sue in part because the case documents don’t specify which knives would be illegal under NYC’s interpretation of New York state law—this despite the fact NYC’s inability to specify legal and illegal knives on a consistent basis is the exact reason the case documents cannot specify which knives are legal and which knives are not!

For the purposes of the case in question, “common pocket knife” is a legal term that covers knives with locking blades and a bias towards closure, KR’s Doug Ritter noted. As such, the legal term does NOT include traditional pocketknives in trapper, whittler, stockman and other old-time patterns.

The ruling is in response to a suit brought on June 9, 2011, by Knife Rights, Inc., John Copeland, Pedro Perez, Native Leather, Ltd., and Knife Rights Foundation, Inc., against D.A. Vance and the city of New York. The plaintiffs allege that the defendants’ “application of New York Penal Law 265.01’s prohibition on the possession of switchblade knives and gravity knives to possessors of common folding knives makes 265.01 void for vagueness under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”

Meanwhile, as KR reported, thousands of citizens in NYC have been arrested on “illegal” knife charges. “In at least one instance of which we are aware,” a KR release stated, “the result of the bogus arrest was that the victim’s entire knife collection was confiscated from his home,” adding that gun owners have had their firearms confiscated based on bogus knife arrests, too.

For information on how to fight Forrest’s outlandish ruling, visit www.kniferights.org.

For the latest on knives and knife news, stay tuned to www.blademag.com (www.blademag.com).

Knife News Wire 3/12/18 – Experiment: An Entire Month Without a Knife?

BLADE Staff
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Knife News Wire 3/12/18 – Experiment: An Entire Month Without a Knife?

no knives for a day

Experiment: An Entire Month Without a Knife?

Roger Barnes, of BC Cutlery Co., is running an experiment. He’s seeing what would happen if he went an entire month without using a knife, and he’s documenting the hurdles he comes across.

It’s an interesting thing to think about. Whether you use a knife or not, the conveniences that make modern living possible are grounded in a blade turning one thing into two things.

BLADE will be following Barnes as he plays out his experiment over the coming weeks, and summing everything up in an article. You can follow along, too, on Twitter.

Photographer Documents What Happens When Knifemaking Leaves Town

Jason Koxvold is a photographer who set out to document the decline of the cutlery industry in the Hudson Valley of New York, which for 150 years formed the bulk of that region’s economy. The result is KNIVES, a photo gallery depicting the fallout.

From Koxvold’s website:

KNIVES is a project made over several years, using documentary photography to trace the shifting relationships between masculinity, myth, and violence in a rural town whose economic base remains eviscerated by globalisation.

The cutlery industry formed the economic backbone of New York’s Hudson Valley for over 150 years, until the Schrade knife factory abruptly moved production to China in 2004, leaving 500 men and women out of work. The town’s maximum security prison, Eastern Correctional Facility, became the largest employer in the area, shielded from the wider community by layers of secrecy. As businesses continued to close during the decade that followed, drug abuse, mental disorders, and rare cancers have become more widespread.

 

Koxvold’s work is less about the knife industry in general and more about the disruptive effects of a changing global economy on certain parts of the United States. Still, it’s worth a look for knife enthusiasts, if only to better understand how knives fit into the bigger picture.

See the photos here.

(Video info: Jason Koxvold: KNIVES from Elijah Barrett on Vimeo.)

Update on Canada Knife Ban

Canada banned most imports of folding knives earlier this year, and the larger knife community is not taking things laying down.

Here’s where the issue stands. Click a link to learn more.

1) It’s still legal to own a folding knife in Canada. Only imports of knives that open with “centrifugal force” are banned (meaning most folders).

2) A petition in Canada to overturn the ban is gathering steam, and has support from an MP.

3) A prominent lawyer in Canada plans to challenge the ban on constitutional grounds.

4) U.S. groups are organizing to support those efforts in Canada, albeit from a distance.

If this is the first time you’ve heard about this ban, start here.

BLADE also received feedback on social media from knife enthusiasts about this important issue. Here are a few highlights.

canada folding knife ban

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    Claim Gray’s Knife Illegal Appears False

    Steve Shackleford
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    Claim Gray’s Knife Illegal Appears False
    CRKT assisted opener
    An arresting officer claims Freddie Gray’s assisted-opening knife was illegal but state and city law say otherwise. The CRKT Mini My Tighe is an assisted opener.

    A claim by one of the Baltimore police officers who arrested Freddie Gray that Gray was arrested because he was carrying an illegal knife appears to be baseless, according to interpretations of Maryland and Baltimore knife laws provided by Knife Rights.

    Gray died while in police custody and his death prompted the recent Baltimore riots. The six arresting officers are on trial for his death on an array of charges, including that they unlawfully arrested Gray. However, one of the officers, Edward Nero, said the arrest was lawful because Gray was carrying an illegal knife.

    Court documents state the knife was a “spring-assisted, one-hand-operated knife,” otherwise known as an assisted opener. In an assisted opener, the blade must be opened part way manually before the spring assist engages and opens the blade the rest of the way.

    Marc Zayon, Nero’s attorney, argued in a motion filed Monday that Gray’s knife is illegal under state law. He said Maryland law defines a knife as unlawful if it opens automatically by pushing a button, spring or other device in the handle—in other words, an automatic, aka a switchblade. However, according to Knife Rights, while Maryland law prohibits concealed carry of switchblades, open carry and possession are not illegal. Court documents indicate the knife was visibly clipped to Gray’s pocket, so the knife was not concealed. Nonetheless, even if the knife was concealed, it is an assisted opener, not a switchblade.

    According to Knife Rights, Baltimore’s city code bans the sale, carry or possession of “any knife with an automatic spring or other device for opening and/or closing the blade, commonly known as a switch-blade knife.” To include an assisted opener under this part of the city’s code would “conflict with virtually all other switchblade definitions throughout the country,” Knife Rights noted.

    The latest issue of BLADE is on newsstands now!Recommended:

    Stay abreast of the latest developments on this and many more knife rights issues with a subscription to BLADE.

    Washington Governor Signs Pro-Knife Bill Into Law

    Steve Shackleford
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    The SOG-TAC Mini-Auto from SOG Specialty Knives & Tools is one of many knives that will benefit from the new Washington pro-knife bill. (SOG Specialty Knives & Tools photo)

    Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire signed HB2347 into law Thursday, March 29, at a signing ceremony at the state capitol. This important legislation makes Washington state more friendly to knife owners and manufacturers by clarifying the definition of so-called “spring blade” knives (automatics/switchblades) so as to clearly make assisted-opening knives legal in the state.

        The clarification allows for both sale and manufacture of assisted-opening knives in Washington. HB2347 also makes it legal to manufacture automatics in the state of Washington. In addition, it would expand the existing law enforcement exemption for possession of automatics to members of the military and full-time first responders.

        Thanks to all who called and emailed throughout the process and helped to make this happen.

        Mike Vellekamp, one of the owners of Fox Knives USA, helped spearhead the effort to get the bill passed and was on hand with the governor when she signed the bill. If it were not for Vellekamp’s initiative and hard work, things would not be moving forward for knife owners and manufacturers in the state. He garnered the support of his 25th District Senator Jim Kastama and Rep. Bruce Dammeier to introduce the legislation that will benefit the state’s knife business, public safety personnel and individual knife owners.

        In testimony before the state house judiciary committee Vellekamp noted, “We need to get rid of the stigma that these are weapons and we need to start calling them tools because that’s what they are. The push for this bill is so that we can ensure the local law enforcement branches, our military and our firefighters get to use these valuable tools because when they get trapped, they need to get out. They need a tool at the ready that’s going to be there without needing another hand to open it.”

        American Knife & Tool Institute (AKTI) Advisory Member Spencer Frazer, founder of SOG Specialty Knives & Tools of Lynnwood, Washington, testified at the house judiciary committee hearing in support of HB 2347.

        “The definition of switchblade needs to be clarified, and this bill does that,” he commented regarding changes that include, “A knife that contains a spring, detent, or other mechanism designed to create a bias toward closure of the blade and that requires physical exertion applied to the blade by hand, wrist or arm to overcome the bias toward closure to assist in opening the knife is not a spring blade knife.” This is the same “bias toward closure” language that AKTI introduced and has been successfully passed in other states and incorporated in to the 2009 amendment to the Federal Switchblade Act.

        For more click on www.akti.org and www.KnifeRights.org.

    For more on the latest knives, knife legislation, knifemaking instruction, knife trends, knifemakers, what knives to buy and where and much more, subscribe to BLADE Magazine, the World’s No. 1 Knife Publication. For subscription information click on http://www.shopblade.com/product/blade-magazine-one-year-subscripti…?r+ssfb040212#BL1SU.

    Today is Deadline to Stop Proposed Ivory Ban

    Steve Shackleford
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    Today is Deadline to Stop Proposed Ivory Ban

    An all-inclusive ivory ban that would target ancient ivory such as mammoth and mastodon in addition to elephant ivory likely will pass without your help by the end of day today, Dec. 27.

    Draconian ivory ban would oust ancient ivories. (SharpByCoop photo)
    A proposed ivory ban would include ancient ivory. Kevin Casey uses ancient walrus ivory on his bowie. (SharpByCoop photo)

    A Presidential Advisory Committee that met on Dec. 16 recommends a total ban of ivory within the USA to the task force on Wildlife Trafficking. The ban would apply to the sale of all ivory in any form and include pre-ban and antique ivory in knives, guns, musical instruments, pianos with ivory keys, etc. The ban would affect collectors, makers and anyone who sells within or to the USA. The committee will file its report on Dec. 28, so any entreaties opposing the proposed ban must be e-mailed by no later than today in order to be registered and considered before the report is filed.

    The address to send your email to is [email protected]. Copy and paste the following letter—though feel free to tailor it as you see fit—to an email, and email it to the above address:

    Dear Advisory Committee,

    I stand against a total ban of all ivory sales in the USA.

    As called for in the Presidential Executive Order, I ask that the recommendations continue to allow for “legal and legitimate commerce.”

    The ivory market in the USA is stable and/or declining, and seizure records indicate that a high proportion of the seizures were personal effects lacking the correct paperwork, not the so-called blood tusks reported on by the media. The Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS) analysis indicates that the amount of ivory by weight seized annually has not increased in recent years. We are not the consumers of the poached ivory. Therefore, banning ivory sales within the USA will do nothing to save the remaining world population of elephants.

    The CITES MIKE (Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants) September 2013 report analysis, page 64, states, “Africa’s elephant populations are managed sustainably,” and that in 2013 the quote for permits for legal elephants was 1,350 animals. There is legal trade that can be monitored with DNA testing and permitting. Enforcing and policing a ban would require funds that should be used to support the ban on imports already in effect.

    I fully support CITES rules, closing international borders to elephant ivory trade, a law already in effect that should be fully supported and enforced. I stand against a total ban of all ivory commerce within U.S. borders, a decision that would be an enforcement nightmare. Like Prohibition of the 1920s, it would cause a new wave of illicit commerce where a legitimate one now exists. Museums, antique dealers, collectors, artisans and individual citizens have invested in a legal and valuable material. Sanctioned trade in ivory that is legal (culled and pre-ban) and comes from unthreatened sources (mammoth, boar, warthog, antique and recycled products) can pose no possible threat to elephant herds in the wild.

    I believe our mutual goals are the same and a solution can be reached. Please keep the focus where it belongs. To increase the elephant population, the killing must be stopped in Africa and at its borders.

    Respectfully submitted,

    ____________________________ (TYPE YOUR NAME)

     

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