Knife News Wire

Butch Vallotton’s table was abuzz with activity at last year’s BLADE Show (www.bladeshow.com). We need your help to get Georgia Knife Preemption Bill SB432 scheduled for a vote in the coming days or it will not become law.

Georgia Knife Preemption Bill SB432 must be scheduled for a vote in the coming days or it will not become law, Knife Rights reported.

    SB432 makes certain that Georgia’s knife laws are consistent throughout the state. As the home of the BLADE Show (www.bladeshow.com), this is very important to knife owners, collectors and manufacturers and means millions of dollars in business to Georgia.

    The Georgia legislature is in the final hours of the 2012 session and there are a lot of bills competing to be heard before the legislature adjourns, most likely on Thursday.

    It is critical for you to call the office of Georgia’s Speaker of the House David Ralston and POLITELY request that he “please schedule SB432 for a vote as soon as possible.” That’s all the message you need to leave.

    If you are a BLADE Show attendee, or ever plan to be, and even if you are not a Georgia resident, you have a stake in this issue…CALL TODAY!  Phone calls will have the greatest impact.

    Georgia House Speaker David Ralston: 404-656-5020 Email: [email protected]

    For more click on 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+ssfb032712#BL1SU.

Following the lead of the Federal Switchblade Act amendment of 2009, and language American Knife & Tool Institute (AKTI) officials said they successfully used first in California in 2001, Rep. Mark Neuman (R), Alaska House District 15, last year introduced clarifying “bias toward closure” language to the definition of gravity knife and switchblade in Alaska’s criminal law.

    Unfortunately, time ran out last year for the legislation to be passed.

    But as Rep. Neuman promised, he is reintroducing HB 55 this session. As Rep. Neuman states in his Sponsor Statement, “According to the American Knife and Tool Institute, there are over 35.6 million Americans who carry and use some type of utilitarian knife which opens with one hand.”  He encourages fellow legislators to recognize the importance of one-handed or assisted-opening knives in Alaska to hunters, anglers and craftsmen, and to support the definition changes to protect Alaskans’ knife rights and clarify that the knives are legal to own and use. 

    Rep. Neuman attended a presentation last fall by members of the  AKTI Board of Regents who showed him several examples of knives, answered his questions and explained the advocacy goals of the organization to protect the knife industry and all knife owners from restrictive and confusing laws. 

    Alaskans, encourage your representatives to support HB 55.  Contact them today at http://w3.legis.state.ak.us.

    To understand knife mechanisms and bias toward closure, check out www.AKTI.org/resources/additional-definitions. 

    For more information, call (307) 587-8296 or visit the American Knife & Tool Institute website at www.AKTI.org. The mailing address is 22 Vista View Lane, Cody, WY 82414-9606. Or follow AKTI at: http://www.Facebook.com/SaveOurKnives.

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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+ssfb021512#BL1SU

Kansas Rep. Gary Hayzlett has introduced HB2584 that would repeal the antiquated ban on switchblade knives and enact knife law preemption in the state, a KnifeRights news release reported. The report added that Hayzlett introduced the bill at the request of KnifeRights officials.

    Preemption prevents local political jurisdictions from enacting knife regulations that are more restrictive than state law.

    If you live, work or travel in Kansas, please contact your representative and ask him or her to support HB2584. 

    For more information click on 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+ssfb021012#BL1SU

Florida HB 179 and companion bill SB 356, which would have made it illegal to carry a “common pocketknife” on school grounds in Florida, have been “withdrawn,” according to the Knife Rights e-mail newsletter.

“Knife Rights, along with our good friends at Florida Carry, shined a bright light on this unnecessary legislation and helped to derail it,” the Knife Rights e-mail newsletter reported.

According to the Florida Senate website (www.flsenate.gove/Session/Bill/2012/0179), the general bill, if passed, would have prohibited “possession of [a] common pocketknife, except as authorized, at [a] school-sponsored event or on [the] property of any school, school bus, or school bus stop.” Also according to the website, on Oct. 24, the bill was “withdrawn prior to introduction” in the Florida House.