Author Topic: Ready to give up your knives?  (Read 2556 times)

Offline 3n00n

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Ready to give up your knives?
« on: June 12, 2009, 01:33:02 AM »


http://www.youtube.com/v/v5KINtCajwI



URGENT NEWS - U.S. Customs Proposal would characterize assisted-openers as switchblade knives. Our fear is this could potentially jeopardize all pocket knives.

EVEN MORE URGENT NEWS – AKTI has learned that U.S. Customs, at 5:00 p.m. eastern time on June 10, 2009, has denied AKTI’s request for a comment period extension.

On behalf of the entire sporting knife industry and all knife owners across the country, AKTI has hired a specialized U.S. Customs and Trade law firm to draft a response in defense of our knives. But that may not be enough.

Please help!!! Help us to help you: Write letters to U.S. Customs and spread the word TODAY. Your letter must get to U.S. Customs (via snailmail) by June 21, 2009 (but that’s a Sunday so get it there by Saturday, June 20 or sooner).

You can help Save Our Knives - click here for more info
 



http://www.akti.org/



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Offline Bentong

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Re: Ready to give up your knives?
« Reply #1 on: June 12, 2009, 02:25:12 AM »
WTFrt....the next thing  we know is we'll need a license to carry a Swiss Army knife for having too many gadgets in it!!

Offline gamo2hammerli

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Re: Ready to give up your knives?
« Reply #2 on: June 12, 2009, 02:46:08 AM »
We're only a few hundred years late.  In feudal Japan they confiscated and banned knives and swords in Okinawa....I think only one knife per household for kitchen use was  allowed.  So the citizens/farmers adapted and used farming tools as fighting weapons.
Gamo: Expotec .177 + Big Cat .177 + Viper .177 + Whisper .177, Hammerli Titan .177, Diana model 24 .177, RWS-Diana P5 Magnum pistol .177, Crosman: G1 Extreme .177 + Storm XT .177 + Sierra Pro .177 + 1377 pistol .177, Air Arms S410SL .22, BSA Scorpion T10 .22, FX Cyclone .177, Remington Air Master 77 .177 + BB\'s,

Offline geewhiz380

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Re: Ready to give up your knives?
« Reply #3 on: June 12, 2009, 03:27:15 AM »
whats next that we may have to take our teeth out or we may have to take off the nails on our fingers ,we all know whats goin on ,well in some situation i dont need a weapon to defend myself i rate myself a 7 when it comes to self defense and im teaching my children as well ,but i dont use airguns or pocket knives for defense anyway its a hobby or sport .y think about these laws now that the twins aint there ,no war is won over havin airguns or knives and i doubt if anybody here would fight a war with airguns or knives ...GOD BLESS US ALL ,FROM MY HEART TO YOURS .....JORGE....

Offline airgunandy

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RE: Ready to give up your knives?
« Reply #4 on: June 12, 2009, 08:08:44 AM »
Done did it in The People's Republik North Karolina. Assisted opening knives are already illegal here.  :(

Offline RedFeather

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Re: Ready to give up your knives?
« Reply #5 on: June 12, 2009, 08:28:56 AM »
What constitutes one of these?  A stud on the side of the blade?  I've often wondered about some of these new folders that can be opened with a flick of the wrist.  When I was a kid back in the 60's, such a knife would have fallen into the same class as a button-operated stiletto (like a switch blade less the spring).  IIRC, those were considered illegal.  Maybe they are just updating to close a loophole?  Some of the El Cheapos I have handled would be better off the streets.  They don't really seem to have been designed with true sport in mind.  Then again, I have a nice Gerber switchable blade folder that certainly wasn't cheap but can be one-handed by pushing the lock slightly.

Offline 3n00n

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update :
« Reply #6 on: July 11, 2009, 03:21:36 AM »
Senators Cornyn, Pryor, Wyden, Crapo, Hatch, Vitter, Risch, Chambliss, Corker, Enzi, Barrasso, Graham, Merkley, Thune, Bennett, Collins, Inhofe, Ben Nelson, Testerand Roberts co-sponsored this substantive amendment late on July 8. AKTI thanks them.
The language mirrors the Texas switchblade amendment language signed into law June 18. It will be added to the Federal Switchblade Act at Section 1244 (Exceptions) as item (5). It reads ...
"(5) a knife that contains a spring, detent, or other mechanism designed to create a bias toward closure of the blade and that requires exertion applied to the blade by hand, wrist or arm to overcome the bias toward closure to assist in opening the knife. "

AKTI believes this will protect all importers and domestic producers of assisted-openers and folding knives from the very broad re-definition language proposed by Customs.

We now move back to the House to attempt to get matching language there. Stay tuned early next week for a new call to action in the House.

Finally, we must have your financial support to get this done. Our legal and advocacy costs in DC to get this far have been staggering.

David D. Kowalski
AKTI Communications Coordinator
715-209-7389 (cell)

Send checks to ... AKTI ...

Jan Billeb
22 Vista View Lane
Cody, WY 82414-9606

Please seeSenator Cornyn's news release below...

Friday, July 10, 2009

Senate Votes Unanimously To Protect Pocketknives
Sens. Cornyn, Pryor, Hatch, Vitter and others team up to ensure assisted-opening pocketknives are exempt from government regulation

WASHINGTON-U.S. Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Mark Pryor, D-Ark., and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, released the following statement after the Senate unanimously passed their amendment to protect the use of pocketknives. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had proposed amending and expanding the Switchblade Knife Act of 1958 to include spring-assisted or one-handed-opening knives. The Senators' amendment clarifies that assisted-opening pocketknives are exempt from regulation.

"The Senate sent a strong message and made clear that the 35 million Americans who own pocketknives are free to continue using them without the threat of federal agency intrusion," said Sen. Cornyn. "While U.S. Customs and Border Protection proposed changing that, my colleagues joined in a unanimous, bipartisan effort to ensure assisted-opening pocketknives are protected by the law. What's more, the CBP reversal would have inflicted serious economic harm to sporting goods manufacturers and retailers."

"Customs and Border Patrol went overboard in trying to interpret an outdated statute regulating certain pocketknives. In Arkansas, firemen, construction workers, farmers, policemen, electricians, hunters and fishermen all took notice. A pocketknife for many people can serve as an entire toolbox, and the government really has no business taking that away from them," said Sen. Pryor. "I'm pleased to team up with Senators Cornyn and Hatch to prevent this proposed regulation from being implemented."

"Without this amendment, there is a real danger that 80 percent of the pocketknives sold in the U.S. could be classified as illegal switchblades, which would hurt knife and tool manufacturers across the nation," Sen. Hatch said following the Senate's vote late Thursday. "The unintended consequences of the CBP's definition could be that state and federal criminal courts could construe Leatherman-type multi-tools equipped with one-hand opening features, as well as folding utility knives with studs on the blunt portions of the blade to assist with opening, to be illegal. That is absurd."

Background

This amendment is endorsed by American Knife and Tool Institute, Knife Rights, National Rifle Association, Gun Owners of America, Knifemakers' Guild.