Pocket knife owners and users, handgun owners.

[Milu]

I collect knives and I own pistols and rifles.

I do not live in the US.

I do participate on a few related American forums.

This is a piece of "legislation" that may affect you. It may be the forerunner to what could happen with firearms. Please study it and act. Following is a sample letter to send.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bGvbjEzQ6g
http://www.kniferights.org/
http://akti.org/

LETTERS MUST BE RECEIVED BEFORE JUNE 21, 2009


[INSERT DATE]

[INSERT NAME AND MAILING ADDRESS]

U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Office of International Trade
Regulations and Rulings
Mint Annex
799 9th Street N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20229

Attn: Intellectual Property and Restricted Merchandise Branch

RE: PROPOSED REVOCATION OF RULING LETTERS AND REVOCATION OF TREATMENT RELATING TO THE ADMISSIBILTY [sic] OF CERTAIN KNIVES WITH SPRING-ASSISTED OPENING MECHANISMS

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing in regards to your proposed revocation referenced above. I am an owner and daily user of folding knives which would appear to be covered under your proposal. While I am having difficulty wading through your 63-page document and making complete sense of it, your 30-day comment period obliges me to at least let you know that it is very concerning to me on many levels and that I oppose this proposal.

In the first place, your 30-day comment period is unreasonably short. You cannot realistically expect us to actually understand all the myriad ramifications of this long and complicated proposal in a couple weeks, all the time left to me as a member of the public since I have just now found out about this proposal which was not widely circulated originally. This is made worse by your lack of an email address to send comments to as I must allow time for Postal Service delivery.

The definition of what is a switchblade has been clear and settled since the Federal Switchblade Act was passed in 1958. Your position is particularly questionable and irreconcilable because it flies in the face of virtually unanimous recent state court rulings (including several cases in California, Texas, Illinois and Michigan) where the issue of assisted-opening knives has already been decided in favor of the existing clear interpretation, that they are not a switchblade. Your convoluted reasoning for expanding this definition doesn't pass the common sense test, nor is it in line with current judicial rulings.

Even worse, it appears your proposal redefines gravity and inertia knives so broadly that many, if not most pocketknives will fall under its sweep. I and millions of knife owners will be affected. Because your "agency determination" will be used by domestic courts and law enforcement to determine what is a "switchblade" under both federal and state laws, the impact will be felt far more widely than just by importers. Many states fail to define switchblades and simply rely on the federal interpretation. This proposal would make it illegal for me and 40 million fellow law-abiding Americans to own a simple pocket knife.

Your attempt to redefine switchblades will also unnecessarily cost thousands of Americans their jobs. Many knife companies would be put out of business and their employees, dealers and others would be left jobless, needlessly doing great economic harm to our nation in a time of economic crisis.

I respectfully request that you do not proceed with this proposal, and that at a minimum, you provide a much longer comment period to allow me and my millions of fellow knife owners adequate time to properly review and comment. I also request that you allow us to submit comments via email. It is unconscionable in these difficult and technologically advanced times to force me to spend money to send my comments via postal mail.

Sincerely,

[INSERT SIGNATURE]

[INSERT NAME]
LETTERS MUST BE RECEIVED BEFORE JUNE 21, 2009

[m21sniper]

"The U.S. Government is after your Pocket Knives! In a sneak attack, U.S. Customs has proposed revoking earlier rulings that assisted opening knives are not switchblades. The proposal would not only outlaw assisted opening knives, its overly broad new definition of a switchblade would also include all one-handed opening knives and most other pocket knives!"

This seems to get to the crux of the matter, from one of your links.

I carry a tactical folder everywhere i go. Obviously i'm opposed to this latest grab at one of my daily exercized freedoms.

[924slover]

I have countless tactical,folding,multi-tools but my favorite is my browning 3.5 inch fixed blade knife with a wood handle. this is absolutely ridiculous i will never NEVER give up my knifes next thing you know they're gonna be coming after Zippo lighters because it's to easy to start fires with...

[Rick V]

I recon I had better register my softball bats so I don't get in trouble on the way to the game. Where does the madness end? Being a mechanic I have very strong hands, I could very easily snap someones neck with one of them, I wonder how long till I have to soften my grip so as not to be a danger to the public?

[widgeon13]

This is pretty silly, we'll be eating steak w/plastic utensils very soon.

[Joeaksa]

Guys, all that is needed is to look at what is happening in the UK to see where this is going.

I grew up with a pocket knife in my pocket. Should I walk around the city streets in London now and be stopped I would be charged with a felony, the same as if I had a gun or grenade. Where does it stop? As Widgeon states they want to knock us down to plastic everything.

This is pure BS but certain societies want to protect you from everything, something that clearly is not possible.

[Jeff Higgins]

This highlights one of the major, core problems beginning to rear its ugly head right here in the good ol' U. S. of A. - our myriad of agencies (such as Customs) can institute rules and regulations that run counter to our law. They essentially have the authority to make law, for all practical purposes. One single unelected bureaucrat, or a small group of unelected bureaucrats, can write a new policy that flies in the face of the law of the land. We can then spend years in the courts un-doing their decisions. How did it get to this point?

[HHI944]

WOOHOO, I'm safe!!! The only folding knife I own is a little Spyderco that most certainly does not have a spring assist.

[Pazuzu]

This has been an "issue" since, well, probably since the liner lock was invented.

It comes up every now and then, and it goes away.
I would not loose any sleep over this.

[Joeaksa]

Jeff,

Totally agree.

HH,

You do not seem to understand, the method of opening is not the issue, and in the UK ANY knife that you are carrying in your pocket is illegal. Its not like the states where we allow a small one to be carryied, they ALL are illegal.

Mike,

Its people taking this view on the subject that the Govt is counting on. Then they will ban all knives like the UK and move on the next thing. Whats after that? Who knows... the kids carrying a baseball bat to practice will become a felon because some gang member across town used it in a crime.

It has no ends as long as we try to legislate safety. The world is not safe and banning everything that can or could be used to hurt someone is just silly.

[Pazuzu]

Why is it that some of you think that when the SAME proposal gets dropped in front of the SAME committee every year, and is decimated the SAME way every time, that suddenly, something is going to change this time?

These politicians put this stuff in every time because they have a buddy/pastor/businesspartner/whatever that asks them too every time. They put it in, it gets tossed, everyone's happy.

They are not going to get rid of one handed opening knives.

I've watched this SAME basic thing go on the table at various state and federal levels for 20 YEARS, and guess what...the laws haven't changed. Pretty much the only knife laws that I've seen changed are the FAA rules on planes. Everything else is state-level law (there's only one federal law that I know of), and they only change in respect to specific cases, as laws should (is a sheepsfoot knife a "dirk" under Cali law, etc).

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Bingo.

The bureaucrat's primary motivation is to stay employed, usually by controlling as much power and/or budget as he can. The politician's primary motivation is to get re-elected. In both cases, the individuals are strongly encouraged to constantly legitimize and rationalize their own existence. This is done through enacting more and more legislation, laws, policies, procedures, forms, etc. More red tape and more B.S.

The solution is smaller government, but the liberal communists don't EVER want that.

If you try to force smaller government (like CA did with its referendum recently) you only end up with the politicians and bureaucrats punishing the populace in order to get them to bend or break before getting to the point of having to make real change and/or cuts.

Government NEVER relinquishes power, control or money once they have their hands on it. Never. One of the few absolutes in life.

[Joeaksa]

Why is it when the same bleeding liberals are put up for election year after year that finally one year they find enough idiots to vote for them and now we have one in the top office in the country.

Mike, its because if you put that item on the agenda often enough and keep digging around behind the scenes that eventually you very well may get it passed, thats why!

Just look at the people on television today regarding the terrible shooting in DC yesterday. Once again they are talking about banning weapons of any kind in DC. They will not stop until everyone is dis-armed and only the crooks have a weapon.

[Rick Lee]

Just another federal BS law I will never comply with.

[tabs]

The unintended consequence of making more rules and regulations is that people to be in compliance have to know and understand the myraid of rules and regulations. Sooner or later people will give up trying to figure it all out, at which time respect and compliance for all rules and regulations will decline.

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Just another federal BS law I will never comply with.

Another Criminal!

Sad news is that there will be an awful lot of them...

[pwd72s]

when knives are outlawed, only outlaws will have knives...

[jyl]

Can someone cut and post the pertinent language from the draft regs?

I'm not going to take some organization's word for it - I'd like to see for myself what this is all about.

I'm on iPhone today, so can't read the document myself (or cut/paste it . . .)

[Milu]

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

Why is it that some of you think that when the SAME proposal gets dropped in front of the SAME committee every year, and is decimated the SAME way every time, that suddenly, something is going to change this time?



They are not going to get rid of one handed opening knives.

That's what they said about pocket knives in England

I've watched this SAME basic thing go on the table at various state and federal levels for 20 YEARS, and guess what...the laws haven't changed. Pretty much the only knife laws that I've seen changed are the FAA rules on planes. Everything else is state-level law (there's only one federal law that I know of), and they only change in respect to specific cases, as laws should (is a sheepsfoot knife a "dirk" under Cali law, etc).

Then you will be familiar with how a similar change in interpretation by customs changed the status of imported butterfly knives and how Spyderco got shafted for their production of the Spyderfly

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Originally Posted by tabs

The unintended consequence of making more rules and regulations is that people to be in compliance have to know and understand the myraid of rules and regulations. Sooner or later people will give up trying to figure it all out, at which time respect and compliance for all rules and regulations will decline.

We're already past that point.

The fact is most of the people on this board are among the more educated and more motivated in society. As a general rule, people here seem more willing and able to research such laws. They also have more to lose than the tens of thousands of others around here who live in the ghettos and have nothing to their names except maybe some gardening equipment and a decaying 1981 Luv pickup truck with bald tires and no insurance.

Honestly I think most people out there don't give a crap about any law that doesn't DIRECTLY affect them - as in "run me a risk on a day-to-day basis of getting fined or thrown in jail". And a lot of them don't even seem to care too much about those, seeing as how you're likely to not get any serious time anyway because the prisons are overcrowded and turning inmates out because the state is broke.

The lazy and the criminal are rewarded. Just as the liberals like it.