Customs And Border Protection Proposal Could Ban Many Pocketknives

[Subdivisions]

http://www.ammoland.com/2009/06/13/customs-and-border-protection-proposal-could-ban-many-pocketknives/

Washington, DC - -(AmmoLand.com)- U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a proposed rule change that directly targets the importation of “assisted opening” folding knives. (Read the proposed rule here.)

The proposed regulations would designate all these knives as “switchblades” (despite the fact they do not fall under the federal definition of “switchblades”), and would make them illegal for import into the United States.

The proposed rule could affect all knives that can be opened with one hand, because it also includes changes in the interpretation of “gravity and inertia” opening knives in a way that could outlaw all knives that can be opened with a single hand.

This means the new regulation could ban the importation of most of the pocketknives that are now in popular use.

...




http://www.akti.org/

Customs' proposal will make criminals of 35.6 million Americans

The definition of a switchblade or automatic knife has been clear and explicit in federal law
since 1958. There have been several state court cases in California, Texas, Illiinois and
Michigan on the issue of assisted-opening knives. Every judge in every case has ruled they are
not switchblades because they do not possess an activating button on the handle.

In fact, AKTI' s bill on the Texas governor's desk now clarified their statute, reaffirming the 50-
year old federal definition, and clearly distinguishing one-hand openers and assisted-openers
from knives classified as switchblades or automatics.

Be warned … AKTI fears that all folding knives will be at risk. U.S. Customs’ proposal indicates
it is directed at only the importers of assisted-opening knives. However, the language used in
their revocation document is so broad and uses virtually every term ever applied to any knife that
opens with one hand. We fear that they are attempting to bypass the will of Congress and that
once they succeed in getting assisted-openers defined as switchblades, they could move
against all folding knives. These include multi-tools, traditional pocket knives, one-hand
openers, and assisted-openers.

If you want to view a video of what AKTI fears about this situation and about your being branded
a criminal if you carry a folding knife, go to … http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5KINtCajwI

...

[jgraz]

1. Yes, sensible restrictions on deadly weapons is EXACTLY like the Holocaust.

:eyes:


I really think we need to extend Godwin's law to the Niemöller poem.

[enki23]

4. first, they came for the bullshit analogies...

.

[jgraz]

7. snrk

:spray:

[cslinger59]

16. Dude I think this knife restriction thing is stupid as hell but........

That was hilarious funny. :D

[Subdivisions]

5. What are you talking about? n/t

[jgraz]

8. I'm talking about your "first they came for the knives" bullshit

Nice edit, btw.

[Subdivisions]

9. My bad. I hit the post message button before I put a title on the post. I

quickly put something and then I realized my mistake. So, I changed it to the title of one of the articles cited. I'm merely posting this for any DUers who might have these knives. My intention was not to offend. I was not aware of the context of that particular refrain. I've since looked it up and can see that the reaction to it was fair. So, I changed it. My humble apologies.

[jgraz]

10. Fair enough.

My reaction was based on the number of times that poem is used on DU for completely frivolous reasons. And the fact that any weapons restriction in the US is invariably compared to Nazi Germany.

[Subdivisions]

11. That was not my intention. Again, I apologize for any confusion. My quick

and unthinking (I've got ten things going on here) choice of that phrase was most probably an affect of the frivolous use of it elsewhere here as I know I've seen it. In the process, I used it frivolously. But I have gone, using the references above, and looked it up. I'm now educated on it.

[jgraz]

12. OK, stop apologizing ;)

Funny thing, you're the first person to post something dumb on DU.

Personally, I know I've never done it.


(Yes, :sarcasm:)

[paulsby]

15. yes it is. it is misused about as much as the

"you can't yell fire in a crowded theater" meme, which is missapplied, misunderstood, and usually illogically used.

(for the record, you can't FALSELY yell fire, the quote is from a court case using that term to justify prosecuting somebody for WAR PROTESTING, and it was from a case that was superseded by later case law that established a very strict standard regarding imminence, etc.)

drives me nuts

[National Steel 27]

2. This is crap. As a practice of my trade....

I need to be able to hold an object (say, let's call it a "plant") with one hand and open a knife with the other hand.

I have spent a lot of money on my knives and I do not intend to stop using them.

[enki23]

3. oh, for chrissakes. what idiotic fearmongering bullshit.

it may or may not be a stupid idea to fuck with the importation of easy-opening pocketknives. but the supposed slippery-slope here is just absurd. anyone who thinks customs is going to hunt them down and take away their pocketknives is way, way beyond mere paranoia.

i mean, gosh. while we're at it here... i heard those extra numbers you sometimes see on street and highway signs are markings to show the UN troops which way to go when they invade. also, your digital converter box records everything you say. and think. fnord.

[madeline_con]

6. the new "... regulation could ban the importation of most of the pocketknives ..."

Oh no! We'll have to buy Amerocan made knives!!!! :scared:

Why are they equating importing and transporting across state lines?

[Ghost in the Machine]

13. Fuck 'em, they can't have my switchblades...

nor can they have my Russian SKS with the banana clips & bayonette...


Hey, I gotta have *something* to clean my nails with...

[armyowalgreens]

14. Misleading title. This will be good for American knife makers.

[Xithras]

17. Which will enable a WTO trade restriction suit, which will torpedo the rule.

The Customs office has no authority to ban knives in the U.S., but can merely regulate what is carried into the US. If a border rule permits domestic manufacturers to create and distribute an item while banning foreign manufacturers from creating and distributing the exact same item, that rule would qualify as an unfair restraint on trade and potentially subject the U.S. to a WTO trade suit. Congress isn't going to risk a trade war over pocketknives, and would simply order Customs to permit their importation again.

Any boon for American knife makers would be brief.