[twoblink]

I'm just wondering, how is it that guns and gun carry (ccw) is legal, but carrying a butterfly knife is not?

I would think a .45ACP pointed at me is a bit more dangerous then a butterfly knife, yes?

What am I missing aside from the lack of logic and stupidity of these laws?

[S_O_Laban]

Yeah! let's hear this explained!:confused:

[4570Rick]

there you go again trying to aply logic to liberal, knee-jerk, blissninnie, do it for the children politicians.:rolleyes:

Will yopu never learn? :D

[Jim March]

Politicians of the 1950s watched too many "B" teen gang flicks, decided there was "clearly a problem" and banned switchblades at the Fed level, switches and Balis among many states.

I wish I was kidding. That's literally what happened :banghead:.

[Poodleshooter]

It makes very little sense, doesn't it?
Our state is unusual in that we once had a "Concealed Weapons Permit" which allowed carry of knives, saps, brass knucks,stunguns,etc. After the 1994-95 reformation into a "shall issue" law, the permit became a "Concealed Handgun Permit", which no longer allows carry of other weapons. Like y'all I can carry my Glock 30, but perish the thought that I should have a balisong or switchblade on my person!

[LawDog]

I'll go you one better.

In Texas it is perfectly lawful for one to carry a fixed-blade, single-edge knife 5.4 inches in length.

It is not lawful to carry a switchblade knife of 2.5 inches in length.

Now, knowing a little something about knives and the combat use thereof, given my druthers and facing a critter armed with a blade, I would much rather him have a dinky, fragile, prone-to-fail El-Cheapo NATO switchblade than a five-inch idiot-proof, can't-fail, fixed blade knife.

I've yet to figure out this law. :banghead:

LawDog

[El Tejon]

LawDog, oh, yeah, well we Yankees can be even goofier!!!

In Indiana you can carry whatever length knife, sword, cutlass, dirk, butterfly knife, Bowie Knife, falchion, et al, concealed or clenched in your teeth as you stroll down the street, but if you possess a "Chinese throwing star" (no, really, stop laughing) is up to 0 to 180 days in the county jug and up to a 1K fine. Beat that for stupidity, Johnny!

Indiana, the goofy state.:rolleyes:

[STW]

Come on out to California where I believe they and much else is illegal. As a result there is no place in the state that is not 100% safe any time of the day or night. Unless, or course, you're being stalked by a misguided soul with a .50 sniper rifle. (In that case you are only safe in the summer time when air quality prohibits seeing a target one mile away.) :rolleyes:

[Hand_Rifle_Guy]

I have this impression-an old impression that I don't know the origin of-that the thinking went like this:

Knives are quiet, easier to conceal, and inherently more lethal. Guns are very loud, and less concealable.


Hmmm. I might have learned this in like, 7th grade from a cop visiting my social studies class. This'd be, uhh...1979, I think.

Knives, and clubs, chains, nun-chucks, brass knuckles, and the rest of the Kaliforny felony list, were silent weapons. Guns are attention-attractors, which criminals liked less. Plus guns can get permits, and they're bigger and require holsters.

The lethality difference was presented as 'pulling a trigger on a gun drills a finger-size hole in your body, which starts to bleed. A knife can unzip you in one swipe, which dumps your intestines on the floor. (Yuch. :uhoh: ) Knife slashes bleed more 'cuz they're bigger, too.'


I dunno. The knife bit makes sense, but the gun thing completely fails to address the "ism" known as "Houses Make Good Silencers". ;)

This could very well be movie info. Sounds as plausible as anything else you might hear a cop tell junior-high school kids in the 70's. :)

[DeputyVaughn]

Personally I'm totally against buttlerflies carrying knives. All the time cutting on the flower pedals and bushes. We can't have it I tell you. I won't stand for it.

Scott

[2nd Amendment]

Having been sliced I'd personally rather be shot next time.

El Tejon, Indiana's laws are more screwy than you make out. It's actually technically illegal to carry a switchblade. But you can own one. 'Chucks are supposedly entirely illegal...but you see them all the time and I've never known anyone to get nailed for their possession. Go figure.

[El Tejon]

2A, not exactly, the statute reads "manufacture, possess, display, offer, sell, lend, give away or purchase" See I.C. 35-47-5-2. You cannot carry a switchblade, you cannot own one--techically or otherwise without facing 0 to 180 days and up to a 1K fine. I never filed on it as a LEO and have yet to see it prosecuted. I'm sure it has been.

There is no statute against 'chucks. Well, unless you hit someone upside the haid without cause.

[Quartus]

This whole mess springs out of the NFA.


:what: WHAT DID HE JUST SAY?


Yup. That's when we decided as a country that certain weapons were eviler than others. Certain weapons (Tommy guns, daggers, etc.) were only of interest to the CRIMINAL ELEMENTS in society.


So, while away some years, and we see this nonsensical idea bear fruit. We see the eeevil juvenile delinquents using switchblades (in those movies Jim mentioned) and we ban switchblades. We see a few stupid gang-bangers start to carry nunchucks (looking ever so tough! :rolleyes: ) and some states ban 'chucks. Oh, now gangbangers think that serrated edges will make a stab hurt more? So now that's their weapon of choice? So some cities have banned serrated edges.

And it all comes from the silly idea that some weapons are inherently more eviler than others.

(Which may have been around before the NFA, but that's when we put it into law as a nation.)

:banghead:

[Skunkabilly]

Because butterfly knives, stilletos, and ninja starrz, are used by scary brown people (Filipino-Americans, Puerto Ricans-Americans, and Chinese Americans respecitvely)

Hey Congress! Ban all the ethnic weapons, maybe they'll all go back to where ever they came from!

[cordex]

Hmm ... wasn't there something about caltrops too, El Tejon?

Don't recall offhand.

But what about Assault Laser Pointers?

IC 35-47-4.5-4
Directing laser pointer at public safety officer
Sec. 4. A person who knowingly or intentionally directs light amplified by the stimulated emission of radiation that is visible to the human eye or any other electromagnetic radiation from a laser pointer at a public safety officer without the consent of the public safety officer commits a Class B misdemeanor.
As added by P.L.70-2000, SEC.1.

[Boats]

Come to Oregon. Here you need a permit to carry a pistol concealed, but as long as your knife is not a "dagger or dirk," (even if it folds), judicially interpreted as a double edged knife designed primarily for stabbing, you could carry concealed a 14" Bowie knife without any official dispensation as long as you don't carry it anywhere the gun would also be prohibited.

Single edged auto folders and balisong knives are also legal here as befits the home state of Benchmade, CRKT, Kershaw, and other knife companies like Leatherman. I routinely carry a concealed Benchmade Nimravus where a gun would be too much of a hassle, but a knife far better than nothing, like going out on the river.

[El Tejon]

cordex, careful with that neon/xeon laser/phaser! Keep it on your CDI rifle. You'll note it is prohbited to lase/phase a knight but your fellow serf is not off limits.:rolleyes:

[cratz2]

Reading this just made me chuckle... I remember when I was a kid, A KID - 12 years old!, going into the knife shop in the Galleria in Houston and buying both butterfly knives AND throwing stars... LOTS of throwing stars. This wasn't that long ago... 18 years or so.

[Hkmp5sd]

While been taught how to shoot, I managed to become proficient without injuring myself. Back when I was learning how to use a butterfly knife, there were frequent trips to the ER to have someone practice sewing on my hand and once on my thigh (Don't Ask!).

[twoblink]

Hkmp5sd, so mother Feinstein is just trying to protect YOU... I see..

:rolleyes:

I talked to a cop, and he gave what I felt was perhaps a reasonable answer from an LEO perspective; he said, I can wear body armor against a bullet, but have you seen kevlar vs. a 6" tanto?? Yeah, can you say butter and a hot knife 3 times fast?

Also, there seems to be something "stealthy and sneaky...underhanded" about knife carry. Here in Taiwan, two years ago, they lifted the "knife" carry ban, and congress and the people cried out, "There will be blood on the streets!" Whatever. There was not a single incident reported where the old laws would have prevented a crime from happening. Also, as far as the "chinese homes"... Trust me, a 6" blade is the least of your worries if you break into my house; try to 8" CLEAVER!! I don't care if you are carrying a gun, the THOUGHT of an 8" cleaver thrown at you... Yeah, bad hair day dramatically understated..

STW, in the PRK, you can carry a knife with a bladelength longer ten 3" and bladed only on 1 side, if you carry it below the waist, and "in the open", or else it has to be sheathed and slung on the back..

A friend of mine tested this out; his 24" japanese sword; he had it slung on his back... He was stopped like 6 times before he removed it as it was annoying to have the Pasadena PD "mark" you and call for backup.. So while it's "technically" legal in the PRK (at least it was 4 years ago) I don't know about right now anymore, and be prepared to be harassed and frisked every 10 paces..

I carry a 3" blade in my pocket here in Taiwan, which I can't do in the PRK.

Oh, and Jim, you want to talk Teen Scream stupid movies? In Taiwan, all knives are legal to carry on your persons... EXCEPT a butterfly knife.

I saw an "automatic folder" knife, the "press and eject" ones, very cool, and illegal in most states I know... I really am considering buying it...

[Pilgrim]

The bans on edged weapons predates kevlar vests. Edged weapons are the tools of ruffians, blackguards, and hoodlums. Gentlemen do not carry such tools.

Massad Ayoob wrote a nice piece on people defending themselves with edged weapons and he commented on this prejudice by lawmakers, cops, and people in general.

[Standing Wolf]

I've been carrying one pocket knife or another, including a switch-blade for awhile, since I was seven years old.

Except for my own thumb while whittling, I've never stabbed or sliced anybody. I'm sure I never will.

Anti-knife laws are every bit as stupid as leftist extremist so-called "gun control" laws.