Don Gwinn
Moderator Emeritus
Today I was listening to WMAY AM radio when out of the blue I heard a news item stating that the Springfield police department is putting out public warnings that people who have purchased Kershaw/Onion Speed Safe knives ("at an unnamed Springfield store") were guilty of purchase and possession of switchblades, a misdemeanor in Illinois.
The catch is that Speed Safe knives are NOT switchblades under Illinois law. This is the first I've heard of any authority trying to claim such a thing. I have an email in to the station's News Director to find out what's going on and where the story came from. (I called, of course, but he hung up on me because I wasn't on his topic for the show.)
I'll contact Kershaw as well (and Ken, of course) but I thought I'd post a heads up here first.
This is the message I sent:
Just a heads up on the "switchblade" issue Mike read about during tonight's news: Kershaw's Onion series (including the Chive, the Scallion, the Whirlwind and the Blackout) are NOT switchblades according to Illinois law. I don't know what makes the Springfield Police Department say so, but I'm contacting Kershaw tonight on this issue. If SPD chooses to push this, it's going to become another Deja Vu issue.
I'm not saying that police officers should have to be lawyers, but I think they have a duty to check the law and make sure it says what they assume it does before they begin threatening the public with arrest over legal actions.
For the record, the section of Illinois law that deals with "switchblades" can be found at:
http://www.legis.state.il.us/legisl...000050k24-1.htm
Here's the part that really matters: (720 ILCS 5/24-1)(a)(1)
(720 ILCS 5/24-1) (from Ch. 38, par. 24-1)
Sec. 24-1. Unlawful Use of Weapons.
(a) A person commits the offense of unlawful use of weapons when he knowingly:
(1) Sells, manufactures, purchases, possesses or carries any bludgeon, black-jack, slung-shot, sand-club, sand-bag, metal knuckles, throwing star, or any knife, commonly referred to as a switchblade knife, which has a blade that opens automatically by hand pressure applied to a button, spring or other device in the handle of the knife, or a ballistic knife, which is a device that propels a knifelike blade as a projectile by means of a coil spring, elastic material or compressed gas; or
(2) Carries or possesses with intent to use the same unlawfully against another, a dagger, dirk, billy, dangerous knife, razor, stiletto, broken bottle or other piece of glass, stun gun or taser or any other dangerous or deadly weapon or instrument of like character; or
(3) Carries on or about his person or in any vehicle, a tear gas gun projector or bomb or any object containing noxious liquid gas or substance, other than an object containing a non-lethal noxious liquid gas or substance designed solely for personal defense carried by a person 18 years of age or older; or
The emphasis, of course, is mine. Now, the Kershaw/Onion knives (they were designed by Ken Onion, a custom knife maker in Hawaii, and are made under license by Kershaw) do NOT have any spring, button or other device in the handle of the knife which can be pressed to open the knife "automatically." You open the Kershaw just like almost every other one-hand-opening knife out there, by pushing your thumb against the thumb stud on the blade to push the blade open. The difference is that the Kershaw has a torsion bar built in which, when you've got the blade about a third of the way open, takes over and snaps it open the rest of the way. You CANNOT open this knife without manually pushing the blade open, as you could with a "switchblade." You MUST push the blade, NOT a device in the handle. Thus it is absolutely impossible to mistake this knife for a switchblade as defined by Illinois law.
Now, the law against switchblades is stupid, ill-conceived, and pointless. But Kershaw and Ken Onion have done everything possible to comply with it while creating a better mousetrap, and they don't deserve to have lies spread about their businesses! That's not to mention the unnamed store that's probably being put through the wringer for "flooding the streets with deadly and horrible switchblade knives."
Don Gwinn
The catch is that Speed Safe knives are NOT switchblades under Illinois law. This is the first I've heard of any authority trying to claim such a thing. I have an email in to the station's News Director to find out what's going on and where the story came from. (I called, of course, but he hung up on me because I wasn't on his topic for the show.)
I'll contact Kershaw as well (and Ken, of course) but I thought I'd post a heads up here first.
This is the message I sent:
Just a heads up on the "switchblade" issue Mike read about during tonight's news: Kershaw's Onion series (including the Chive, the Scallion, the Whirlwind and the Blackout) are NOT switchblades according to Illinois law. I don't know what makes the Springfield Police Department say so, but I'm contacting Kershaw tonight on this issue. If SPD chooses to push this, it's going to become another Deja Vu issue.
I'm not saying that police officers should have to be lawyers, but I think they have a duty to check the law and make sure it says what they assume it does before they begin threatening the public with arrest over legal actions.
For the record, the section of Illinois law that deals with "switchblades" can be found at:
http://www.legis.state.il.us/legisl...000050k24-1.htm
Here's the part that really matters: (720 ILCS 5/24-1)(a)(1)
(720 ILCS 5/24-1) (from Ch. 38, par. 24-1)
Sec. 24-1. Unlawful Use of Weapons.
(a) A person commits the offense of unlawful use of weapons when he knowingly:
(1) Sells, manufactures, purchases, possesses or carries any bludgeon, black-jack, slung-shot, sand-club, sand-bag, metal knuckles, throwing star, or any knife, commonly referred to as a switchblade knife, which has a blade that opens automatically by hand pressure applied to a button, spring or other device in the handle of the knife, or a ballistic knife, which is a device that propels a knifelike blade as a projectile by means of a coil spring, elastic material or compressed gas; or
(2) Carries or possesses with intent to use the same unlawfully against another, a dagger, dirk, billy, dangerous knife, razor, stiletto, broken bottle or other piece of glass, stun gun or taser or any other dangerous or deadly weapon or instrument of like character; or
(3) Carries on or about his person or in any vehicle, a tear gas gun projector or bomb or any object containing noxious liquid gas or substance, other than an object containing a non-lethal noxious liquid gas or substance designed solely for personal defense carried by a person 18 years of age or older; or
The emphasis, of course, is mine. Now, the Kershaw/Onion knives (they were designed by Ken Onion, a custom knife maker in Hawaii, and are made under license by Kershaw) do NOT have any spring, button or other device in the handle of the knife which can be pressed to open the knife "automatically." You open the Kershaw just like almost every other one-hand-opening knife out there, by pushing your thumb against the thumb stud on the blade to push the blade open. The difference is that the Kershaw has a torsion bar built in which, when you've got the blade about a third of the way open, takes over and snaps it open the rest of the way. You CANNOT open this knife without manually pushing the blade open, as you could with a "switchblade." You MUST push the blade, NOT a device in the handle. Thus it is absolutely impossible to mistake this knife for a switchblade as defined by Illinois law.
Now, the law against switchblades is stupid, ill-conceived, and pointless. But Kershaw and Ken Onion have done everything possible to comply with it while creating a better mousetrap, and they don't deserve to have lies spread about their businesses! That's not to mention the unnamed store that's probably being put through the wringer for "flooding the streets with deadly and horrible switchblade knives."
Don Gwinn