" legalize deadly blades "
Mr. Oliphant seems to be ignorant of the facts. Law enforcement officers or emergency medical professionals could have explained to him that that knives used in crimes are primarily steak or kitchen knives. Not folders, not switchblades. Plain old steak and kitchen knives. Why? Because a folding knife costs a lot more money than a pilfered steak or kitchen knife. Even California doesn't consider the opening mechanism of a knife to be at issue and you can carry any folding knife you can fit into your pocket or on your belt in that state. Yes, California.
If he's correct then this effort to replace restrictive laws has to be a fluke?! So, what few states already allow you to legally own switchblades? 10? 20? Half? Nope - 44. Yep, 88% of states allow their citizens to own switchblades. Why? Because they're no significant threat to public safety? Because LE and EMTs don't see them used by criminals? Because how a knife is opened has nothing to do with how it is used? Because the laws from over half a century ago that were written to specifically target minority communities are no longer relevant when those minorities are now the mainstream citizens? Does he know that 70% of the states allow citizens to carry switchblades as normal pocket knives? What? The overwhelming majority of states might trust you with a knife that the fear mongers of the fifties wanted to ban? Why that's like saying the UFO scares and Joe McCarthy's Red Baiting were wrong. ;-)
And now Tennessee's legislature has decided that because the state Police Chief's Association and the state Sheriffs' Association don't neither one have a problem with the legislation (btw, the Sheriffs' Association helped with the wording of the bills to get rid of the restrictions) removing outdated laws based on ancient hollywood crime movies and yesteryear's bigotry, Mr. Oliphant seems to think he knows better than those law enforcement groups and the representatives of the people when he's woefully ignorant of the facts and the realities about the issue? Amazing, but not surprising.
