Gun Victories Encourage Conservatives to Fight for Knife Rights

[mota bhai 2,675]

By James Oliphant
March 26, 2014

This week, the Tennessee General Assembly repealed the state's long-standing ban on switchblades, or, as their purveyors like to call them "automatic knives." It was one more victory for the nascent knife-rights movement, a push to legalize deadly blades that's occurring mostly out of the mainstream eye.

The bill also does away with a limit on the length of a knife—as well as preempts any city or town ordinance that regulates knives. It passed both houses overwhelmingly and likely will be signed into law by the state's Republican governor, Bill Haslam.

If you didn't know that Tennessee, or any state for that matter, banned switchblades, or that they're now dubbed "automatic" weapons because they can be triggered with one hand by a single button on the handle, that suits the knife-rights movement just fine. They've operated a largely under-the-radar campaign in friendly red states to open up the landscape to more exotic bladed instruments.

The similarity to the gun lobby isn't accidental. The most influential organization dedicated to knife rights is patterned after the National Rifle Association, although it doesn't nearly have that group's legislative firepower. But the movement is also a recognition that, as gun advocates score victory after victory at the state level (the Georgia Legislature this week passed a bill that would allow guns to be carried in bars, schools, churches, and airports), the political environment has never been better for loosening similar restrictions on knives.

"We are really rewriting knife law in America," says Doug Ritter, the chairman of Knife Rights.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress/gun-victories-encourage-conservatives-to-fight-for-knife-rights-20140326

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Knife rights.

All I need now is for someone to come here and explain to me how knife rights enhance my liberty.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Mr. Big Dog

[one...two...tree 2,762]

It makes sense from the perspective of the gun manufacturing lobbyists to go after weapon laws on the books that could potentially be used to argue the case for laws restricting the use of guns.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Idiocy

[Sousuke 1,214]

Knife rights.

All I need now is for someone to come here and explain to me how knife rights enhance my liberty.

No I do not think limits on knives limit a person's ability to defend themselves since you asked lol. Knives are not really self defense tools IMO.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

No I do not think limits on knives limit a person's ability to defend themselves since you asked lol. Knives are not really self defense tools IMO.

So, no for knife rights then? Well, as long as they leave my steak knife alone.

[Sousuke 1,214]

So, no for knife rights then? Well, as long as they leave my steak knife alone.

No on concealed knives such as switch blades etc. I don't know any law abiding citizens that use them for self defense.

Seems they are used solely for crime.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Brown Dwarf

[LibCampFireClub 635]

Just bring a gun to the knife fight. Problem solved.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

No on concealed knives such as switch blades etc. I don't know any law abiding citizens that use them for self defense.

Seems they are used solely for crime.

Really? Military and Law Enforcement only commit crime?

The Knifecenter has a lot of customers local to the Washington DC area who work for government agencies that allow them to carry automatic knives. We may be the only retail location in the Washington, D.C. area for these products.

Automatic Knives and Switchblades

*for Law Enforcement and Military only

That being out of the way, let us also not forget that the predominant weapon - by a wide margin - used for crime is not the old knife.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Mr. Big Dog

[Sousuke 1,214]

Really? Military and Law Enforcement only commit crime?

That being out of the way, let us also not forget that the predominant weapon - by a wide margin - used for crime is not the old knife.

I was referring to civilian use though I'm not really sure why law enforcement needs them either.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

I was referring to civilian use though I'm not really sure why law enforcement needs them either.

Okay, so liberty will prevail even if we're limited to steak knives. Good stuff.

[Sousuke 1,214]

Okay, so liberty will prevail even if we're limited to steak knives. Good stuff.

Haha you reminded me of this :

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4581871.stm

I believe in 2012 we seriously considered it.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Brown Dwarf

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Not my carving knife! I spent a lot on that .

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Knives are not really self defense tools IMO.

You make an interesting comment because it opens up the question of self defense and what it means in terms of actions taken that qualify as acts of self defense. Martial Arts, for example, are considered a method of self defense, and while there are techniques designed to inflict harm onto another (presumably the aggressor), the focus is protecting yourself from harm without being lethal.