CBSA seized a legal knife.

[FullMetalJackass]

Ganzo:

Big long Gonzo

Doncha get your clip points in China and advertise it will ya

 

[Danke42]

I have it on good authority that 90% of the Canadians on here are CBSA agents working undercover to catch all the Ganzo's before they enter the country.

 

[PURPLEDC]

Ha ha aha ha ha . . . wait, was that serious?

From past experience, don't be surprised if a law enforcement professional (police or border patrol) in Canada randomly decides that if, on their seventeenth try they're able to finally wrist flick a folder open, that it's suddenly a "deadly weapon" or a fearsome "gravity knife".

I ship knives to Canada occasionally and they've declared 1/3 of all Benchmades I've sent there deadly assault weapons of mass destruction (this despite my intentionally tightening the pivots to the point that they can barely be opened). Admittedly, I've only shipped three Benchmade knives there, though.

I've seen the same silliness in the US, though. I once saw a Wisconsin state trooper flail around so hard I think he probably needed rotator cuff surgery afterwards before finally getting a guy's knife to open, and then giving him the "Say, this is a very nice, er, illegal knife. I'm going to have to take this for myself, er, confiscate it . . . or I guess I could charge you with carrying a deadly weapon if that's your preference".

That's hilarious seeing now Wisconsin legalized autos.

 

[PURPLEDC]

Maybe the CBSA just hates Ganzo's and Sanrenmu because their chinese companies who steal intellectual property. China stealing intellectual property cost just the United States economy last year alone an estimated somewhere to be in the tens, or hundreds of BILLIONS. Yes, using american designs and stuff like the mimicking the Benchmade Axis lock is stealing intellectual property. On a different note; never had a knife an issue with the CBSA holding or keeping a knife of mine. That includes multiple Benchmades, SOGs and Hinderers.

Wow. You bought knives from two companies that have stolen IP and broken the laws too. Shame on you.

 

[ElectroTheRobot]

Wow. You bought knives from two companies that have stolen IP and broken the laws too. Shame on you.

I'm frankly not interested in your attitudes about Chinese manufacturers or your personal judgements, and that's not the subject of discussion here. If you don't have anything to contribute, move on to another thread. Thanks.

 

[palonej]

Totally sucks brother. I guess just be grateful you didn't lose anything expensive.

 

[Hickory n steel]

I get the feeling that you'll probably not win any sort of appeal, so my advice to you is for the next knife you buy to be a Victorinox recruit for about 15$.
First of all they won't have a chance of getting seized, and secondly you don't have to buy from a shady Chinese company just because you're on a budget. You just have to forget about features.

 

[ElectroTheRobot]

I get the feeling that you'll probably not win any sort of appeal, so my advice to you is for the next knife you buy to be a Victorinox recruit for about 15$.
First of all they won't have a chance of getting seized, and secondly you don't have to buy from a shady Chinese company just because you're on a budget. You just have to forget about features.

I own several Victorinox knives, as well as SOGs, Gerbers, and Leathermans. I don't buy Ganzos exclusively (I only own 2 others), but they are a good value for the money (yes yes, intellectual property theft, and all that).

 

[ElectroTheRobot]

Totally sucks brother. I guess just be grateful you didn't lose anything expensive.

I am glad it only cost $25 as opposed to $250, but to me, the price isn't the issue as much as the principle that they can simply seize legally obtained goods for no apparent reason, and leave me with little to no recourse. I don't think folks should just quietly accept illegal behavior from law enforcement agencies.

 

[marcus52AR]

Canada has somewhat reasonable knife laws (basically just no push daggars/autos/gravity knives) such a shame that the CBSA steals our property. No length restrictions and even assisted opening knives are good to go. Just have to get past that line with their own laws.

 

[SpySmasher]

I'm frankly not interested in your attitudes about Chinese manufacturers or your personal judgements, and that's not the subject of discussion here. If you don't have anything to contribute, move on to another thread. Thanks.

Listen my young friend, if you don't want to be judged for your knife choices, don't post about them on Bladeforums. We're obsessed with knives.

 

[evilgreg]

Ganzo:

Big long Gonzo

Doncha get your clip points in China and advertise it will ya

lolwut? If you're arguing the first knife is a copy of the second your photos are terrible evidence. Different handle and blade shapes. Different materials. Different locking mechanisms. Also, if merely having a vaguely similar blade shape makes a knife an IP violation the entire knife industry will have to be shut down. I mean, they're both knives . . . so you've got that, I guess.

 

[FullMetalJackass]

lolwut? If you're arguing the first knife is a copy of the second your photos are terrible evidence. Different handle and blade shapes. Different materials. Different locking mechanisms. Also, if merely having a vaguely similar blade shape makes a knife an IP violation the entire knife industry will have to be shut down. I mean, they're both knives . . . so you've got that, I guess.

Nope, that was not the point One is a knife, another is a good knife.

 

[marcus52AR]

Nope, that was not the point One is a knife, another is a good knife.

Some of the Ganzo stuff is quite blatant, this comparison not so much. I can understand your dislike for the company's thievery, I too loathe replicas and stolen talent ($) but it's not a great example.

Ganzo could have been looking to BM for inspiration on this design, who knows.

As a Canadian I want to stick to the op..

Why are they stealing our lawful property?

 

[FullMetalJackass]

There is indeed an issue with Canadian customs... A bit overzealous. Never had as many issues as I have here when I was living in Europe. Got a lot of parcels seized of various stuffs for dumb reasons. Never had issues with a fat expensive Fedex, so... I might have developed a conspiracy theory about FedEx parcels having a “get out of jail free” because of their private custom brokerage system.

The core problem with knives is the laxist definition of “Gravity knife”. Knives laws in Canada are as nonsensical as the gun laws but it is another issue for another forum

 

[adamlau]

Ganzo, eh? First time I have come across that brand. Looked into it and I may pick up a Firebird FZ29. An Axis Lock PM2 in carbon fiber for under $16 USD shipped? Wow...Real CF or veneer? Interesting stuff...Like the 940-ish F729.

 

[Armadew]

waiting for someone to hammer on you about for buying a ganzo and their copying and theft deal that comes up every thread on this brand.

You raaaang?

Canada Customs are becoming notorious for seizing knives. They have their own rules and don't seem to care about the laws.

I'd say it's always worth fighting for what's right, however. No matter the odds.

Dispute the seizure if you can.

In the future, I would suggest you try to buy within Canada if you can. Or perhaps getting a proxy buyer over the border (not sure how close you are)?

To get back to what jbmonkey warned you about...yeah. Stop supporting thieves. Maybe karma bit you.

 

[C.S. Graves]

^ Canadian officials are not reasonable.
....
It's sad that a law enforcement agency can just arbitrarily make up legal interpretation, but unfortunately it just costs too much to fight.

I think it's a game of roulette... as with LEO's a knife user might encounter, they have some authority to interpret laws regarding "prohibited weapons" as they see fit, and some will be less lenient than others.
I remember back in 1990 when I got my first Spyderco, some of the customs folk were puzzled by the Spydie hole, even conjecturing it was some kind of knuckleduster (for people with freakishly small fingers perhaps?).
On the other hand, more recently I was conversing with an off-duty CBSA agent about kerambits, stressing that there was a crucial difference between a blade with a ring, and a ring with a blade. One is an obvious knife with a ring for retention, and the other a ring with a blade meant to go undetected. Some weeks later they told me they advised a caller that kerambits were indeed OK to import.
Problem is though, all it takes is to get one of the seize-happy agents to inspect your parcel... and as someone else pointed out, there might be some need to meet quotas at play, which seems fundamentally ridiculous to me.

• get the magic extra 40$ brokerage bribery fee (srsly it will be bad business for Fedex if their parcels got seized as often as ebay dealers using standard postal services)

The latter CBSA agent I mention above was saying one time how brokerage fees are basically just a money grab by couriers, and are not exactly lawful at that. Alas, I don't remember the advice I was given on getting said couriers to release one's goods.

 

[ElectroTheRobot]

The latter CBSA agent I mention above was saying one time how brokerage fees are basically just a money grab by couriers, and are not exactly lawful at that. Alas, I don't remember the advice I was given on getting said couriers to release one's goods.

I'm getting a little off-topic here I guess, but I will say that I have fought against brokerage fees before, and won every time. It seems like couriers don't want a lot of attention brought to some of their more sketchy practices. I'm hoping the same holds true for the CBSA.

 

[C.S. Graves]

I'm getting a little off-topic here I guess, but I will say that I have fought against brokerage fees before, and won every time. It seems like couriers don't want a lot of attention brought to some of their more sketchy practices. I'm hoping the same holds true for the CBSA.

As I was typing that, I felt a certain irony as I don't know how successfully one could appeal to the CBSA when they decide to hold yer stuff. I know it's not totally analogous to the brokerage fee thing, but it's not like we have no reason to think the odd seizure might be a little questionable.
I had a southeast Asian dha temporarily seized by customs about 20 years ago, but that was due to concerns about cultural artifacts rather than weapons, and the seller helped me get it released with an affidavit.
Glad you haven't gotten stung with brokerage at least.