Ballistic knife

Kenja

Kenja

Joined
Dec 8, 2017
Messages
143
Hi guys. Merry Christmas to all of you..... I was just curious. Is it legal to carry a ballistic knife if you have the spring separate from the device.so basically it would be a knife with no spring. Would that also make it legal to sell? Thanks in advance.-
 
Kenja said:
Hi guys. Merry Christmas to all of you..... I was just curious. Is it legal to carry a ballistic knife if you have the spring separate from the device.so basically it would be a knife with no spring. Would that also make it legal to sell? Thanks in advance.-
Click to expand...
For ownership. I would think so. Spring needs to be very, very separate though. Here's an analogy, and I'm not certain it applies, but:

If you own a Glock pistol and a detachable shoulder stock is found in your residence, you are illegally in "constructive possession" of a short-barreled rifle.
 
Your short barreled rifle analogy is good, but not quite accurate.

The only federal law concerning ballistic knives is the Ballistic Knife Prohibition Act of 1986, which is almost identical to the 1958 Federal Switchblade Act.

This act does not prohibit possession, but only regulates interstate transactions, possession of federal property and use in committing federal crimes.

Any other ballistic knife possession laws are going to be at the state or local level and will vary.

As an example, when Texas still had switchblde possession laws ( thank you Knife Rights for their demise), ballistic knives were not even mentioned in the Texas Penal Code.
 
From a point paper we recently put together:

Only nine states have made Ballistic Knives illegal: California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. In addition, they may be considered illegal in Washington as well due to that state's odd switchblade ban statute with its vague definition of a "spring blade knife." Likewise, that phrase is used in Ohio's ban on manufacture and sale of "switchblade, springblade, and gravity knives" (SB 242 has been introduced for 2018 to remove this prohibition), but possession and carry (not concealed) is legal. There have been no judicial decisions supporting that interpretation, however.

So, to conclude, in 40 or 41 states there are no prohibitions on possession and carry of Ballistic Knives that don't apply to knives generally.

Added: In states without knife law preemption, local jurisdictions may have their own prohibitions. (Knife Rights passed the nation's first Knife Law Preemption bill in Arizona in 2010 and has since helped to enact preemption laws in Alaska, Georgia, Kansas, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin)

You would need to check the municipal ordinances for the city or town you are interested in to find that information.

Two likely sources:
https://library.municode.com
http://www.amlegal.com/code-library/

Or, use Google and search for "Municipal Code" (without quotes) and the name of the municipality
 
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Critter said:
From a point paper we recently put together:

Only nine states have made Ballistic Knives illegal: California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. In addition, they may be considered illegal in Washington as well due to that state's odd switchblade ban statute with its vague definition of a "spring blade knife." Likewise, that phrase is used in Ohio's ban on manufacture and sale of "switchblade, springblade, and gravity knives" (SB 242 has been introduced for 2018 to remove this prohibition), but possession and carry (not concealed) is legal. There have been no judicial decisions supporting that interpretation, however.

So, to conclude, in 40 or 41 states there are no prohibitions on possession and carry of Ballistic Knives that don't apply to knives generally.

Added: In states without knife law preemption, local jurisdictions may have their own prohibitions. (Knife Rights passed the nation's first Knife Law Preemption bill in Arizona in 2010 and has since helped to enact preemption laws in Alaska, Georgia, Kansas, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin)

You would need to check the municipal ordinances for the city or town you are interested in to find that information.

Two likely sources:
https://library.municode.com
http://www.amlegal.com/code-library/

Or, use Google and search for "Municipal Code" (without quotes) and the name of the municipality
Click to expand...

BK's are also illegal in KS. So are throwing stars, which I still really do not understand. When I first moved here, I had to ask if they had a Ninja problem.

As for separating the spring, you might be able to achieve the same result by simply keeping the BLADE separate because I have seen the device for sale as a means of propelling a grappling hook (I'm sure the sellers are aware of the potential "misuse"). Throw in the fact that a "knife" (of any type) kinda has to have a blade to even fit that description and (personally) I'd be comfortable with a "Ballistic......."
 
Would this be classified as a ballistic? since the dart is more like a scalpel? Happy new years to all of you.

 
Yea, I didn't even know there was a semi auto ballistic knife. Do you have any info on it? Like who is making them? I' assuming it is spring powered, as I didn't hear any pneumatic sound.
 
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