Busted for carrying a switchblade.

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-Lucky-

-Lucky-

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May 11, 2010
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First off no I didn't get busted, because I don't carry one. But what I'm asking is really what are the chances? (I've owned them before and I'll own them again, and unless I can legally I won't carry one)

But if you aren't waving it around in public or something of that sort nobody is going to know that pocket clip is from an auto...so as long as you are an average law abiding citizen (minus that auto in your jeans of course :rolleyes:) I don't see any ways you could get "busted" for having it on you..

Please point out where my logic is flawed.
 
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The law in Minnesota is crystal clear. See the law word for word below:

- Section 609.66. Dangerous weapons.
Subdivision 1.
Acts prohibited. Whoever does any of the following is
guilty of a crime... (4) manufactures, transfers, or
possesses metal knuckles or a switch blade knife opening
automatically; or
(5) possesses any other dangerous article or substance
for the purpose of being used unlawfully as a weapon
against another...

Subdivision 1c. Felony; furnishing a dangerous weapon.
Whoever recklessly furnishes a person with a dangerous weapon in
conscious disregard of a known substantial risk that the object
will be possessed or used in furtherance of a felony crime of
violence is guilty of a felony...

Your logic is only flawed if you think you can talk a cop out of arresting you (felony) if a traffic stop leads to a search with an auto in your car or your pocket. The burden of proof would be on you to prove it in court that your auto is a tool and not a weapon to cause bodily hard to another. Personally, I like to fly under the radar as much as possible.
Source: http://knife-expert.com/mn.txt
 
That like saying it's cool to run red lights as long as no one is around. Good luck, it's just not worth it when there are better legal options out there :cool:
 
So-Lo said:
That like saying it's cool to run red lights as long as no one is around. Good luck, it's just not worth it when there are better legal options out there :cool:
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But it's not even close to the same thing. Running red lights kills people, and is irresponsible and serves no purpose other than proving you're an inconsiderate jerk who doesn't care about other peoples lives.

Carrying an auto knife has ZERO negative impacts on society. It's a tool, which only offers convenience to the user. It's designed for fast deployment and ease of use (such as the user wearing thick gloves or in a tight spot). There's plenty of negative connotations out there about "switch blades" from movies where the gangsters always seemed to carry them, but how far away from the truth could you be? Why would a criminal even carry a knife when he could be using a handgun or a more suitable weapon? It's one of those stupid hollywood laws that needs to go, along with the butterfly knife laws.

Anyways, back to OP. Depending on the penalty for carrying one where I was at, I might or might not carry an auto. I haven't ever owned one but would like to, and I'd carry it without a thought as long as it wasn't a felony charge in that area. Hell, when I was 12 I owned and played with butterfly knives all the time, still have one sitting in a drawer to this day. Is it illegal? Yes. Do I care? No. I'm not a huge fan of Government telling me what I can and cannot do, and would rather use my own common sense. It's not hurting anyone, and I'm not hurting anyone. And this is coming from someone who owns multiple guns and knives.

Not to mention a fixed blade is the absolute fastest blade you can have, and in many places they're perfectly legal to own (under certain lengths of course). So I don't see the reasoning behind the law, and it serves no purpose IMO.

/rant
 
An axample of logic is: it is illegal - so I do not do it...
A flawed logic is: it is illegal - but I do it anyway...
I recon your logic is kind of flawed. ;)

But if you made up your mind - do it! Why do you expect for somebody here to approve your decision - it should not mean anything to you!
 
Ok so you're going to carry a knife for EDC, that you can't even bring out in public. If you NEED to have a switchblade, leave it at home. If you're ever pulled over or stopped by the cops for any other reason, you've just added a felony charge onto whatever else you did.

IMO... Stupid mall ninja idea. No need to be bad bad Leroy Brown. Get an assisted opener if you need lightning quick tactical deployment...
 
Not worth risking it. Crap happens, you might get pulled over for something, a cop might notice the pocket clip as being a particular brand or knife, or a vengeful co-worker might drop dime on you.

I think your best option would be to move out of Minnesota (too cold in the winter, too many mosquitoes in the summer) and down here to sunny Arizona.:cool:
 
00ChevyScott said:
But it's not even close to the same thing. Running red lights kills people, and is irresponsible and serves no purpose other than proving you're an inconsiderate jerk who doesn't care about other peoples lives.

Carrying an auto knife has ZERO negative impacts on society. It's a tool, which only offers convenience to the user. It's designed for fast deployment and ease of use (such as the user wearing thick gloves or in a tight spot). There's plenty of negative connotations out there about "switch blades" from movies where the gangsters always seemed to carry them, but how far away from the truth could you be? Why would a criminal even carry a knife when he could be using a handgun or a more suitable weapon? It's one of those stupid hollywood laws that needs to go, along with the butterfly knife laws.

Anyways, back to OP. Depending on the penalty for carrying one where I was at, I might or might not carry an auto. I haven't ever owned one but would like to, and I'd carry it without a thought as long as it wasn't a felony charge in that area. Hell, when I was 12 I owned and played with butterfly knives all the time, still have one sitting in a drawer to this day. Is it illegal? Yes. Do I care? No. I'm not a huge fan of Government telling me what I can and cannot do, and would rather use my own common sense. It's not hurting anyone, and I'm not hurting anyone. And this is coming from someone who owns multiple guns and knives.

Not to mention a fixed blade is the absolute fastest blade you can have, and in many places they're perfectly legal to own (under certain lengths of course). So I don't see the reasoning behind the law, and it serves no purpose IMO.

/rant
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Your right, it's more like burning out on a public road in a loud ugly truck. As long as your not hurting nobody it's logical to break the law ;)



Then maybe even YouTube yourself doing so, only to have it backfire :D

Carrying a auto knife is kind of like that :thumbup:

BTW, autos are not as fast as a waved knife :)
 
Poez said:
An axample of logic is: it is illegal - so I do not do it...
A flawed logic is: it is illegal - but I do it anyway...
I recon your logic is kind of flawed. ;)

But if you made up your mind - do it! Why do you expect for somebody here to approve your decision - it should not mean anything to you!
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Haze240 said:
Ok so you're going to carry a knife for EDC, that you can't even bring out in public. If you NEED to have a switchblade, leave it at home. If you're ever pulled over or stopped by the cops for any other reason, you've just added a felony charge onto whatever else you did.

IMO... Stupid mall ninja idea. No need to be bad bad Leroy Brown. Get an assisted opener if you need lightning quick tactical deployment...
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Just because it's illegal doesn't mean it's right.

There are thousands of laws across the country that are absolutely stupid and serve no purpose. Most of them are either a politician trying to make a name for himself, or interest groups trying to run the show. Cigarettes and alcohol kill thousands of people of a year, yet they're still perfectly legal right?
 
Considering that I've gone through my entire life without ever ending up being searched by the cops, I would say chances are good that you would never be caught(just don't carry it with you to the car or the bank). However, I still wouldn't feel easy about carrying it. If I ever intend to use it, I would have to wait until nobody's looking. If I carry it for self-defense, it would make me twice as screwed if I DO use it.

However, I personally stray away from auto knives in the first place. Too high maintenance and more moving parts make it complicated and easier to break.

Best to sidestep the issue entirely and get an AO folder:thumbup:.
 
Noctis3880 said:
Considering that I've gone through my entire life without ever ending up being searched by the cops, I would say chances are good that you would never be caught(just don't carry it with you to the car or the bank). However, I still wouldn't feel easy about carrying it. If I ever intend to use it, I would have to wait until nobody's looking. If I carry it for self-defense, it would make me twice as screwed if I DO use it.

However, I personally stray away from auto knives in the first place. Too high maintenance and more moving parts make it complicated and easier to break.

Best to sidestep the issue entirely and get an AO folder:thumbup:.
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But to most cops/sheeple, an AO looks exactly like a switchblade when brought out of your pocket to cut something. How many times have you used an AO knife and had someone question you about it? How many people have been wrongfully pursued by police officers because they're not clear on knife laws and presume an AO is an automatic?

IMO they're the same thing. What is so different about pushing a button vs pushing a flipper? I know you can get technical about it and explain the differences (which I do know), but they serve the same purpose with the same results. My Kershaw Rake with AO an flipper opens up just as fast as pushing a button would. And my Kershaw RAM actually opens up even faster than the Rake and it's not even AO.
 
I carry a auto knife almost everyday, the chances of getting caught are slim.
If I have to use it then I will just get caught I guess.
 
Wow, Felony. That's a very large chance to take. You could get away with it all your life, then just once not get away with it. With that on your records forget legal gun ownership, quite a few jobs ( and I don't just mean government).

The funny thing is that I can get an endura out of my pocket and open just as fast as any of my modern autos. Plus, I don't trust them as much. Even the expensive Microtechs.

The on;y time I ever felt the need to use one was a double action microtech right after my shoulder reconstructions when I couldn't move them at all, and only had one hand/arm to get by with untill it healed and was rehabbed. Even that was mostly for ease of closing the knife, not opening.
 
Yeah yeah, its illegal but it ain't right. Well you think you only have to follow the laws you believe in? The legal system is open to personal interpretation is it? Goodluck saying you're an upstanding citizen that only follows the laws they believe in.
 
Switchblades are covered under our CWPs (concealed weapon permits)here in the Sunshine State.:)
Note the word "weapon"; gun is not specified in the title. You need to move to a state that doesn't curtail your rights. We also don't get 12' of snow. Something to consider.
 
-Lucky- said:
First off no I didn't get busted, because I don't carry one.
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This is good. Considering your username here is '-Lucky-', I would've found the title of this thread quite ironic. :p

-Lucky- said:
But what I'm asking is really what are the chances? (I've owned them before and I'll own them again, and unless I can legally I won't carry one)
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It really doesn't matter what the chances (statistically) are. It'll only take ONE occurrance (of getting caught with it) to really ruin your day.

-Lucky- said:
But if you aren't waving it around in public or something of that sort nobody is going to know that pocket clip is from an auto...so as long as you are an average law abiding citizen (minus that auto in your jeans of course :rolleyes:) I don't see any ways you could get "busted" for having it on you..

Please point out where my logic is flawed.
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It's relatively common, in a lot of places, for these things to get found during otherwise routine/mundane interaction with law enforcement, such as during a traffic stop, if the LEO happens to 'ask' if you're carrying any weapons/knives on you, and you find yourself debating/wondering how best to respond to that. They'll be gauging your reaction closely, and what they do next will/can be based on how 'nervous' you appear to be.

I noticed, in your sig line, you're in ROTC? Something like this could potentially impact your career aspirations there, too. Getting busted doesn't look very favorable on the resume of an officer candidate in the military.

It's good that you're asking the question though, before something does happen. You're considering these things ahead of time, instead of thinking about them when it's too late to make a difference.
 
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00ChevyScott said:
But to most cops/sheeple, an AO looks exactly like a switchblade when brought out of your pocket to cut something. How many times have you used an AO knife and had someone question you about it? How many people have been wrongfully pursued by police officers because they're not clear on knife laws and presume an AO is an automatic?
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My coworkers don't exactly blow the whistle on me, and I don't pull it out in front of cops or customers. It also depends on the context really. If you're pulling your knife for a cutting task, people are less likely to freak out than if you popped your knife open out of the blue for no apparent reason.

If they question, explain to them the difference between an AO and an automatic. Perhaps even point out a local sports shop that would sell the knife.

If they still need convincing, I would just pull out that SAK you personally sharpened up to 0.5 micron, drop a tomato on the edge, and ask them if they seriously think that's any less lethal than your AO:thumbup:.
 
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