Knife laws in NY STATE?

J

jason41987

Joined
May 9, 2012
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I was wondering what the laws are like outside of NYC, in the rest of the state. Is an axis lock a gravity knife? Can a flipper opener have a good enough detent to not be considered a gravity knife? The NYS knife laws aren't as bad as NYC laws, but they still have similar legal definitions.
 
For the most part NYC enforces NYS Penal law. The only NYC laws on knives concern open carry, 4" blade limit and restrictions on sales of certain locking knives with over 4" blades. The vast majority of arrests in NYC are for violations of NYS PL 265.01 & 265.02. What is being enforced in NYC could be enforced in the same many anywhere in the state, but it is not. Yes a axis lock is considered a gravity knife, and almost all flippers can be gravity knives too.....
 
As for the state as a whole, the specific knives that are illegal are: switchblades, gravity knives, sword canes, knuckle knives, and ballistic knives. There is an exception for people who hold fishing and hunting licenses with the state to possess and use switchblades and gravity knives while engaged in those sports. Of course, NYC is the only place in the state where knife laws seem to be enforced most aggressively. I think axis locks and flippers are for the most part okay everywhere in the state except for NYC where people have gotten arrested for them as the cops consider them gravity knives.
 
I just read two state supreme court rulings where the court has declared balisongs to be legal, as they are manually locking they do not fit the definition of a gravity knife. Odd that butterfly knives might be legal where a buck 110 may not be. But if a manually locking knife cannot be illegal, I seen modifications to Opinels that allowed the blade to release and pivot freely when the lock is disengaged and you could twist the lock with your thumb, flick it around like you would an axis locked knife, then lock it manually, deploying almost as quick as any other pocket knife.

So, thinking about this more I wonder if it wouldnt be possible to modify an axis lock to lock forward manually. If you could get something like an axis lock to lock in the forward and rearward positions with a detent, but not be pushed forward with a spring, you could deploy it as fast as an automatically locking axis lock and it'd be perfectly legal in the entire state.
 
Interesting idea considering that they did rule that balisongs aren't gravity knives. The Opinel No. 8 folders I learned are actually pretty easy to modify into a slip joint if you're in an area where you can't carry a locking folder. You simply rotate the lock to the position where it blocks the knife from opening up, then you tug on the nail nick of the blade until the lock pops off and then you have a non-locking Opinel. You can probably snap it back on. I don't want to try that with mine as it's a really nice knife and I like the unique locking mechanism and wouldn't want to do something to it I can't undo.

With all this recent talk about NY, I was doing some research on the history of the gravity knife law and came across an interesting bit of history on a type of folding knife that was infamous in 1970s NYC. It was the 007 knife. Anybody remember those? They were cheap lockback folders with wooden handles and lanyards on the back. They were sold all over NYC back then and became popular among gangs, punk rockers and other figures in the countercultural scene at the time. They sold for as cheap as 5 bucks a pop and they had a weak back spring compared to other locking folders which allowed you to open them slightly and then wrist flick them open the rest of the way. It is believed the 007 knife may have been the knife that punk rocker Sid Vicious's girlfriend Nancy Spungen was killed with. Upon inspection of the crime scene, two knives were found and one of them was a 007 lockback folder. Due to this and some robberies, muggings, and other crimes that took place where these knives were involved, the cops in NYC started cracking down on the 007 and began confiscating the knives from stores and kids they found carrying them. So it seems NY's hostility towards knives goes back to the grimy '70s high crime era. You can read more about the history of the infamous 007 knife here: http://themartialist.net/the-007-knife-infamous-1970s-lockback/
 
While all that may be true, it's not something the current governor of the state will ever have any interest in fixing. Even though it's an outdated law from the 70s that is irrelevant today and probably unconstitutional when you consider the courts ruling that the second amendment applies to non-firearm weapons as well (a recent repeal of nunchuck bans ruling that as they were in common use, laws against them violate the 2A). The best way to defeat gravity knife laws would be through the courts.

Absolutely of a court rules against a nunchuck ban that the precedent that sets can easily be applied to even more common folding pocket knives.
 
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