Mechanical Difference Between Assisted Openers and OTF from a Legal Perspective

[badcow47]

Knife and Gun Regulations/Laws are nothing more than a tool used to infringe and pick away at your rights. And note that they are always cooked up and written into law by the most clueless, ignorant, uninformed imbeciles, who know NOTHING about knives or guns, other than some are scary looking so they must be banned.

I wonder how many of the armed security who protect these lawmaking politicians carry AUTO's.

If Spyderco makes a police model. It makes me wonder how much they love them.

 

[DocJD]

There is a war of values going on .

The law abiding citizen should either be treated like a violent criminal psychopath and totally disarmed , or have constitutional rights to keep and bear arms .

There is not really much inbetween .

 

[bikerector]

The dumb part is that politicians will also get flack for trying to remove some of these dumb laws with, "don't they have more important things to work on?" type rhetoric. The laws shouldn't have been there in the first place but it seems like some of the people that politicians represent don't feel the need to remove the law either, so it stands for a lot longer than it should.

This was a lot of the BS people were spewing when Michigan removed the ban on autos a few years ago. "Shouldn't they be working on more important work, like clean water for Flint?" With the way knives open now, I don't think most people have any clue if a knife is an auto or manual opening who isn't familiar with folding knives. They just don't care to change laws that don't directly affect them.

There really should be a good process for getting rid of obsolete or stupid laws.

 

[scdub]

Also legal in Florida. I wonder if any five O have confiscated a knife and kept it for themselves. I have heard that this happens, but don’t want to believe it.

Yes - of course some have - police are flawed people too. Those that have should be fired of course and I imagine it’s a very small minority, but I’m also sure it has happened.

Speaking of Law Enforcement - MANY cops in CA have come to believe that police are ALLOWED to carry automatic knives. There are even “cop shops” that sell Benchmade OTFs to police over the counter as if it’s legal.

It’s particularly annoying because in CA people have been locked up as FELONS for the same crime.

 

[madcap_magician]

I know there' a complex set of federal and state laws that fundamentally treat an OTF knife as a "evil" switchblade while generally classifying assisted openers as "good" pocket knives.

In a side opening switchblade a button releases stored mechanical energy to open the blade. This is clearly "evil". In an assisted opener, mechanical energy is exerted on the blade via a stud of flipper which classifies it as "good". An OTF knife seems to mimic the behavior of an assisted opener since there is no stored energy until the slider tensions the spring.

I'm curious why one is broadly legal yet the other is not. Based purely on mechanical principles they should be treated the same....right?

They're not mechanically the same, that's why they're treated differently. Is that absurd? Yes, we have many absurd laws.

But to your specific question, switchblades are spring-driven with a bias towards the open position. The button pressed releases the stored mechanical energy in the spring to open the knife. The button is separate from the blade itself. Most states' legal definitions of switchblades include references to spring-powered opening by a button mechanism. That's important, because it means that absence of one or both of those items makes a knife by definition not a switchblade, regardless of whether it opens just as quickly or not. Now, this is tricky because some states simply never define the term 'switchblade' in their criminal code. In those places, there is a great deal of vagueness that benefits aggressive prosecuting attorneys and harms ordinary citizens.

But it is for that reason that a Kershaw Leek is not a switchblade - it is spring-assisted, but you are still manually opening the blade by finger pressure on the flipper tab; and why a flipper Hinderer XM-18 is not a switchblade - not only is the knife opened by finger pressure on the blade, but there is no spring involved whatsoever, only the accumulation of pressure on the detent, which is suddenly released after the detent is overcome and flips the blade to the open position. Both knives are biased toward closure, meaning the default position of the knife is closed, as opposed to a switchblade, which 'wants' to be open but is only held closed by the button lock.

 

[Spey]

RE: "Mechanical Difference Between Assisted Openers and OTF from a Legal Perspective"

Where I live:
Blade vs. Any Other activation method of opening of a spring loaded knife with a bias towards being closed in a neutral state.
Blade Opening Activation - would include touching the blade, blade-tang, blade-stud, blade-disk, blade-flipper-tab, etc.
vs.
Any Other Opening Activation - would include touching a button, bolster, etc.

Other jurisdictions may vary on specifics.
Would recommend researching specific regional municipality codes.
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** Code example text below in my regional municipalities classify "spring blade knife" as a "Dangerous weapon" and are prohibited carry except under specific circumstance (example: on duty LEO). Last half of last sentence was adopted in my state a few years back to specifically allow "Assisted Openers".
"Spring blade knife" means any knife, including a prototype, model, or other sample, with a blade that is automatically released by a spring mechanism or other mechanical device, or any knife having a blade which opens, or falls, or is ejected into position by the force of gravity, or by an outward, downward, or centrifugal thrust or movement. A knife that contains a spring, detent, or other mechanism designed to create a bias toward closure of the blade and that requires physical exertion applied to the blade by hand, wrist, or arm to overcome the bias toward closure to assist in opening the knife is not a spring blade knife.

** United States Code
U.S.C. 15 CHAPTER 29 - MANUFACTURE, TRANSPORTATION, OR DISTRIBUTION OF SWITCHBLADE KNIVES
§1241. Definitions
As used in this chapter—
(a) The term “interstate commerce” means commerce between any State, Territory, possession of the United States, or the District of Columbia, and any place outside thereof.
(b) The term “switchblade knife” means any knife having a blade which opens automatically—
(1) by hand pressure applied to a button or other device in the handle of the knife, or
(2) by operation of inertia, gravity, or both.