I used to carry a full auto benchmade that I loved. I ended up losing it somewhere and never bought another. I would definitely grap another though if it were legal to carry around here

I am in for it, but this seems like a hard nut to crack

https://blademag.com/knife-history/why- ... es-illegal

“Vicious fantasies of omnipotence, idolatry… barbaric and sadistic atrocities, and monstrous violations of the accepted values spring from the cult of the weapon, and the switchblade knife is included in this. Minus switchblade knives and distorted feeling of power they beget – power that is swaggering, reckless, and itching to express itself in violence – our delinquent adolescents would be shorn of one of their most potent means of incitement to crime.” –Representative Sidney R. Yates of Illinois, 1958

Fast-forward to November, 1950. Subscribers all over the U.S. received their new copy of Woman’s Home Companion. It contained one of the most lurid examples of anti-knife muckraking to ever be written, an article titled, The Toy That Kills. Jack Harrison Pollack, a freelance writer and ghostwriter for then-Senator Harry S. Truman, wrote the article. He filled it with a number of quotes and statistics without ever referencing a single citation. Even in today’s digital world, we have a hard time finding many facts to back up Pollack’s claims.

The Toy That Kills:
https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2015/04/03/toy-kills



Also:
https://gizmodo.com/why-switchblades-ar ... 1704050416

You talkin' auto knife or a 12" dick?

Assisted openers are just as fast and legal in this state. My kershaw blur flys out of my hand. Banning switchblades is like banning nunchucks, something to make soccer moms feel good without actually having to put forth the work to prevent crime, or god forbid get off their butts to make the world a better place. I'll be glad if this passes, finally something of common sense comes out of the Washington legislature.

Really the hope of getting liberals onboard is framing that this ban disproportionately affects the disabled with no appreciable benefit for public safety. The access of automatic knives is not what contributes to violent crime or its legality, and automatic knives are important tools for people with disabilities or limited dexterity and fine motor skills.

Having carried a few microtechs and a benchmade infidel, I like my autos to be flippers.

Funny you mention that because that's actually how I framed part of my expression of support for the bill that I sent to my reps and senator

I love those histrionics. Don't have any actual basis to back this up with? Might as well just make up something that sounds like it was pulled from a Greek tragedy

I'm not that old, perhaps someone is older than I who was around at that time. But it appears they were originally passed around the 1950s because of fears of hoodlums with switchblades.

They were outlawed because the Hell's angels and other motorcycle gangs were "known" to favor them. The same fervor that calls for the ban of assault weapons. If you actually look at an Italian made Stilleto, you can see that they aren't suited for anything but opening your mail, but it looked evil so they banned it. Sound familiar?

I'm not that old, but being in the knife community earlier, as far as I know these original laws were made due to the popularity of the broadway musical West Side Story. There are a few other movies like The Warriors, and The Fonz which not using a real switchblade sorta influenced that "no gangster is complete without an Italian Stiletto" look. But we do know that West Side Story started it all. If you noticed the years of the original representatives talking about the epidemic of switchblades they coincide directly when West Side Story was the biggest thing on Broadway.

Was there any real data that actual gangsters used it? It's kind of this chicken and egg scenario or life imitates art. We aren't sure if movies were portraying the authentic life of gangsters or if the media was influencing gangsters to purchase the fashion accessories the movies associated with them. More than likely it's kind of like how the UK banned anything "ninja" related that it was off of a media hysteria than anything that actually existed.

Yep. Kershaw Avalanche for me (now discontinued).

Actually reading through it, it seems to be a liberal initiative and has a high chance of passing. The whole premise is erasing the definition of "Spring blade knife" which includes gravity knives has become a racial issue.



The whole motivation from the liberals to get this through is that these laws particularly the "centrifugal thrust" opening mechanism aka "gravity knife." are allegedly used by police officers to charge and arrest people carrying legally purchased pocket knives that are loose enough to open with a hard swing of the wrist. These people that are charged and arrested are usually of racial minorities and disproportionately affected. That's why the left wing wants to get rid of it.

Vice (a liberal media outlet) has a video on this sort of thing and promoting that these laws should be removed due to racial bias outcomes.


Just one of those things depending on what the situation is, you can get anti-gun liberals onboard with deregulating weapons if you can make the case about the other stuff they care about.

^ Great post and great video. Thank you.