Butterfly Knife/Switchblade Laws?

[patm1313]

I just don't get them. All across the U.S. switchblades and butterfly knives are illegal. I just don't see them as any more dangerous than normal knives, and I see some good uses for them. First, I can open a normal folding knife just as fast as I can flip open a butterfly knife or flick a switchblade. Second, neither of them are any more dangerous than normal knives.

Some of the good uses I see for switchblades are that they can be used for search and rescue as well as survival. Switchblades could be the solution for a diver who is running out of air and is tied up with some old rope on the sea floor. Maybe they only have onje hand and they need to do something fast.

I don't know, it just makes no sense. What are your opinions on switchblades and butterfly knives?

[putzpie]

Silly old me, thought you put "butter knives" at first.

[OddlyPoetic]

Trust me, we dont need to give people another tool to kill themselves with

[WorkingComedian]

divers have special knives that they take with them that are waterproof and a butterfly knife and switch blade dont have water proof ability only rust ALSO under water a jagged edge knife would be better than a smooth knife

[TheJamoke]

As far as I know, most regions don't have laws against switchblades and butterfly knives in general as a whole, the only prohibitions I know of locally are against spring-loaded switchblades and blades longer than 8 inches which is considered a deadly weapon. You may be mistaken on what you've heard about the law, or perhaps you just live in an oppressive anti-knife area. Besides, there are no national knife laws, small issues like that are governed state-to-state, county to county. Hell, I'll bet in Texas you can walk around with damn near a full length machete in your boot before anyone says anything. Around here we're allowed to carry any duel-edge switchblade or "tactical folder" as long as it's not spring loaded, I'm sure of that law.

[patm1313]

At 10/17/08 07:38 PM, Sensationalism wrote: I think it's funny that you used highly unlikely examples as your justification for needin the knives to be legal.

Lol. Highly unlikely examples? Do i need to add another?

What if you ended getting tangled up in a streamer (a tree or other object in a rive that you can get caught on) while you were kayaking? A lot of people do kayak (myself included), and if you get into that situation where you have hundreds of gallons of water gushing over you a minute, every second counts. and that extra deadly second may be spent opening that blade. Trust me, I've flipped my kayak, and it really is a panic scenario. You're not always in the right state of mind to fiddle with a knife.

There's plenty of uses that I can't list, but it's hard for some city kid like you who sits his fatass down at the computer all day to imagine them. Why? because you'll never bee whitewhater kayaking. You'll never dive, you'll never be in a situation where you need something that you can open with one hand.

[Dry-Ice]

I think the main reason switchblades and butterfly knives are illegal is because they're easy to conceal and quick to deploy.

Although it's not like you can get away with carrying a butcher knife out on the street anyway is it?

[RockinPunk]

At 10/17/08 07:40 PM, WorkingComedian wrote: divers have special knives that they take with them that are waterproof

Waterproof knife?

What the hell.

[OddlyPoetic]

At 10/17/08 07:55 PM, patm1313 wrote:

At 10/17/08 07:38 PM, Sensationalism wrote: I think it's funny that you used highly unlikely examples as your justification for needin the knives to be legal.

What if you ended getting tangled up in a streamer (a tree or other object in a rive that you can get

There's plenty of uses that I can't list, but it's hard for some city kid like you who sits his fatass down at the computer all day to imagine them. Why? because you'll never bee whitewhater kayaking. You'll never dive, you'll never be in a situation where you need something that you can open with one hand.

Yeah, because people NEVER leave a city once their born there....
I love how you resort to insults once your arugument starts to rupture.
City kid? You said you live in the subarbs in your last thread.
Kid, you aint no grizzly adamns either

[Prinzy2]

Ordinary people have no use for a switchblade or butterfly knife. How safe would you feel with every shady kid you know having a knife that could fit in the palm of their hand and could use it to surprise and probably kill you in 2 seconds. I've seen enough nut-jobs that I'm willing to sacrifice a few kayakers and scuba divers to keep such knives out of reach from such people.

[Prinzy2]

A thought just occurred to me. Don't scuba divers have knives in sheaths? You know, so all they have to do is pull them out and cut away? Isn't it kind of pointless to have an extra step like pushing a button?

[ZekePowerful]

I have no such laws where I live, hell, at this point there's a butterfly knife around fifteen feet away from me.

If these things are illegal, small steak knives should be illegal. They don't have to do anything to shank you with it! If I was a mugger, (which I am not, last I checked) I'd rather had a nice, somewhat thick steak knife with a serrated tip rather than a cumbersome switchblade. The choice is clear. Our utensils must be made illegal.

[Boxer112]

ok first of all the guy is right it total bs that states are making laws about who and what people can carry around and what happened to the 2nd amendment The right to bear arms. i know they must be talking about guns but still they gotta also be talking about knifes and other weapons like that because when the wrote it guns sucked alot and swords and knifes were still in use alot so i dont think that the government has much of a right to determine what we have. i can see why they would not want us to have like a 10" knife. the guy who is giving examples alot of those examples suck but i know that you are trying to think of something so nice try. and the guy that is saying "its funny how you result to insults when ... something or other" your just trying to act cool by saying that i know because that is how i used to be but i have grown up. plus if somebody wanted to get a knife to do something bad they would be able to get it no matter what the gov. cant stop ppl that well so they should make it legal because some ppl like me just collect knives it a family tradition and some knives have special meaning to me since my dad gave them to me and with a butterfly knife it would be cool to learn how to do those tricks so yeah

[nymphoid]

At 10/17/08 07:37 PM, putzpie wrote: Silly old me, thought you put "butter knives" at first.

teehee

i had an ex that thought butterfly knives were the shit
until he tried doing some ninja move to impressed me and cut his hand open

they're illegal to protect douchebags like him.

[EvilerBowser1001]

Well, it's all about concealability.
If you're well trained with a weapon, and can conceal it, you're really deadly.
If you know how to use it, you can flip it out, and stab a guy in a few seconds.
If you have it in say, a scabbard, the person may be able to see the threat, and prepare himself mentally and instinctively for you trying to stab him.

Why do you think places have longer waiting times for buying handguns than for rifles and shotguns?
Because you can't conceal a rifle or shotgun easily.
Pistols are more likely to be used in murders, because they're easier to hide.

[theshadowwolf]

If you cant buy them legally, buy illegally. If not, make your own, and have fun with it. Also, they wont be searching you or your home for contraband, so I'm pretty sure it's not that bad.

[Samen]

They're illegal because in a search it can be hard to identify them as weapons.

[ApprenticeRPG]

They aren't illegal in all states. But where does one acquire a butterfly knife? I assume not your everyday hunting goods store?

[jds74]

most likely because they can easily be concealed

[Penrodeo]

Switchblades are almost obsolete anyways. Most spring assisted knives (different principle btw) are getting better locking mechanisms which = more durability (even though they still break like twigs)

Folding knives aren't even good for defense, tbh. I have no care for the switchblade laws because the switchblade is a low quality weapon. If you want a knife to conceal get a fixed blade. That way it's actually usable in utility purposes than for just show.

KA BAR TDI Law Enforcement knife FTW.

[Penrodeo]

At 7/18/10 12:58 AM, MercatorMap wrote: Switch blades and butterfly knives are often illegal for the same reasons as sawed off shotguns.

They are a considerable threat in the correct hands and they are quite small.

Any properly trained person would laugh at the prospect of using a butterfly/folding knife as a weapon.

They're toys in the knife world. They haven't the durability of a fixed blade, they're commonly made of badly tempered chinese stainless steels that hold their edge as well as toilet paper stays dry in the rain, and even if you get them with good quality materials, it'd be at much higher prices and they'd still be weaker than a fixed blade.

I'd ban fixed blade knives before I ban switchblades. One is significantly more dangerous than the other and still has the capability of being concealed.

[Penrodeo]

At 7/18/10 01:06 AM, MercatorMap wrote:

At 7/18/10 01:03 AM, Chymeraxe wrote:

At 7/18/10 12:58 AM, MercatorMap wrote: Switch blades and butterfly knives are often illegal for the same reasons as sawed off shotguns.

They are a considerable threat in the correct hands and they are quite small.

Any properly trained person would laugh at the prospect of using a butterfly/folding knife as a weapon.

Any properly trained person would laugh at the prospect of using a knife as a weapon period.'

True. But that's besides the point, lol.

Psh. Because you need "training" to tell the difference between a decent knife and a shitty knife.

You need knowledge, otherwise you're either going to be left with a shitty knife or one that you don't know how to maintain, both cases causing failures in the performance of your knife, which can mean you'll just be a dead guy with a shitty knife.

5 minutes of education from a wiki could tell you everything you know about knives.

Besides how to use them.

You can keep your knife. I'll stick with my kukri.

Well if we're diving into other weapons categories I'd take a medium sized combat rifle over anything for self defense. But practicallity and concealability is what matters in the civilian defense world, so ideally handgun = your best option.

Someone with a decent eye would be able to see something so huge as a kukri though, at least I'd hope.

[CrazyBacon64]

At 10/17/08 08:03 PM, Prinzy2 wrote: Ordinary people have no use for a switchblade or butterfly knife. How safe would you feel with every shady kid you know having a knife that could fit in the palm of their hand and could use it to surprise and probably kill you in 2 seconds. I've seen enough nut-jobs that I'm willing to sacrifice a few kayakers and scuba divers to keep such knives out of reach from such people.

Ya, it's not like people can carry a razor sharp pocket knife. Which, might I add, are perfectly legal to conceal. Most shady kids I know do legally carry knives, and that's why it is good to have you're own knife for protection. Not to mention most people that would kill another person will carry I knife if it's legal or not.

[Richard]

All across the US? OP obviously didn't put any effort into any sort of research. Fun fact: Each state has different laws regarding knives and fire arms.

So that's a big fat no OP. Butterfly knives are not illegal all across the US.

[masheenH3ad]

I think they're cool! Who doesn't want a switch blade?

[Richard]

Leidolfr, your post was extremely confusing. Were you saying that it takes no skill to wield a butterfly knife?

[Richard]

At 4/4/11 04:48 PM, Xarnor wrote:

At 4/4/11 04:39 PM, MercatorMapV2 wrote: Leidolfr, your post was extremely confusing. Were you saying that it takes no skill to wield a butterfly knife?

It doesn't take skill. It takes a bit of practice, but practice =/= skill. It probably does take skill to be really flashy with a butterfly knife like they are on movies though. The butterfly knife was designed to be able to be opened even if you're tied up and can't move your hands or fingers very well. It uses gravity to open the knife, instead of requiring your fingers to open it.

Pulling a fixed blade out of a sheathe doesn't take skill.

But this does. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrmoHFuHp vA

[BananaBreadMuffin]

At 10/17/08 07:35 PM, patm1313 wrote: Switchblades could be the solution for a diver who is running out of air and is tied up with some old rope on the sea floor. Maybe they only have onje hand and they need to do something fast.

Divers carry diving knives, which are ferociously sharp, and unlike switchblades, don't rely on springs and hinges and things that can rust.

[Richard]

At 4/4/11 04:58 PM, Leidolfr wrote:

At 4/4/11 04:56 PM, Leidolfr wrote:

At 4/4/11 04:53 PM, MercatorMapV2 wrote: Pulling a fixed blade out of a sheathe doesn't take skill.

But this does. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrmoHFuHp vA

Flash is flash, and dead is dead

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmp2_WdFo PE

lol, wrong video, but, see any butterfly knives on them?

True story: Butterfly knives, AKA balisongs, are Filipino. In fact, Balisong is Filipino for "broken horn".

Many Filipinos carry them and use them on a day to day basis.

[Richard]

At 4/4/11 05:16 PM, Leidolfr wrote:

At 4/4/11 05:14 PM, MercatorMapV2 wrote: Many Filipinos carry them and use them on a day to day basis.

Cool.

[ I still dont see any ]

What would be the point of taking 30 seconds to go through youtube to easily find a video of Filipinos using balisongs? What point does this make? What point does your video make?

Answer: No point is made.