Switchblades. Auto knives. Push button knives. Flick
knives. No matter what you call them, fully automatic knives have an undeniable appeal.
They aren’t new. The
first ones were made in the mid 1700s.
Following the U.S. Civil War, knives became factory products made in
quantity.
Knife sales increased thanks to the internet of its time,
the catalog and advertisement. In 1892
George Schrade invented the first really practical auto knife. We’re still re-inventing the auto knife. The Blade Show featured the so-called dual mode
and hidden auto which could be opened manually or automatically with a hidden
release.
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| HK's dual mode Scorch. Open like a manual knife or use the hidden release. And it's made in the USA! |
So far so good!
In search of more readership, Women’s Home Companion
published an article in 1950 about switchblades called “The Toy That
Kills.” Did you hear that sound? No, it wasn’t the click of a knife
opening. That was the opening shot of the war on knives.
The image of a hoodlum standing in the mouth of an alley
smoking a cigarette, wearing a black leather jacket, and shockingly tight pants
with an Italian switchblade in his back pocket and dating your daughter was too
much for our legislators. Especially
when their wives began to think these Hollywood romantic bad boys were cute!
In 1958, The Switchblade Knife Act was passed making the
sale of auto knives, but not possession, illegal. Many states also passed laws banning autos,
dirks, Bowie knives, short swords and butterfly knives. The U.S. is not the only nation in the world
that feels their citizens can’t be trusted with a knife much less one that
opens by pushing a button.
Traveling
overseas with almost any of our ubiquitous knives could land you in jail.
Let’s zip forward to today.
Since then some states have passed knife rights laws to
allow their citizens to buy, sell and own autos. We have groups like Knife Rights and AKTI to
thank for that.
Two of my favorite knife manufacturers package their autos
with dire warnings about the proper documentation needed if you return your
auto for service or warranty work. With
many states making it legal to own autos, I wanted to know how these companies
would treat legal autos in need of service.
Spyderco requires a letter (on letterhead!) stating you are
authorized to possess one of their autos and a restricted item return
form. They will not return your knife to
you without all the paperwork. They
really don’t like autos and currently only carry one at the request of the U.S.Coast
Guard rescue swimmers called the Autonomy.
This policy will remain in effect regardless of state laws,
so if you own a Spyderco auto, unless you’ve got current paper, don’t bother
sending it back.
Not that I blame them.
Several years ago when imported butterfly knives were banned, Spyderco
was making them here in the U.S. One
part, that little latch on the bottom of the handle, was imported from overseas. They had paperwork from Customs saying it
was okay and legal. All the lawyers on
both sides were in agreement. It was all
good. Then ICE decided the little latch
was contraband, seized the shipment and all the other knives associated with
the shipment. People almost went to jail
and fines were levied. It wasn’t very
nice.
I’m actually surprised they even make an auto given the
complexity of the legal system. We tend
to think of the Federal government as a great monolithic organization. It often acts as individual organization and
has little if any interest in cooperating with other departments.
My next stop was Benchmade.
They make a fine line of autos
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| Benchmade's AFO II. They upgraded this knife two years ago and it really performs! |
and this year have introduced more covert
autos in which the blade can be opened like a manual knife, or pressing a hidden
button springs the blade open. Look at
the gold class 7505 Sibert or the black class 5400 Serum if you’re interested.
They too have restrictions on sending autos back. You cannot send it back via the post office
and you must have or sign their Auto Opening Knife Acknowledge form available
on their website. Benchmade recommends
you take your auto back to a registered Benchmade dealer and arrange to have
them ship it back for sharpening and tune up.
Just in passing they suggest you send any of your Benchmade
knives in every two years for resharpening and overhaul. You paid for the service when you bought the
knife, you should take advantage of it.
It doesn’t matter if you have a CCW, or if your state allows
autos or if your old unit/department passed them out like sticks of gum. Each vendor has different rules that they
think will keep them out of legal trouble.
Is this right? Frankly what do I know about the law?
I don’t even write radio dialogue for lawyer commercials. Find out what they want and work with them.
