It may not be the National Rifle Association, but the American Knife and Tool Institute has been thrust into a similar role as the veteran gun advocacy group.
The AKTI, The Knife Rights Foundation, and others in the industry are up in arms over a recent government proposal that could adversely affect nearly 35 million law-abiding Americans who now carry and own one-handed opening knives, the organization says.
According to AKTI statements, the U.S. Customs Department is attempting to bypass Congress and expand the switchblade definition to include all knives that open with one hand. These could include multi-tools, traditional pocket knives, one-hand openers, and assisted openers.
Representatives of AKTI indicated that while the U.S. Customs’ proposal indicates it is directed at only the importers of assisted-opening knives, the language used in their revocation document is too broad and uses virtually every term ever applied to any knife that opens with one hand.
AKTI officials fear U.S. Customs is attempting to bypass the will of Congress and that once they succeed in getting assisted openers defined as switchblades, they could move against all folding knives.
The Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus got involved on June 19 and urged U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to withdraw the notice of proposed revocation of treatment relating to the admissibility of certain knives with spring assisted opening mechanisms by the Office of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.
The proposed regulation, according to the CSC, could have severe implications on all knives, not just assisted-opening knives, and would designate these knives as switchblades, although the federal law definition does not declare them as such.
“This classification could render millions of law-abiding knife owners in violation of the law and expose major market retailers, manufacturers, dealers and importers subject to possible federal felony charges, and drive domestic manufacturers and importers out of business, potentially costing thousands of jobs,” CSC Member Rep. Bob Latta said.
The Switchblade Knife Act of 1958 sets forth the definition of a “switchblade” as “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,” a CSC statement read.
The intent of this new regulation is to re-interpret the word “inertia” so as to cover all knives using a spring, which contradicts the intent of Congress, the CSC statement said. The group pointed out that many knives, including those used by Boy Scouts as well as multi-tools, have a spring that maintains a knife’s inherent bias toward closure.
The CSC and AKTI also point out that court cases in several states such as California, Illinois, Michigan and Texas have all ruled in favor of assisted-opening and one-hand opening knives not being switchblades because they do not possess the activating button or device on the handle of the knife.
“These knives are used not only by sportsmen, but also by police, firemen, skilled trade workers and others,” Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation President Jeff Crane said. “The Office of Customs and Border Patrol proposed revocation does not identify any specific intrinsic health and public safety concerns which it is purportedly trying to protect by this new designation.”
According to the “State of the Sporting Knife Industry,” an AKTI report, 80 percent of all new knife sales in the past five years were assisted-opening or one-hand-opening knives of the type that could be affected by the Department of Homeland Security Proposal.
For further information on this proposal, knife owners can log onto www.akti.org or www.kniferights.org.
Outdoors correspondent Jeff Leonard
can be reached at outdoors@npgco.com