Month: October 2009

WE STOPPED CUSTOMS Pocket Knife Grab! The President signed into law the FY2010 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill on October 28, 2009, protecting our pocket knives. The bill included our amendment to the Federal Switchblade Act that clearly exempts assisted and one-hand opening knives. This is the culmination of an incredible effort on the part of Knife Rights, American Knife and Tool Institute, NRA, Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation, Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and many other organizations who contributed. Each organization made key contributions to the effort, without which the end result might not have turned out so well. Not many folks gave us much hope of succeeding when Customs first proposed revoking their rulings and redefining what is a switchblade back in May. At a time when bipartisanship is rare as hen's teeth in Washington, we garnered support from both sides of the aisle. We succeeded because the coalition of groups that came together to fight Customs represented a broad swath of American industry and grassroots. We succeeded in large part because of YOUR contributions, letters and calls in support of our efforts. You can give yourself a pat on the back for your effort and a job well done against all odds. It is time to pop the cork on that bottle of champagne and celebrate a victory for your knife rights and for all America. Below is the amendment: Sec. 562 . Section 4 of the Act entitled `An Act to prohibit the introduction, or manufacture for introduction, into interstate commerce of switchblade knives, and for other purposes' (commonly known as the Federal Switchblade Act) (15 U.S.C. 1244) is amended-- (1) by striking `or' at the end of paragraph (3);  (2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (4) and inserting `; or' and  (3) by adding at the end the following:  `(5) a knife that contains a spring, detent, or other mechanism designed to create a bias toward closure of the blade and that requires exertion applied to the blade by hand, wrist, or arm to overcome the bias toward closure to assist in opening the knife.'. Click here to download the complete Federal Switchblade Act as amended.... Read More

On September 16th Knife Rights participated in a lobby day on Capitol Hill, along with representatives of the American Knife and Tool Institute, the NRA and the Congressional Sportsmen Foundation. Representing Knife Rights were Doug Ritter, Pete Brownell and Jason Kunkler (from www.knifecenter.com). While it was an exhausting, and at times frustrating, experience, it was clearly beneficial that House Committee and Member staff heard from us why it was so important to retain the Senate Amendment 1447 in the final Homeland Security Appropriations bill. … Continued... Read More