Knife Owners’ Protection Act Including Federal Switchblade Act Repeal
Originally conceived and authored by Knife Rights in 2010 and first introduced in 2013, the Knife Owners’ Protection Act of 2021, H.R. 60, (“KOPA”) was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on the first day of Congress by Arizona Representative Andy Biggs.
KOPA will remove the irrational restrictions on interstate trade in automatic knives that are legal to one degree or another in 44 states, while also protecting the right of knife owners to travel throughout the U.S. without fear of prosecution under the myriad patchwork of state and local knife laws.
Getting this bill introduced is only the first step. We need your help to gain additional co-sponsors. Please email your Representative and urge them to co-sponsor this commonsense legislation. You can use Knife Rights’ Legislative Action Center to easily email your Representative in Congress at: http://www.congressweb.com/KnifeRights/23
TAKE ACTION!
We need your help to gain additional co-sponsors. Please call or email your Senators and Representative and urge them to co-sponsor this commonsense legislation.
You can use Knife Rights Legislative Action Center to easily email Congress: CLICK HERE to email your Senators and Representative.
A Right of Action provides for persons unlawfully detained for transporting their knives properly secured in compliance with the act to seek financial compensation from a jurisdiction that ignores the intent of Congress to protect these travels. Without a strong right of action, there is no deterrent—biased and rogue jurisdictions like New York and New Jersey would have no incentive to follow the law. In a state like New Jersey, where knife law offenses are felonies, it is especially critical to dissuade them from prosecuting law-abiding citizens.
Lacking a Right of Action, acting with impunity, without fear of any meaningful recourse from their law-abiding victims, these rogue jurisdictions will further persecute citizens who attempt to defend themselves from illegal, and unjust or misguided enforcement actions. A robust right of action holds jurisdictions financially accountable if they willfully ignore the law. A strong right of action causes jurisdictions to consider these adverse repercussions before they arrest or prosecute an individual that is protected under the act.
Knife Rights Chairman Doug Ritter explains, “ignoring the unfortunate lessons of the past and passing a knife transport bill without a robust right of action would be unconscionable and an extraordinary disservice to knife owners and the entire knife community. KOPA’s right of action provides the teeth needed to actually give real protection to knife owners.”
Ritter added, “The Federal Switchblade Act was an asinine idea when it was passed in 1958 in a wave of Hollywood-inspired politically motivated hysteria and has only become more irrelevant as time has passed. The majority of states have always allowed switchblade possession and with Knife Rights’ repeal of switchblade bans in 15 states in the past eight years, more than four-fifths of the states now allow switchblade possession to one degree or another. It is way past time to repeal this law that only serves to interfere with lawful trade and commerce.”
A FAQ on KOPA with additional details and background can be found at: www.KnifeRights.org/KOPAFAQ2017.pdf
TAKE ACTION!
We need your help to gain additional co-sponsors. Please call or email your Senators and Representative and urge them to co-sponsor this commonsense legislation.
You can use Knife Rights Legislative Action Center to easily email Congress: CLICK HERE to email your Senators and Representative.