With the New Year almost here, I’ll offer a quick review of the Knife Rights’ accomplishments that your generous support has enabled this year. And, just a reminder that if you haven’t done so already, we could really use your TAX-DEDUCTIBLE donation to the Knife Rights Foundation. Donate by midnight, December 31st for your 2025 deduction.
In Ohio, a bill that originally focused on enhancing firearms preemption was amended at our request to include knives. This ensured that our knife law preemption statute enacted in 2022 is as potent as possible. The bottom line is that it now also prohibits jurisdictions from requiring a fee for the possession of a knife. We appreciate that the primary bill sponsors worked with us since 2023 to ensure this bill protected you and your knives.
I did not have Hawaii on my legislative emergency bingo card this year. With the Governor supporting repeal of Hawaii’s bans on butterfly, switchblade and gravity knives in an effort to avoid an Appeals Court ruling in favor of the Second Amendment, there was no need to lobby in Hawaii for those repeals. Without the Governor’s support that would never have happened. Yet only months after celebrating their repeal, legislators filed a bill that would have absolutely banned carry, open or concealed, of most knives, and all knives in many public places!
With only a few days’ notice, Todd Rathner, Knife Rights Director of Legislative Affairs, was in a very expensive seat flying to Honolulu. With on-the-ground support from some of our friends and members in Hawaii, Todd was successful in convincing Senators that this ill-conceived and badly drafted bill would very adversely affect Hawaiians and visitors to the islands. Together we stopped this terrible bill, a huge victory for all Hawaiians. When things blow up unexpectedly, your support means that you can depend on Knife Rights showing up on short notice at the state house to fight against anti-knife bills.
Arkansas has always been a good state from the perspective of knife owners with no state prohibitions and few local ones. But, “few” is not “none” and the future is unknown as populations shift. After over a decade of Knife Rights’ efforts, Knife Rights’ signature Knife Law Preemption bill was enacted, adding “Knives” and “Knife-making components” to the state’s existing Firearms Law Preemption statute.
Idaho is another good state for knife owners and we saw our Knife Law Preemption bill enacted last year to help ensure it stays that way. This year, at our request, and with support from the sponsor, we saw his firearms-focused bill amended to include knives, resulting the first-in-the-nation bill to provide Debanking Protection for knives signed into law. The new statute prevents banks from discriminating against persons and companies involved in “the manufacture, distribution, wholesale, supply, or retail of…knives.” Knife Rights is taking the lead in protecting the knife industry from the adverse effects of anti-knife sentiment that unfortunately exists among some banks in this country.
Washington state remains a thorn in the side of knife enthusiasts and lovers of freedom. For the umpteenth year an effort to repeal the state’s ban on civilian possession of “spring blade” (automatic) knives passed one house (the Senate 46-2 this year) but failed again to move forward in the other. Much worse, Washingtonians and visitors were faced with a radical bill that would have banned possession of “any knife” on over 6.5 million acres of public land in Washington. The bill started as an anti-gun ban but was soon amended to morph into an anti-knife bill as well.
Working quietly with our friends in Washington and representatives of other concerned organizations, we were able to get the bill amended to exclude “a hunting or fishing knife carried for sports use, or a knife commonly used for food preparation.” While the exception amendment was far from perfect, it arguably allowed the possession and use of the most common types of knives that Americans carry in parks and the outdoors. It represented a huge win in a situation where the original text was an outrageous ban.
In the end, all the controversy this bill stirred up, including our objections and amendment, helped stop the bill from being carried through the last few steps to passage. Because Washington’s sessions last two years, the bill could be brought back to life again next year, but that’s a bridge we’ll cross then, if we must, in the new year.
In Tennessee Knife Rights supported a bill that was enacted which added “knives, saps, and other bladed or blunt-impact defensive weapons” to Tennessee’s existing statute that protects firearms manufacturers from liability caused by the actions of third parties, such as criminals. The bill also covers those who distribute, sell, or transfer the “qualified product” including knives.
In Vermont we worked for over a decade with longtime Knife Rights friend Senator Patrick Brennan to repeal the state’s ban on switchblade (automatic) knives three inches or more in length, the only knives that were specifically outlawed in Vermont. This repeal was finally signed into law this year. Even better, the law also requires that any conviction for possession of a switchblade prior to July 1, 2025, be expunged!
In Delaware we worked to enact legislation that removed the restrictions on sale or possession of switchblade knives in the First State. It also amended the “Deadly Weapons” exemption for “ordinary pocketknife” by deleting “folding” in order to cover all types of knives and increasing the length from 3 inches to 3.75 inches.
In North Carolina our concealed knife carry bill passed the House and awaits action by the Senate next year. This bill would clarify the state’s previously vague statute so that a folding knife that is not a switchblade may be carried concealed by anyone, including those under age 18. It would also allow adults who are not prohibited persons to carry concealed a “bowie [SIC] knife, a dirk, a dagger, a switchblade…” and “…a bladed weapon of like kind.”
Regardless of the fight, for a bill or against one, if it involves knives, you can be sure that Knife Rights will show up at the statehouse. That is the secret of our success which your support provides.
On the litigation side, our federal Second Amendment lawsuits challenging switchblade bans in California and Minnesota and the Federal Switchblade Act have proceeded as expected, if not as we might have hoped. It’s a long and expensive slog and there’s a long way still to go before we likely get a win, but we’ll keep hammering it.
Since 2010 Knife Rights’ efforts have resulted in 58 bills & court decisions repealing knife bans & protecting knife owners in 36 states and over 200 cities and towns! Knife Rights is America’s grassroots knife owners’ organization; leading the fight to Rewrite Knife Law in America™ and forging a Sharper Future for all Americans™.
Doug Ritter – Chairman