why are switchblades illegal?

[BlahBlahYouToo]

are they any more dangerous or concealable than other folding knives?

one handed deployment? i can do that with my assisted knife that's not illegal.

 

[Agent11]

They are scary.

 

[FelixDeCat]

pfft....no big deal

Ive owned one since the late 90s, they are fun to play with indoors, but go back in drawer once the fun wears off of seeing it open and close.

They are fun at parties and about to be legal in Texas:

http://www.kwtx.com/centraltexasvot...Committee-OKs-Switchblade-Bill-207903921.html

After a quick vote as his desk, Committee Chairman John Whitmire shrugged.
"I figure everybody's got a switchblade if they want one anyway,” he said.

 

[OutHouse]

Yea its dumb

 

[SlitheryDee]

Controversy

In 1950, an article titled The Toy That Kills appeared in the Women's Home Companion, a widely read U.S. periodical of the day. The article sparked a storm of controversy and a nationwide campaign that would eventually result in state and federal laws criminalizing the importation, sale, and possession of automatic-opening knives. In the article, author Jack Harrison Pollack assured the reader that the growing switchblade "menace" could have deadly consequence "as any crook can tell you."[17] Pollack, a former aide to Democratic Senator Harley M. Kilgore and a ghostwriter for then-Senator Harry S. Truman, had authored a series of magazine articles calling for new laws to address a variety of social ills. In The Toy That Kills, Pollack wrote that the switchblade was "Designed for violence, deadly as a revolver - that’s the switchblade, the 'toy' youngsters all over the country are taking up as a fad. Press the button on this new version of the pocketknife and the blade darts out like a snake’s tongue. Action against this killer should be taken now."[17] To back up his charges, Pollack quoted an unnamed juvenile court judge as saying: "It’s only a short step from carrying a switchblade to gang warfare."[17]
During the 1950s, established U.S. newspapers as well as the sensationalist tabloid press joined forces in promoting the image of a young delinquent with a stiletto switchblade or flick knife. While the press focused on the switchblade as a symbol of youthful evil intent, the American public's attention was attracted by lurid stories of urban youth gang warfare and the fact that many gangs were composed of lower class youth and/or racial minorities.[4] The obvious offensive nature of the stiletto switchblade combined with reports of knife fights, robberies, and stabbings by youth gangs and other criminal elements in urban areas of the United States generated continuing demands from newspaper editorial rooms and the public for new laws restricting the lawful possession and/or use of switchblade knives.[4] In 1954, the state of New York passed the first law banning the sale or distribution of switchblade knives in hopes of reducing gang violence. That same year, Democratic Rep. James J. Delaney of New York authored the first bill submitted to the U.S. Congress banning the manufacture and sale of switchblades.
Many U.S. congressmen viewed the controversy as an opportunity to capitalize on constant negative accounts of the switchblade knife and its connection to violence and youth gangs. This coverage included not only magazine articles but also highly popular films of the day including Rebel Without a Cause (1955), Crime in the Streets (1956), 12 Angry Men (1957), The Delinquents (1957), High School Confidential (1958), and the Broadway musical West Side Story. Hollywood's fixation on the switchblade as the sadomasochistic symbol of youth violence, sex, and delinquency resulted in renewed demands from the public and Congress to control the sale and possession of such knives.[18][19] State laws restricting or criminalizing switchblade possession and use were adopted by an increasing number of state legislatures.
In 1957, Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee attempted unsuccessfully to pass a law restricting the importation and possession of switchblade knives. Opposition to the bill from the U.S. knifemaking industry was muted, with the exception of the Colonial Knife Co. and Schrade-Walden Inc., which were still manufacturing small quantities of pocket switchblades for the U.S. market.[1] Some in the industry even supported the legislation, hoping to gain market share at the expense of Colonial and Schrade.[1] However, the legislation failed to receive expected support from the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Justice, which considered the legislation unenforceable and an unwarranted intrusion into lawful sales in interstate commerce.[1][4]
While Kefauver's bill failed, a new U.S. Senate bill prohibiting the importation or possession of switchblade knives in interstate commerce was introduced the following year by Democratic Senator Peter F. Mack, Jr. of Illinois in an attempt to reduce gang violence in Chicago and other urban centers in the state. With youth violence and delinquency aggravated by the severe economic recession, Mack's bill was enacted by Congress and signed into law as the Switchblade Knife Act of 1958. This U.S. federal law was closely followed by the UK Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act of 1959[4] and the inclusion of new-production automatic knives in the 1959 Criminal Code, Revised Statutes (Canada) as prohibited weapons banned from importation, sale or possession within that country.
These laws did not distinguish between utility blade and stiletto or offensive switchblades, instead banning all switchblade knives as a category, including utility and general-purpose automatic knives not generally used by criminals. Curiously, the sale and possession of stilettos and other offensive knives using fixed or locked folding blades remained legal in most jurisdictions. As an anti-violence measure, the legislation clearly failed in the United States, as youth street gangs increasingly turned from bats and knives to handguns and rifles to settle their disputes over territory as well as income from prostitution, extortion, and illicit drug sales.[20][21][22]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switchblade



Turns out it's mostly bullshit, it seems. It's a very good example if you want to demonstrate a shortsighted legislation that addresses nothing further than a minor symptom of a deeper problem.

It's kind of akin to the current discussions about kids wearing saggy pants if you think about it. "If only we could force them to pull up their pants they'll turn into nice kids" is kind of coming from the same place as "if we can get rid of those awful knives gang violence will stop".

It even has some relevance to the gun control issues we're dealing with I'd say.

Nice find OP.

Edit: And if Freakonomics is right, what really curbed violence in America in the end wasn't any kind of restriction or ban, but the legalization of abortion. It makes perfect sense in hindsight, but it would have never occurred to me. Funny world we live in.

 

[ThinClient]

because lawmakers are fucking stupid

 

[Phoenix86]

Assault knife.

 

[Zeze]

About as legit as small liquid bottles being banned for nearly a decade after 9/11.

 

[CZroe]

Why are baseball bats legal and not brass knuckles? I want to keep mine that my older brother gave me under the passenger seat on my motorcycle, but noooooo.

 

[ThinClient]

Why are baseball bats legal and not brass knuckles? I want to keep mine that my older brother gave me under the passenger seat on my motorcycle, but noooooo.

Baseball bats are the #1 most commonly used weapon in assaults where weapons are involved.

Ban guns, though. Cuz, you know, guns. An' stuff.

WAY TO GO, LAWMAKERS

 

[SSSnail]

Let me guess, lolliberuls?

And, I've seen enough Joe Pesci's movies to know golf clubs are fucking dangerous. Ban golf clubs!!!

 

[rommelrommel]

Why are suppressors such a pain in the ass to get and illegal in some jurisdictions? Stupid ass legislators essentially... hell they are required to hunt in some parts of Europe and if you've ever heard one in action you'll know why they aren't really "silencers."

 

[gorcorps]

They are no longer going to be illegal in Indiana as of July 1. Kansas, Alaska, Tennessee, and Texas are also allowing them starting this year.

 

[LTC8K6]

They are scary.

Yes. The same reason certain rifles are banned, while certain functionally identical rifles are not.

 

[Doppel]

They are no longer going to be illegal in Indiana as of July 1. Kansas, Alaska, Tennessee, and Texas are also allowing them starting this year.

I'm frankly amazed this is being rolled back.

As other said, stupidity/they look scary.

You know what else is banned in several states? Nun-chuks. Do you know how hard it is to even use these lethally? Better odds you blow your elbow up with one. I can go to any walmart and buy a bat, but heaven forbid I buy nun-chuks.

And although key rings are legal, as are keys, thus allowing a person to hold keys between their knuckles and have an improvised wolverine thing going on we can't buy brass knuckles.

There are several states in which any law-abiding citizen can enter a gun store and come out 10 minutes later with a semi-auto shotgun, but they cannot buy a ninja throwing star.