Knife Preemption Law changes

[amtank]

While everyone here likely knows that knife preemption passed last session. Very few have read the actual changes.

In the municipality section knife wasn't added to part 6 where most the relevant exceptions come into play.

In the county section simply adds knife to the preemption.

Now.

A knife that is now preempted outside of the definition of an illegal knife should therefore be able to be carried everywhere. Places weapons prohibited specifically states illegal knife and so does every other part of 46.

I know a handful of cities and counties run security screening and make you return standard pocket knives to the car. That should now be out of bounds for them since past September 1st correct?

[Bladed]

While everyone here likely knows that knife preemption passed last session. Very few have read the actual changes.

In the municipality section knife wasn't added to part 6 where most the relevant exceptions come into play.

In the county section simply adds knife to the preemption.

Now.

A knife that is now preempted outside of the definition of an illegal knife should therefore be able to be carried everywhere. Places weapons prohibited specifically states illegal knife and so does every other part of 46.

I know a handful of cities and counties run security screening and make you return standard pocket knives to the car. That should now be out of bounds for them since past September 1st correct?

Technically, you are probably right; though, that was never the intent of the bill.

The 2013 and 2015 knife preemption bills carried by Rep. Jonathan Stickland both included a provision that would have allowed cities to continue to prohibit knives in locations where metal detectors are used to screen for weapons. However, because Stickland has made too many enemies to have a realistic chance of getting a bill passed, Knife Rights (wisely) got Rep. John Frullo to carry his own knife preemption bill, and that is the bill (HB 905) that ultimately passed.

The language about metal detectors wasn't included in Frullo's bill, but as I understand it, that was simply an oversight. A lot of stuff that was included in Stickland's bill (e.g., preemption for Tasers and pepper spray) was left out of Frullo's bill, so the omission of the language on metal detectors didn't immediately jump out at anyone.

I haven't yet heard of anyone raising a stink at a courthouse security checkpoint, but I'm sure it'll happen eventually. And then we'll probably see a push in 2017 to amend the law to include the language about metal detectors.

If somebody is going to go through the trouble of raising a stink over wanting to carry a pocketknife past a metal detector, I hope it happens at a city building posted with a dubious 30.06 sign. Then maybe we can use knives in courtrooms as a bargaining chip to clarify the law regarding what constitutes "the premises of any government court or offices utilized by the court."

[Soccerdad1995]

If somebody is going to go through the trouble of raising a stink over wanting to carry a pocketknife past a metal detector, I hope it happens at a city building posted with a dubious 30.06 sign. Then maybe we can use knives in courtrooms as a bargaining chip to clarify the law regarding what constitutes "the premises of any government court or offices utilized by the court."

This sounds like a great concession we can make in exchange for something like removing the penalty for carrying past a 30.06 sign....

[amtank]

It is actually my intention to smack Potter County over the head with it. They have all their buildings posted .06 and .07.

[Bladed]

It is actually my intention to smack Potter County over the head with it. They have all their buildings posted .06 and .07.

I suggest talking to an attorney about the best way to go about it.

I'm not an attorney, but I suspect that the easiest route would be to try to get something in writing (either a letter from a county official or a copy of the county code) that outlines the county policy on carrying knives into secured buildings. If that didn't work, you could look for signs posted near security checkpoints, stating that knives are prohibited. I suspect that a picture of one of those signs would be almost as good as having something in writing.

As a last resort, you could go to a county security checkpoint and make an audio recording of yourself asking the officers there if you can bring your knife inside. If I tried that, I'd be dang sure I wasn't carrying a knife that could be perceived as "illegal," and I wouldn't argue when the officer told me it wasn't allowed. In this type of case, I'm pretty sure you don't need to get arrested to have legal standing to challenge the law. Just being told you can't bring in your knife should be enough. But like I said, I'm not a lawyer.