Texas decision against assisted opening knives

[Mike1951]

Maybe part of the 'evidence' was viewing "West Side Story"!

[boomerang]

I think their reasoning doesn't go any further than "those people" carry switchblades, so we have to ban them.

[flintknapper]

The narrative doesn't make it clear at all what the mechanism was. This could have been a "switchblade" if it was a "lever lock" or similar design. No one would really think of it as a switchblade, but it would meet the Texas definition if it had an assist, because the lever is on the handle.

But a normal assisted opening knife, as described by the officer on the stand, where the button or lever is on the blade, does not meet the statutory definition.

This is yet another reason to take a machete to PC chapter 46. Ooops -- a machete would be an illegal knife, wouldn't it?

After reading the PDF Chas. provided (thanks) I am left wondering: Did this guy have a lawyer?

It seems to me it would be a fairly simple task to point out the differences between a fully automatic knife and an "assisted" opening knife. Besides the technical issue of the "button/device" being located on the "handle" of a switchblade, an assisted opening knife must be manipulated through a certain range of it's blade arc (typically 15-20 degrees) before it will open.

The officer's (and apparently the court's) main objection seems to be the fact that the knife can be opened "quickly". Well.....whoop-dee-doo! I guarantee you I would have been there in front of the court demonstrating that virtually ANY knife designed to be opened "one handed" can be done so with great speed. It does NOT require a spring, torsion bar, or anything else.

Additionally, the vast majority of liner lock knives can be opened very quickly using techniques that exert centrifugal force about the center of the blade axis. They are NOT designed for this....but the fact remains that by using special techniques (known to nearly everyone) it is POSSIBLE. Are we to ban ALL knives of this design because its "possible" to open them quickly. What about "fixed blade" knives? There is nothing quicker to deploy than a fixed blade (if speed is the objection).

I would wager that the officer carries some type of a utilitarian folder. I would love to see what it is, because chances are excellent I could take it and open it as fast as the assisted knife he objects to. That might prove a little embarrassing in court, but hopefully serve to educate the judge.

The penal code addressing knives (in Texas) is in serious need of revamping. Ridiculous IMO!

[longtooth]

Yep.

[flintknapper]

This still “irks” me:

"Well, it has like a little button. It's a lever that's on the blade. And all you have to do is barely just touch it and it opens... Any time you can just go like this and it opens, it has a spring and that springs it into action and that's what makes it prohibited."

My Kershaw (thanks El Gato), opens with less effort (and blade arc) than many assisted knives. Still, it requires a good bit of initial movement before the spring takes over. In the photos below I didn’t try to move it out to the “ragged edge”…but simply stopped at a point where I felt comfortable the blade would stay in place.






Some models won’t open until you have initiated nearly 45 deg. of blade arc. If you drew a line off the base of this blade (before it starts curving)… it would end up being about 18 degrees. I could easily move it out to 20 deg. before the spring took over.

That is hardly “all you have to do is barely just touch it and it opens”!

[WildBill]

After reading the PDF Chas. provided (thanks) I am left wondering: Did this guy have a lawyer?

This still “irks” me:

I just reread the decision and it seems that the original trial was a bench trial, so Gabriel Thomas didn't have a jury. Maybe the court didn't want to overturn "fact-finding" of the judge.

I think Gabriel Thomas was a minor. Stella Saxon is a Juvenile Judge. Do juveniles have a right to a jury trial?

[casingpoint]

Here's an old knife fighter's trick. Get a riveted folding knife that fits well in the hand and in which the top of the blade can be easily grasped between the thumb and middle finger. Put some graphite on the pivot joint and work the blade open and closed for until the resistance is almost gone. A knife so conditioned can be opened almost as quick as a switchblade by the mere use of the two aforementioned digits.

Some of the newer knives with screws instead of rivets might lend themselves to a "trigger job" in lieu of the graphite.

[flintknapper]

Here's an old knife fighter's trick. Get a riveted folding knife that fits well in the hand and in which the top of the blade can be easily grasped between the thumb and middle finger. Put some graphite on the pivot joint and work the blade open and closed for until the resistance is almost gone. A knife so conditioned can be opened almost as quick as a switchblade by the mere use of the two aforementioned digits.

Some of the newer knives with screws instead of rivets might lend themselves to a "trigger job" in lieu of the graphite.

The majority of Lock-Back, Linerlock, or Axis-Lock knives can be opened in ways that will enable them to rival (if not exceed) the speed of a "switch blade". The determining factor is friction at the pivoting point of the blade.

There are numerous techniques that can be used (depending upon knife style, size, etc) to open a knife quickly, even though the manufacturer did not design/intend for them to do so.

I guess the next thing to be outlawed will be "techniques".

I would loved to have shown the "court" how quickly any of the Emerson CQC series knives can be opened by rotating them about the axis of the blade. Any notion that a "spring assisted" knife had any advantage would have flown out the window.

Our knife laws really need to be revisited.

[llabnor]

PENAL CODE



TITLE 10. OFFENSES AGAINST PUBLIC HEALTH, SAFETY, AND MORALS



CHAPTER 46. WEAPONS




Sec. 46.01. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:

(1) "Club" means an instrument that is specially designed, made, or adapted for the purpose of inflicting serious bodily injury or death by striking a person with the instrument, and includes but is not limited to the following:

(A) blackjack;

(B) nightstick;

(C) mace;

(D) tomahawk.

(2) "Explosive weapon" means any explosive or incendiary bomb, grenade, rocket, or mine, that is designed, made, or adapted for the purpose of inflicting serious bodily injury, death, or substantial property damage, or for the principal purpose of causing such a loud report as to cause undue public alarm or terror, and includes a device designed, made, or adapted for delivery or shooting an explosive weapon.

(3) "Firearm" means any device designed, made, or adapted to expel a projectile through a barrel by using the energy generated by an explosion or burning substance or any device readily convertible to that use. Firearm does not include a firearm that may have, as an integral part, a folding knife blade or other characteristics of weapons made illegal by this chapter and that is:

(A) an antique or curio firearm manufactured before 1899; or

(B) a replica of an antique or curio firearm manufactured before 1899, but only if the replica does not use rim fire or center fire ammunition.

(4) "Firearm silencer" means any device designed, made, or adapted to muffle the report of a firearm.

(5) "Handgun" means any firearm that is designed, made, or adapted to be fired with one hand.

(6) "Illegal knife" means a:

(A) knife with a blade over five and one-half inches;

(B) hand instrument designed to cut or stab another by being thrown;

(C) dagger, including but not limited to a dirk, stiletto, and poniard;

(D) bowie knife;

(E) sword; or

(F) spear.

(7) "Knife" means any bladed hand instrument that is capable of inflicting serious bodily injury or death by cutting or stabbing a person with the instrument.

(8) "Knuckles" means any instrument that consists of finger rings or guards made of a hard substance and that is designed, made, or adapted for the purpose of inflicting serious bodily injury or death by striking a person with a fist enclosed in the knuckles.

(9) "Machine gun" means any firearm that is capable of shooting more than two shots automatically, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger.

(10) "Short-barrel firearm" means a rifle with a barrel length of less than 16 inches or a shotgun with a barrel length of less than 18 inches, or any weapon made from a shotgun or rifle if, as altered, it has an overall length of less than 26 inches.

"Switchblade knife" means any knife that has a blade that folds, closes, or retracts into the handle or sheath and that opens automatically by pressure applied to a button or other device located on the handle or opens or releases a blade from the handle or sheath by the force of gravity or by the application of centrifugal force. The term does not include a knife that has a spring, detent, or other mechanism designed to create a bias toward closure and that requires exertion applied to the blade by hand, wrist, or arm to overcome the bias toward closure and open the knife.

[Pawpaw]

Uh, you can buy "assisted opening" knives at lots of Walmarts in Texas.

IANAL, but I believe there is a big difference between "assisted opening" and a switchblade.

[7075-T7]

*sniff sniff* Smells like zombie thread in here...

[llabnor]

As I see the Texas Penal Code (recently amended), section 46 seems to specifically exempt "assisted openers," like my Kershaw, from the switchblade restrictions. Indeed, the term switchblade does not "included a knife that has a ... mechanism designed to create a bias toward closure and that requires exertion applied to the blade ... to overcome the bias ... and open the knife." (See the verbatim penal code, below.):

"Switchblade knife" means any knife that has a blade that folds, closes, or retracts into the handle or sheath and that opens automatically by pressure applied to a button or other device located on the handle or opens or releases a blade from the handle or sheath by the force of gravity or by the application of centrifugal force. The term does not include a knife that has a spring, detent, or other mechanism designed to create a bias toward closure and that requires exertion applied to the blade by hand, wrist, or arm to overcome the bias toward closure and open the knife.

[Cobra Medic]

I avoid the silly restriction by carrying a fixed blade knife. There's no need to pack a big Bagwell Bowie knife either. I know what I can do with a scalpel and my 3" Dozier is plenty big.

[HAYSIVA]

My apologies is this has been answered.
As of September 1, 2009 assisted opening knives are not considered the same as switch blades.
Assisted opening knives are legal.
See: http://www.legis.state.tx.us/BillLookup ... ill=HB4456" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Haysiva

[eXtremeKier84]

Is the butterfly knife "Balisong" are illegal too?