URGENT ACTION ALERT: Write your Senators NOW to STOP funding for Customs' Pocket Knife Grab.

Most of us regularly fly with a pocket knife or multi-tool. In my survival presentations I tell pilots it's your number 2 survival tool after your brain. If Customs succeeds in what they are trying to do, you'd be committing a Federal felony every time your flight crosses a state line. And, that's only the tip of the iceberg.

The short version is that Customs is proposing, in a very sneaky manner, to broadly re-define what a Switchblade is in a way that could cover almost all pocket knives, with potential far-reaching consequences. This isn't just about imported knives, even though this is Customs that is involved in doing this. Our best bet to stop Customs in the short term is for Congress to prevent them from spending a dime to implement their proposed ruling. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Appropriations Bill will be taken up by the Senate on Tuesday, July 7th. We need your help NOW to rally support for an amendment to stop funding for this Customs rulemaking.

Timing has not worked in our favor as D.C. has become a ghost town due to the July 4th recess. We will have two days to make this work upon their return. Your emails to Senate offices will get their attention and be a huge help as our lobbyists and legislative representatives work Monday and Tuesday to get an amendment introduced and voted into the DHS Appropriations Bill. Contacting Senator Patty Murray [D-WA] and Senator George Voinovich [R-OH] is particularly important because they are ranking members on the Senate Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Homeland Security. Still, contacting your own Senators is also very important and their support is needed as well.

Pass this Action Alert to everyone you know and urge them to ACT NOW! Post on every online forum and social networking site you can. We need to generate thousands of emails before next Monday. If you have a personal relationship with any Senators or their staff, now is the time to call (well, maybe Monday since nobody is in the office now). Personally know a radio or TV talk show host? Please have them contact me (http://bit.ly/vo1uA ) so we can reach out to a wider audience. Help save our Knife Rights; STOP this ridiculous and illegitimate rulemaking by Customs. WRITE TODAY!

Please note that multiple members of a household can and should each write separately.

We encourage you to use the two sample letters below and copy and paste into the email forms. If you want to further personalize your letter, please be POLITE and NON-PARTISAN. The "enemy" is Customs, not the Administration. We can only succeed with the support of both parties. DO NOT yell, don't rant and don't be rude! Stay focused and stay on message. This is NOT the time or place to express your frustrations or make any other political points or complaints.

Just four simple emails can make a BIG difference!

NOTE that there are TWO different letters, one for Senators Murray and Voinovich and one for your own two Senators (unless Murray or Voinovich happens to be your own Senator):

Email forms for Senators Murray and Voinovich can be found here:

Senator Murray: http://murray.senate.gov/email/index.cfm
Senator Voinovich: http://tinyurl.com/2rpu4p

1. Sample Letter for Senators Murray and Voinovich:

RE: U.S. Customs & Border Protection Proposed Revocation of Ruling Letters and Revocation of Treatment Relating to the Admissibilty [sic] of Certain Knives with Spring-Assisted Opening Mechanisms

Dear Senator [Murray or Voinovich, as appropriate],

As a pocket knife owner, I am extremely concerned about the recently announced Customs ruling, which wrongly interprets federal law and would prohibit the importation of many of the sporting and utility knives that I use and enjoy. Their overly broad and novel new interpretation of what a Switchblade is could make me a felon for carrying a simple pocket knife. Additionally, the economic impact of the ruling on the knife trade would be severe. Pocket knives utilizing assisted or one hand opening technology are the dominant share of the market, and prohibiting the use of the technology would force significant job losses, and the potential loss of entire businesses.

This type of Federal regulation is totally unnecessary, and I strongly urge you to work with representatives from Knife Rights and other and advocacy organizations on an appropriate restriction to prevent Customs from implementing this ruling.

Knife Rights and other advocacy organizations will be contacting your office to discuss with you concrete ways to prevent Customs from acting on their intention to reclassify sport/utility knives as switchblades.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

[Individual Signature]

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2. Locate YOUR OWN Senators and their email forms here:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Sample Letter to YOUR Senators:

RE: U.S. Customs & Border Protection Proposed Revocation of Ruling Letters and Revocation of Treatment Relating to the Admissibilty [sic] of Certain Knives with Spring-Assisted Opening Mechanisms

Dear Senator [Insert Senator’s Name],

As a pocket knife owner, I am extremely concerned about the recently announced Customs ruling, which wrongly interprets federal law and would prohibit the importation of many of the sporting and utility knives that I use and enjoy. Their overly broad and novel new interpretation of what a Switchblade is could make me a felon for carrying a simple pocket knife. Additionally, the economic impact of the ruling on the knife trade would be severe. Pocket knives utilizing assisted or one hand opening technology are the dominant share of the market, and prohibiting the use of the technology would force significant job losses, and the potential loss of entire businesses.

This type of Federal regulation is totally unnecessary, and I strongly urge you to support efforts by Knife Rights and other advocacy organizations to prevent Customs from acting on their intention to reclassify sport/utility knives as switchblades.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

[Individual Signature]

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Be a Knife Rights Spokesperson on the 4th!

Attending a July 4th party or celebration over this holiday weekend? Talk to everyone you meet. Ask them to write their Senators and Representatives. Send them to Knife Rights for more information and the sample letter. YOU can make a difference in this fight. Speak up and be heard.

It's worth noting that virtually every Member of Congress heads home for the July 4th holiday, in large part to attend celebrations and meet with their constituents. If you happen to run into one of your Senators or Representative at a July 4th event, please take a moment to ask them to help stop funding for Customs' Pocket Knife Grab. Be polite, non-partisan and sincere, and if they tell you it's nothing to worry about, suggest to them that they are being bamboozled by Customs and to take a closer look. Nothing beats a personal, one on one, request for action. All the facts are available in our Comments submitted to Customs: http://bit.ly/1NqNYi

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Copyright 2009, Knife Rights, Inc.
This may be reproduced. It may not be reproduced for commercial purposes.


Doug Ritter
Chairman and Executive Director
Knife Rights, Inc.
a 501(c)(4) Member Organization
[email protected]
Twitter: http://twitter.com/KnifeRights

I agree. This is important. They will stop at nothing to make this a communist nation. We must all act now to preserve the republic.

On the switchblade thing, I don't get it. Why are they illegal? So it opens easier. Big deal! What's so bad about being able to open it faster? After it's open, it's still a knife! A tool! One step at a time, they're infringing.

Fisherman wrote:On the switchblade thing, I don't get it. Why are they illegal? So it opens easier. Big deal! What's so bad about being able to open it faster? After it's open, it's still a knife! A tool! One step at a time, they're infringing.

It never made any sense, even back in 1958 when it was put in place. Regardless, it is what it is, the goal now is to keep it from being expanded by Customs to cover almost all pocket knives. The entire law is dumb, we're just trying to keep it from becoming even dumber.

emails sent

Okay, Doug...here's the link to the CBP rulemaking: http://www.kniferights.org/U%20S%20Cust ... Knives.pdf

Where's the part that suggests that common pocket knives (ie: knives without a spring or button or fly knife type opening) would be made illegal by this?

Am I missing something? This doesn't look very "threatening" to me.

MTV

mtv wrote:Okay, Doug...here's the link to the CBP rulemaking: http://www.kniferights.org/U%20S%20Cust ... Knives.pdf

Where's the part that suggests that common pocket knives (ie: knives without a spring or button or fly knife type opening) would be made illegal by this?

Am I missing something? This doesn't look very "threatening" to me.

MTV

Yeah we got a lot of that early on, so don't feel like you're alone. Here's the link to our Comments which does a fairly good job of connecting the dots in the somewhat convoluted mess that this is. It wouldn't be quite fair, I suppose, if they made it clear and straightforward. OTOH, it is a govt. bureaucracy:

http://www.kniferights.org/KNIFE%20RIGH ... MMENTS.pdf

The bottom line is that our attorneys, who specialize in the switchblade law, and the knife industry's multiple attorneys and the NRA's attorney's and etc., etc., all agree that this sets the stage for a whole lot worse than it appears at first glance. The domestic knife manufacturers truly feel this could shut them down. They aren’t spending a small fortune fighting this and preparing for a legal battle because they have nothing better to do with those funds in these difficult times..

To summarize, their new, novel and extraordinarily broad interpretation of what a Switchblade is says, in layman's terms, that any knife than can be opened quickly with one hand is a Switchblade. Clearly, based on the proposed rulemaking, all one-hand openers would be covered. However, the reality is that almost every folder, even the common Boy Scout jack knife can opened with one hand using simple tricks. Law enforcement officers in some places where knives are tightly regulated already abuse similar laws to chilling effect. Switchblades are tightly regulated by the federal govt. and transport across state lines is a Federal felony with exceptions for LEOs and Military and those without use of one arm, even by a manufacturer. Since this Administrative Ruling would become the federal legal definition of what a switchblade is, you can see where that leads. Read the Comments we submitted and I think it will all make sense.

Doug,

Here's a response from a fellow on another site:

"I haven't a clue who Doug Ritter is, but he apparently isn't terribly well informed. This is grossly misrepresented.

Here's the real story, rather that the hysteria that has been making the rounds (I've bee hearing about this for a couple of weeks)

THE Customs and border patrol had stated their intentions to reverse a previously issued ruling that "assisted opening" knives are not switchblades, which would make them illegal. Assisted opening knives are folding knives which have a spring which will open the blade after you move the blade a certain amount. ie, you open the blade 20 degrees with your thumb, the spring flips the blade the remaining 160 degrees to open.

Not exactly a switchblade, but treading a fine line.

This proposed ruling change has variously been described as outlawing all knives that can be opened with one hand, or even any folding pocket knife.

Nothing could be further from the truth, I have read the proposed ruling change, and it does nothing of the sort. It is very specifically targeted at assisted opening knives, and doesn't affect non-spring actuated knives. This is not a change in the law, the law in question still remains as it always has, and the wording of definition of switchblade has not changed. What has changed is the official legal opinion of whether an an assisted opening knife falls into the existing definition of switchblade. The CBP is reversing their previous position on this. A boy scout knife was not a switchblade in 1958 when the law was written, and it won't be if this change takes place either.

I don't mean that I support this change. I don't, I don't even thing switchblades should be illegal, for that matter. but that is a different story. If you object to this, object to it with a clear understanding of what it really is, not a misconception based in hysterical fear mongering.

This isn't going to criminalize your Swiss army knife, your boy scout knife, nor your Spyderco."

I don't see any verbiage in this proposed change either that suggests that they are proposing any action on anything other than spring assisted or "fly" type knives. I also read your attorney's letter, and, while he would seem to have valid points, I certainly cannot find ANYthing in the proposal that matches what he's asserting.

Again, please point out to us specifically WHERE in the proposed rulemaking all this evil is being proposed...your attorney's letter doesn't do that, at least in my opinion.

Thanks,

MTV

Well, you can lead a horse to water, but... Clearly AKTI, the NRA, SAF, CCRTKBA, the 80-odd members of the bi-partisan Congressional Sportmen's Caucus that wrote to Sec. Napolitano and all the other astute and knowledgeable citizens and advocacy groups who have jumped on this also haven't a clue, so I guess you don't have to worry about it. Some people can't see the forest for the trees, heck, some people actually believe that the govt. is a totally benevolent thing and would never do anything beyond what they say they would, having never, ever done that before. <~> Others understand that things aren't always cut and dried and laid out in black and white. If you cannot follow the logic in our Comments to see where this could lead, I am sorry. Thankfully, others don't have that problem and are working to prevent the worst from happening.

Personally, I could be perfectly happy NOT dealing with this crap. I needed this right now like I needed a hole in the head. But, I acceptted a responsibility when I took on this volunteer job to head up Knife Rights, because we knew that these sorts of issues would be coming down the road soor or later, looking at what's happened elsewhere in the world. We certianly didn't expect it to come via a Customs ruling. AKTI didn't either, having been concentrating on state knife laws and the like. We didn't ask for this, we don't need this, but it is what it is and we all, Knife Rights, AKTI, the NRA, et al, have pulled together a fighting coalition to oppose this in record time. Think what you want, it won't deter us from our efforts and I hope to heck your cynicism, or whatever it is that drives you, doesn't convince anyone else that this isn't worth their attention. This is real, it really could be this bad, regardless that others may have a differing opinion, that's all it is, a different opinion.

I have asked our attorney to pull together something simple, with cites, to connect the dots for me to post here. No idea when he'll get to it though, we have more critical priorities at this time.

So a lot of these laws are only a problem if you get caught. Concealed carry, switch blade knives, fire crackers, and a whole lot more have onerous regulations and laws concerning them. As long as you aren't doing something stupid to attract attention to you, and invite a search, most of the time there is no big deal. If you really need a switch blade or a concealed gun to save your life, the cost of a conviction on some horse crap law is the least of your worries.

Meanwhile, our liberties are being hammered left and right, every day. The only solution is to vote these *ss wipes out every chance we get.

tom

Savannah-Tom wrote:So a lot of these laws are only a problem if you get caught. Concealed carry, switch blade knives, fire crackers, and a whole lot more have onerous regulations and laws concerning them. As long as you aren't doing something stupid to attract attention to you, and invite a search, most of the time there is no big deal. If you really need a switch blade or a concealed gun to save your life, the cost of a conviction on some horse crap law is the least of your worries.

tom

On a personal level, yes, this would only be a problem if you get caught. However, the bigger concern is the impact on knife manufacturers. They are potentially liable for shipping their product across state lines. They are generally very, very careful to avoid such trouble because the penalties are so severe (jail and huge fines). As an example, if you legally own a switchblade (legal in some states), but send it into the manufacturer for warranty work, they won't send it back unless you provide proof you meet the LEO/Milityaryor one-armed exemption. They all warn about this in the warranties.

The govt. isn't likely to go after individuals, typically, but they love going after companies that they can fine big bucks and such. So, if you can't ship 80% of your product across state lines to regular dealers because they are now deemed switchblades, how do you stay in business? This is the sort of outcome considered likely that has the industry so concerned and up in arms. As individuals, we must be concerned with both potential legal liability in something as simple as a traffic stop, as well as availability to us of the tools we carry and use daily.

CRitter wrote:On a personal level, yes, this would only be a problem if you get caught. However, the bigger concern is the impact on knife manufacturers.

Excellent point. The regulators have a much easier target in the manufacturers. There are far few of them, and they stay put. This is so typical of government.

Another, similar tactic is to outlaw whole classes of behavior, even when the "offending" behavior is only a problem sometimes. eg. In Oregon, it is unlawful to pull a skier with only one person in the boat. That is, you need a "spotter". Good idea in a crowded river, but when the whole lake is occupied by two other boats, it is perfectly safe to ski with only one in the boat. This easy way out regulation takes away the use of individual responsibility and judgment. Totally pisses me off.

tom