man arrested (NY) for carrying a UK Pen Knife...

[vivi]

One time when a friend got pulled over and the officers asked us if we had any weapons or dangerous items, I said I had a few knives. They asked me to hand them over while they were talking to us. Pulled out a Military and a fully SE Spyderhawk Salt. Officer asked why I carried more than one knife, I said different edges / blade shapes for different jobs. They gave them back without another word and we were on our way.

They were a little curious, but never implied I was doing anything wrong.

[The Deacon]

Here is a related question to that: Generally I think it is a good idea, and I know this takes the "fun" out of a knife with a pocket clip, to keep the knife INSIDE your pocket, like Eddie said, because then they cannot see the clip, thus do not know you are carrying it, unless you were stopped and they made you empty your pocket contents. But, here is my question about this: Are there states and municipalities, where if they were to make you show the knife that you have inside your pocket, they can consider it an "illegally concealed weapon", or not?

First obvious question, is why were you stopped by a police officer and asked to empty your pockets.

If they stopped you because they'd seen you commit a crime and discovered a knife in your pocket, then yes, they'd almost certainly tack a "concealed weapon" charge on for good measure.

If they stopped you because you looked suspicious, were acting suspicious, were someplace you did not seem to belong, or were in the company of suspicious looking people, then yes again. Cops tend to follow the "if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck" system for deciding whether to stop and frisk someone in the hopes of finding some way to get them off the streets, however briefly.

If they stopped you for any other reason, then it's hard to say. Cops aren't lazy, but they don't generally go out of their way to look for work either, so random frisking of ordinary citizens is not a common occurrance. The subject of in the original post has every right to dress up like every day is Halloween but, when one goes out of one's way to attract attention, one has to expect that cops will be among those looking at you.

[FDE]

I'd like to know how exactly a clipped knife is more dangerous than an up clipped knife? :confused:

[Mic1]

I'd like to know how exactly a clipped knife is more dangerous than an up clipped knife? :confused:

My kids scratch themselves on it sometimes when we rough house maybe it's for child safety.

[The Deacon]

I'd like to know how exactly a clipped knife is more dangerous than an up clipped knife? :confused:

The logic is that, by "displaying" a "weapon", one is making an implied threat to use it. It may not make sense to you, and none of us here may agree with it, but It's the same reasoning that's used by states that allow concealed carry of a handgun, but ban open carry and goes back to the English concept of "do what you like, just don't scare the horses".

FWIW, the opposite and equally absurd logic, used by states that allow open carry but ban concealed carry is that a "hidden weapon" implies devious and nefarious intent.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

I see what you mean on that, Deacon. Well here is a related issue: I don't know if this would make good design sense, or not, but is it possible to somehow engineer and machine some form of "Safety latch" onto the Spyderco and other one hand openers, that would make it so you would have to first undo the safety latch before it could be opened with one hand? The downside to this, if it worked, would be adding more material to the knife, and, slowing down the overall speed of opening. But would that bypass the law against "gravity knives" because the officer and court would clearly see that the knife requires more than a one hand operation to open and close it? Ofcourse, at that point, you may as well just be carrying a more traditional folder, like with a nail nick in the blade. But I'd like peoples' views on that concept.

[The Deacon]

I see what you mean on that, Deacon. Well here is a related issue: I don't know if this would make good design sense, or not, but is it possible to somehow engineer and machine some form of "Safety latch" onto the Spyderco and other one hand openers, that would make it so you would have to first undo the safety latch before it could be opened with one hand? The downside to this, if it worked, would be adding more material to the knife, and, slowing down the overall speed of opening. But would that bypass the law against "gravity knives" because the officer and court would clearly see that the knife requires more than a one hand operation to open and close it? Ofcourse, at that point, you may as well just be carrying a more traditional folder, like with a nail nick in the blade. But I'd like peoples' views on that concept.

Might appeal to those who are afraid a knife might accidentally open in their pocket, but it would make the knife more expensive, more complicated with more things to go wrong, and considerably less appealing to those who "deploy", rather than merely "open" their knives.

Beyond that, the presence of a safety latch does not make an automatic any less illegal, so there's no reason to think it would make any difference. As for NYC, they've already twisted the law six ways to Sunday, what makes you think they wouldn't just release the latch first, then claim it to be a gravity knife?

[Fresh Eddie Fresh]

I'd like to know how exactly a clipped knife is more dangerous than an up clipped knife? :confused:

It has nothing to do with how dangerous an item is... it has to do with the police officer having probable cause to search you. If your knife is hidden in your pocket, or otherwise out of sight, and you aren't doing anything suspect, then you should be fine. If your knife is in plain view, and the city has tough laws about knives, then don't be surprised if a police officer chooses to stop you and question you about it.