I do not understand why they restrict Butterfly Knives.

Discussion of Restricted Models by Spyderco.
akapennypincher
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I do not understand why they restrict Butterfly Knives.

#1

Post by akapennypincher »

Someone Please educate me.
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Blerv
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#2

Post by Blerv »

Generally it's due to gang affiliation, or contextual gang affiliation from decades ago. Same reason they outlaw the carry of nunchuku, throwing stars, daggers, and other various weapons when in most the same cities you can open-carry a pistol. Laws are blanket-fixes to problems of the time (like the ninja fad) and slow to change back to normalcy. More people get killed with blunt objects and improvised stabbing tools than expensive produced ones.

A Para2 is quicker and just as deadly as a balisong. They just didn't have it as the tool of choice for every crime-boss in a 80's action movie. ;)
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#3

Post by Half Sack »

Only logical reasons I can come up with, which may not hold merit. Would be *if* balisongs and switchblades were as popular amongst gangsters as we are led to believe (by movies) that this would have given cops a good reason to stop and search such people. This could then lead to other weapons drugs money etc. Where if they were legal the cops would be forced to let them go with no reason to search.
OR, because you tend to 'play' with a balisong you could argue that they tough guy on the train/bus/etc was playing with his knife as oppose to brandishing to others around him/her.

Its the only way I can make a logical argument.
That said, I would welcome these laws being reversed as the first Spyderco I wanted was the Spyderfly. Prohibited where I live so that's never going to happen.
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#4

Post by Strong-Dog »

It's pointless to look for a logical reason, as there is no logical reason why they (meaning the government) restrict any kind of knives. They don't use logic, they use scare tactics and emotional appeal to make it seem like "knives are bad", and for the majority of the public, it works.
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#5

Post by Pinetreebbs »

In a nutshell, lawmakers are raciest.
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#6

Post by Half Sack »

Also they do not use educated judgement but what they think is needed.
They don't seem to search out experts, educate the public then base decision on that rather they use fear, gut reaction, and their position to determine their course of action.
Examples, are fixed blades safer/more dangerous that folders? One handed openers vs two? Locking vs non-locking? etc etc.
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#7

Post by demoncase »

I recall an article in The Lancet about 10 years ago (UK Registered Doctor's periodical) exorting the UK Goverment to consider a ban on chefs knives

Reasoning: The majority of fatal and serious wounds that are treated in A&E (ER to you Colonial types ;) ) are from 6-7" long kitchen knives with narrow thickness but broad blades.
The Lancet considered them to be 'especially dangerous' because they are flexible (Meaning that they tend to deflect or bend around bones to penetrate deeper and are more likely to result in a fatal penetration of an organ) readily available and cheap- You can buy poor quality Chinese kitchen knives for £1 in Poundland.

Nothing came of it.

When the tabloids and movies want send a shiver down the spines of the general public they use the 'clickety-clack' of a balisong or switchblade.....Governments therefore react to the paranoia.
In reality, those poor souls getting stitched up in A&E on a Saturday night haven't been on the recieving end of a £100+ restricted knife, but the cheap 'n' nasty throwaway kitchen knife :(
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#8

Post by Evil D »

It's just a leftover Hollywood "knife fight" stigma that has stuck to that particular type of knife just as it has to automatics. It's stupid since the reality is almost anyone can deploy a standard thumb hole Spydero knife faster than a well trained bali user. Personally I don't think I would carry one anyway even if they were legal, because I find using them to be too fidgety but there are some that I wouldn't mind owning, and I would especially like to own a nice Italian stiletto automatic if they were legal here. I still don't know if I'd carry one, but I'd still like the option to own it.

I do own a Parker Cutlery brass handled "surgical stainless" bali that I've had since I was probably 10 years old, and when I was younger I did carry that knife everywhere and use it for everything, I just didn't flip it about and attract attention with it.
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#9

Post by Half Sack »

Demoncase and Evil D
The "kitchen knife" is easily available, cheap and dangerous. If your spending $50+ on a weapon that's not a gun your in the wrong game. I'd buy the $2-10 dollar store big knife, sharp enough for one real use and scarier than any Spyderco I can draw. If I see a 6 inch kitchen knife this dude means business.

Btw imho the scariest knife scenes come from horror movies when the killer draws the big kitchen knife from the wood block, in the victims home....

I'd carry a bali if legal, until A) I don't see them as practical and outgrow the novelty or B) find they are not as functional as the current available fixed/folders. I'd buy some though for sure, even just as 'toys'
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#10

Post by Evil D »

Half Sack wrote:Demoncase and Evil D
The "kitchen knife" is easily available, cheap and dangerous. If your spending $50+ on a weapon that's not a gun your in the wrong game.
Not really sure what you're getting at here? If you mean you carry a kitchen knife for self defense, I'm gonna have to say that's a little on the crazy side. If nothing else, at least from a legality perspective, if I get stopped and searched and I have ANY kind of folding knife on me, I can at least try to explain that away easier than I would if I had a chef's knife concealed on me. That's just crazy. Besides, self defense doesn't always mean you're trying to kill the other person, so guns aren't always necessary. If you mean the bad guys are using kitchen knives for crime as opposed to balis and switchblades, then yeah maybe, but that doesn't really change the fact that Hollywood has had a hand in the public's view of those kinds of knives. Plus just as you wouldn't carry a chef's knife for SD, I really don't think common criminals or gang members are carrying them around either just for the sake of ease of carry. Whatever crimes are being committed by kitchen knives are likely obtained right from the victim's kitchen as you mentioned in horror movies. I think the fact that there isn't a law making it illegal to carry a chef's knife (aside from blade length laws) says something about how often that sort of thing happens, otherwise they'd have saw it as a problem and made a law for it. Ultimately, movies popularized switchblades and balis, and the bad guys/gangs/etc followed suit likely just out of the "cool factor". You never saw Bruce Lee fighting a gang of dudes wielding kitchen knives LOL.
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#11

Post by Half Sack »

Sorry that wasn't very clear. I did mean bad guys. There are a variety of knives available in dollar stores that are legal to own (a police stop brings up other issues).
*If* I was a criminal, I wouldn't be looking for $100 balisongs or even standard Spydercos, I'm looking for cheap 'one time use' knives that I can throw away and not keep evidence sitting in my house.
Also the average criminal does not care about laws, so blade length, illegal firearms, robbery and murder are not things they consider, these are things for you and I to follow.
The average crime would not be with a chef's knife but if you plan to do something horrible you might consider it for the scare factor, just like people love the big Ka-bars.

If we're talking regular knife use/edc there is nothing wrong with a bali or switch because your use and intent of the knife is to open packages cut food ect, same as every other knife.
The truly illegal part of any tool is the user. Be it a gun of any sort, knife, hammer or pencil. Making the item illegal does not change the mindset of a dangerous person.
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#12

Post by Evil D »

Well, my guess is that, like guns, criminals aren't paying full price for these kinds of knives when they get them.
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#13

Post by Holland »

Hollywood. That is all
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Re: I do not understand why they restrict Butterfly Knives.

#14

Post by HotSoup »

Im going to offer an alternative view on why they were likely outlawed along with automatics in many jurisdictions;

The whole gang-affiliation thing probably influenced the decision, but whats more likely is that the market was flooded with ultra cheap chinese autos and balis, and kids were probably hurting themselves with pieces coming off or flying off while being deployed/flipped.
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Re: I do not understand why they restrict Butterfly Knives.

#15

Post by Blerv »

I don't know. More likely the heart of the balisong design is to perform tricks and ultimately brandish/intimidate. They are no more or less dangerous than an Endura, they just happen to fall under the microscope of lawmakers along with brass knuckles, shuriken, nunchucks and every other 80's ninja fad under the sun.
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Re: I do not understand why they restrict Butterfly Knives.

#16

Post by SpyderNut »

Blerv wrote:I don't know. More likely the heart of the balisong design is to perform tricks and ultimately brandish/intimidate. They are no more or less dangerous than an Endura, they just happen to fall under the microscope of lawmakers along with brass knuckles, shuriken, nunchucks and every other 80's ninja fad under the sun.
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Re: I do not understand why they restrict Butterfly Knives.

#17

Post by The Deacon »

One reason is because the legal definition of a gravity knife differs from the generally accepted technical definition of one. The law says that a knife that can be opened by gravity or centrifugal force is a gravity knife. Some states and localities, and at least one federal circuit court, feel that a balisong fits that definition. It's not fair, but neither are a lot of things.

The "why" behind the wave of anti-switchblade, anti-gravity knife legislation back in the mid 50's was a witches brew of fear, racism, and the desire of politicians on both sides of the aisle to appear to be doing something about something.
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Re: I do not understand why they restrict Butterfly Knives.

#18

Post by Blerv »

The Deacon wrote:The "why" behind the wave of anti-switchblade, anti-gravity knife legislation back in the mid 50's was a witches brew of fear, racism, and the desire of politicians on both sides of the aisle to appear to be doing something about something.
Very true. Also that switchblades and balisongs at heart are knives designed for killing people. Not that they are any more effective it's just difficult to dismiss the intent of the design.
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#19

Post by The Deacon »

Blerv wrote:
The Deacon wrote:The "why" behind the wave of anti-switchblade, anti-gravity knife legislation back in the mid 50's was a witches brew of fear, racism, and the desire of politicians on both sides of the aisle to appear to be doing something about something.
Very true. Also that switchblades and balisongs at heart are knives designed for killing people. Not that they are any more effective it's just difficult to dismiss the intent of the design.
That may be true for balisongs, I'm not that up on their history. However, the very first "automatic knives" in the USA were spring loaded fleams for medical bloodletting, and the original markets for more conventional automatic knives consisted of amputees, mostly casualties of war but also those of industrial accidents, who needed a one hand opening knife and school girls, to avoid broken fingernails when freshening up a pencil or quill pen. It wasn't until the influx of cheap Italian "stilletto" style switchblades after WWII that they developed a less savory reputation, mostly as a result of Hollywood.
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Re: I do not understand why they restrict Butterfly Knives.

#20

Post by VashHash »

They were originally used for utility knives not killing. Like most things they adapt well and look flashy when manipulated with skill. Think about it though. You have a knife that when closed has no exposed edges and it can't close on your hand while you use it. Balisongs even without a latch are still pretty strong and they wouldn't accidentally close on you. Not to mention it was a one handed operation not just to open but to close. This is also a property of one of our favorite knife companies. Okinawan "weapons" were farm tools that became known as weapons because peasants couldn't own weapons to defend against the samurai class. The item isn't the weapon it's the mind behind the item that weaponizes it. Give a man enough time with an item and he becomes familiar with it. This is how weapon katas came to be. It's the same with a balisong. I'm surprised there's no ban on screw drivers or hammers or cars. Tools shouldn't be held responsible for their owners intent
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