Knives Illustrated – August 2019

BYKNIVES ILLUSTRATED STAFF

POINTS OF INTEREST

KNIFE RIGHTS STANDS

AT THE FRONT LINES,

FIGHTING THE BIASES

THAT HAVE PLAGUED

THE KNIFE INDUSTRY

FOR YEARS

BATTLING

PREJUDICE

KNIFE RIGHTS’ 2019

ULTIMATE STEEL

SPECTACULAR

Ultimately, these eorts require funding.

We encourage you to support Knife Rights

with a donation in the Ultimate Steel

Spectacular, where you could win knives,

guns and more with a total value above

$200,000. As Doug explained, “when you

get right down to it, rewriting knife law in

America would be impossible if we didn’t

have the support of both the extremely

generous companies and knifemakers who

donate prizes, and the generous supporters

who make donations and get a chance to

win those incredible prizes.”

Be one of those supporters!

W

hile Knife Rights

continues to fight

to repeal knife bans

throughout the coun-

try with considerable success, some

distorted views die hard.

A significant portion of the population

is misinformed, incorrectly believing

the Federal Switchblade Act actually

is a ban on these popular knives. They

think that any switchblade, anywhere,

is illegal — even in places where an

automatic knife has always been

perfectly legal.

Knife Rights Chairman Doug Ritter

noted that “the Governor of Virginia

displayed his regrettable view of

switchblades, still rooted in the myths

and social attitudes of the 1950s”

when recently vetoing one of their bills.

Passed with bipartisan support, the

bill in Virginia would only have allowed

for the largest knife distributor in the

U.S., and others in the state, to possess

automatics to sell to customers in the

majority of states where they are legal

— bringing in much-needed jobs and

revenue. Virginia Governor Northam’s

veto message reminds us that we are

still fighting ignorance of some.

His unfortunately illustrative veto

message noted that “the Virginia Gen-

eral Assembly has deemed switch-

blade knives to be so dangerous that

they have prohibited their sale or

distribution in the Commonwealth.

This bill would permit manufacturers

and distributors in Virginia to possess

these dangerous weapons for sale

out of state. If switchblade knives are

too dangerous to be sold in Virginia,

we should not facilitate their sale and

distribution in other states.”

Ritter explained, “we fight these

archaic and ill-informed biases all the

time, whether it is against switch-

blades, daggers or Bowie knives.

Lucky for us there are fewer and fewer

of these politicians mired in the past

still around. But, every once in a while,

they rear up and stop progress.”

But they don’t stop Knife Rights from

continuing to try, as he concluded,

“Knife Rights will never give up on

Virginia, or any other state, in our

e­ort to put a stop to these senseless

and discriminatory laws.”

As of this writing, Knife Rights is

working to move bills repealing

GETTY IMAGES

archaic knife bans in Montana, Wash-

ington, Vermont, and Ohio. At the U.S.

Supreme Court, their petition for Writ

of Certiorari in their nearly eight-year-

old federal civil rights case against

New York City is proceeding through

the painfully slow briefing process.

We should hear this summer whether

their petition is granted and whether

they will be allowed to have their case

heard. KI

12 KNIVES ILLUSTRATED • JULY/AUGUST 2019 knivesillustrated.com