Thread: EDC Knife

Originally Posted by pfries

Mick,
in many states there has been no definition on assisted opening knives.
Here in Tennessee a switch blade/ automatic knife is illegal (defined by opening with the press of a button or mechanism not attached to the blade)
An assisted opening knife is legal because you still have to manipulate the blade, on mine once you have it opened around 15 degrees the spring assist takes over and flips it open.

So depending how the officer views it in a State that does not have a clear definition leaves things in a bit of a grey area.

They've simplified things here in recent years. Anything that can be opened one handed is defined as a 'Flick' knife and comes under the realm of illegal. Yet with an M (martial arts) class weapons licence, which is reasonably easy enough to obtain, you can import/own any type of 'flick' knife, providing as I said above, that you do the T's and I's and grease the palm that's held out.
I would suppose the difference is that being licenced, you're on the books and a known commodity, and they know what you have in the collection. The national knife club here closed down some years back, because the officials wanted to have them hand over all the members details. The club said no, the police said we'll be back with the paperwork to force you, and the club voluntarily shut down and ceased to exist before they could get it, so they didn't breach the members privacy by having to hand over their details. A sad state of affairs, but that's what they do here.


Mick