Quote Originally Posted by icedog View Post
Yea Tim, you're right. The lock is purely a safety feature. The first lock blade knife I owned was a Boy Scouts of America Whittling Knife. I had the BSA logo and a liner type lock on one of the blades so it wouldn't accidentally close down on the little scout's fingers.

To your second point, although I love a good switchblade (and I own more than a few), the Axis Lock on my Benchmade EDC gives me such control over the blade I can open and close it faster, much faster than the Foster automatic I opened this thread with.
Definitely a safety feature. My second pocket knife was a 2" lockblade, as my first pocketknife left a red bloody line across the back of my fingers when I tried to cut a rope with it and slipped closing the blade on my hand.

And I believe the Benchmade you reference is legal here while the knife n your thread isn't. All about image over substance.