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Knife Rights Gives Updates on WA & TX Knife Bills

April 19, 2019 / Tim / 1 Comment

Knife Rights is hot off the heels of helping get a switchblade ban repeal and knife law preemption bill passed in the state of Montana.

In fact, the knife advocacy organization held a signing ceremony for the bill, which was attended by Ethan Becker, Governor Steve Bullock, activist Joe Paschal, ACLU of Montana Director of Advocacy and Policy S.K. Rossi, and more.

Even cooler, all involved received an inscribed Pro-Tech SBR (Short Bladed Rockeye) automatic knife.

Texas Knife Bill Moves Forward

While all of this was happening, a bill in Texas that would remove location-based restrictions on knives in the state moved forward after it was passed out of the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee. This bill — along with its companion House bill — are still in the early stages of passage, so it would still need to pass a committee and both chambers.

Knife Rights Appeals NYC Gravity Knife Case to Supreme Court

November 8, 2018 / Tim / 2 Comments

Knife Rights has announced it is appealing a case related to the abusive enforcement of New York’s gravity knife ban to the Supreme Court.

Earlier this year, a panel on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled in favor of New York City and District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr in the suit brought by Knife Rights. Knife Rights alleges that the city’s policy of treating pretty much any locking folder as an illegal gravity is unjust.

We’ve written about this case for a few years now (read my 2011 article on the initial lawsuit) and have covered all the twists and turns of the story — including efforts by the state legislators to remedy the issue only to be twice thwarted by the governor.

With the appeals court ruling in favor of the city, Knife Rights only has one more option: the Supreme Court. The lobbying organization is submitting a petition for a writ of certiorari, which asks the highest court in the land to hear the appeal.

The Supreme Court is asked to hear roughly 7,000 to 8,000 cases each year but only picks a small handful. So, the odds of the court accepting the case is slim.

The Washington Post Publishes Article on Knife Rights

September 18, 2018 / Tim / 1 Comment

If you collect or enjoy knives, you’ve likely heard of the knife advocacy group started by knife designer Doug Ritter called Knife Rights.

Well, thanks to an article published in The Washington Post on September 15, people all over the country had the joy of learning all about the group’s effort to repeal restrictive knife laws in the United States.

I highly recommend reading the whole thing here.

An image of Todd Rathner of Knife Rights by Bridget Bennett for The Washington Post

Reporter Todd C. Frankel did a pretty good job presenting both sides of the argument and portraying the organization in a fairly positive light.

Here is a nice excerpt from the piece:

Ritter, 65, said that knives, like guns, should be considered arms protected by the Second Amendment. He doesn’t support any restriction on knives — not on switchblades or push daggers or even the ballistic knives that shoot like spears from a handle. Todd Rathner, director of legislative affairs for Knife Rights, holds a one-handed open knife during the Usual Suspect Gathering.

That’s become a winning argument. Twenty-one states have repealed or weakened their knife laws since 2010, many of them with bipartisan support, including Colorado, Michigan and Illinois. New York came close to doing the same last year. Ohio could be next. Texas passed its bill last year despite a high-profile stabbing death just days before lawmakers voted. And Knife Rights, with little financial backing, has been working behind the scenes to help make it happen.

“A lot of people said it would be impossible to repeal a switchblade law in any state. Insane. Tilting at windmills,” Ritter said. “Turns out they were wrong.”

The story was not without its faults though.

Knife Rights Launches 2018 ‘Ultimate Steel’ Fundraising Giveaway

April 17, 2018 / Tim / 1 Comment

It’s back!

The Knife Rights Ultimate Steel Spectacular has returned in glorious fashion.

Each year, the knife rights organization launches an amazing fundraising campaign to raise money for the cause. For 2018, they have gathered more than $175,000 in prizes (so far) to give away to those who donate. Because all the knives and guns are donated to Knife Rights, 100 percent of the proceeds to go to help funding the organization.

Here is a quick breakdown of the entry process.

$20 gets 1 entry
$40 gets 2 entries
$60 gets 4 entries
$80 gets 6 entries

Along with a Knife Rights membership at $60 or above, higher donations also get cool gear branded with Knife Rights while supplies last.

$100 gets 9 entries + Kizer Kesmec
$200 gets 22 entries + SOG Ultra C-Ti
$300 gets 37 entries + Spyderco Native 5 Lightweight
$400 gets 60 entries + Colonial Nemesis
$500 gets 90 entries + Cold Steel Swift II
$1,000 gets 150 entries + Hogue Damascus/CF A01 Microswitch

Those who donate before May 16 are also eligible for an early bird bonus drawing with more than $35,000 in prizes. To be eligible for the main drawing, you have to donate by August 1. Drawings will be done within two weeks of the closing dates.

Watch ‘Vice News’ Report on Knife Rights & NYC Gravity Laws

February 22, 2018 / Tim / 2 Comments

The issue of gun rights and laws is becoming an increasingly hot topic with people on both sides of the aisle digging in for a long and contentious fight.

But what similar issue can get both sides of the political spectrum fighting together for a common cause? Knife rights and laws.

I’ve written about this dozens of times, but an old law banning “gravity knives” in New York City has been abused by law enforcement to apprehend and arrest thousands of New Yorkers.

This topic is intriguing and caught the interest of Vice, which shot a short video detailing the background of Doug Ritter of Knife Rights and the NYC knife laws.

Knife Rights Holding ‘Bring Your Own Bowie’ Event at The Alamo

August 22, 2017 / Tim / 3 Comments

NOTE: Due to the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey, the event has been postponed by Knife Rights until further notice.

For more than 140 years, the Bowie knife has been outlawed in the state of Texas, the very same state in which the knife was born.

But thanks to a new law passed a few months ago, Bowie knives (along with daggers, swords, spears, dirks, stilettos, and poniards) will be legal to carry nearly anywhere starting Sept. 1.

In celebration of this momentous enactment, Knife Rights is sponsoring the Texas Bowie Knife Liberty Celebration at The Alamo on Sept. 2. The knife advocacy organization is promoting the event as a BYOB (Bring Your Own Bowie) event in which the public will be able to proudly carry a Bowie knife in public for the first time in their lives.

The event is brief but there will be a special showing of historical Bowie knives in the mission’s collection and presentations about the history of the Bowie knife.

It also coincides with the famous mission’s “First Saturday at The Alamo” program that transforms The Alamo back to the times of the 1830s.

Knife Rights Launches Annual Fundraising Giveaway for 2017

April 11, 2017 / Tim / 3 Comments

Knife Right’s massive fundraising event called the Ultimate Steel Spectacular is back and — well — it’s spectacular.

Every year Knife Rights launches its Ultimate Steel campaign to raise money because fighting for your right to carry knives doesn’t come cheap.

This year, the knife-advocacy organization has more than $200,000 worth of prizes to give away to those who donate to the cause.

Here’s how it works: You pick one of 10 donation amounts and receive entries based on the amount. For $20, you get one entry. For $60, you get four entries as well as a free bonus entry. As you get to higher amounts, you also get some nice add-ons. For example, at the $300 mark, you get 37 entries (including 22 free entries) and a free Colonial Nemesis, which is valued at $200. Those are available in limited quantities.

NAACP Joins Knife Rights in Fight Against NYC Knife Laws

October 2, 2016 / Tim / 1 Comment

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Thanks to a distorted reading of New York City knife laws, the NYPD has sent as many as 60,000 people to jail over the past decade. According to the Village Voice, simple possession of a pocket knife has even landed defendants in prison for up to seven years.

Knife Rights has been taking on the city for the past few years, arguing that the laws are unjust, capricious, and unconstitutional. In some cases, people have been arrested for carrying legal knives like the Buck 112 Ranger or Leatherman Surge—not exactly gravity knives.

buck-112-ranger

Now the organization has garnered support from a group traditionally on the other side of the political spectrum: the NAACP.

These two groups make strange bedfellows, but they are fighting for the same thing: justice for unfairly targeted groups.

Donate to Knife Rights’ Ultimate Steel Spectacular and Win

April 21, 2016 / Tim / 0 Comments

Few organizations have done more for knife rights than Knife Rights.

The advocacy organization is dedicated to influencing positive public policy in pursuit of knife rights, encourage the safe use and marketing of knives, and provide knife owners with services.

To say that Knife Rights is a success is not doing the organization justice. Knife Rights Founder and Chairman Doug Ritter has taken on NYC for its anti-knife laws and pushed pro-knife laws around the United States. Here’s an interview we did with Ritter back in 2011 to learn more about the early days of the movement.

While the organization has done so much for knife owners, there’s still a long way to go. Unfortunately, pushing through legislation and fighting legal battles doesn’t come cheap.

Knife Rights Releases Rankings of 10 Worst Anti-Knife Cities

November 20, 2014 / Tim / 13 Comments

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Since its inception in late 2006, Knife Rights has worked hard to lobby against those with an anti-knife agenda. The organization has done a ton of advocacy for knife rights and has made a huge impact with knife legislation. We covered just a little of what they’ve done in an older blog post.

At the NASC Annual Sportsman-Legislator Summit in Oregon, Knife Rights released their first annual review of the worst and best knife laws in America.

Here’s more from Knife Rights on the ranking:

The ten worst anti-knife cities stand out for their outright persecution of honest knife owners and extraordinarily restrictive anti-knife ordinances, far more severe than even the state laws in those areas.

You can see the rankings over at Knife Rights but we thought we’d share it here as well. Some of the information about the laws in the cities are taken from Knife Rights.

Here are the 10 worst cities for knife owners.

10. Aspen, Colorado

In Aspen, it’s illegal to carry a concealed knife of any type in a car, unless you have a concealed weapons permit. It’s perfectly legal to buy marijuana in Aspen, but don’t even think about driving with your pocketknife hidden somewhere.

9. Corpus Christi, Texas (Update: removed from list in 2015 with the passage of Texas’ knife preemption law)