Colorado considers ending longtime switchblade knife ban
Source: Associated Press
Colorado considers ending longtime switchblade knife ban
James Anderson, Associated Press Updated 4:21 pm, Friday, January 27, 2017
DENVER (AP) The switchblade knives wielded six decades ago by the fictional Jets and Sharks street gangs in the legendary Broadway musical "West Side Story" and in Hollywood films spooked lawmakers across the U.S. and helped usher in state bans.
But 54 years after Colorado enacted its prohibition of the folding knives with blades that pop out from their handles with the push of a button or a lever, a bipartisan group of state lawmakers is trying to repeal it.
They are citing arguments from knife rights activists and others who say switchblades have become everyday work tools that also can save lives because they can be opened with one hand instead of two.
West Side Story "kind of released this sense that switchblades were what was bringing in Sharks and Jets, and that we would prevent gang activity if we outlawed these," said bill co-sponsor state Sen. Owen Hill, a Republican who argues that Colorado's law is outdated and widely ignored.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Colorado-considers-ending-longtime-switchblade-10889425.php
doc03
(35,325 posts)Same goes for all the drug laws they are based on race too. How ridiculous is it to outlaw a switchblade
knife when people are carrying handguns that can fire 17 rounds in 3 seconds?
Doug.Goodall
(1,241 posts)Saturday night is alright.
A couple of the sounds that I really like are
the sound of a switchblade and a motorbike.
I'm a juvenile product of the working class,
who's best friend floats in the bottom of a glass.
RedWedge
(618 posts)I mean, unless he's talking about the racism WSS shows. Because that's why switchblades are outlawed.
braddy
(3,585 posts)one that came straight out, and it became used so frequently that I just couldn't believe that they wouldn't let us own them here.
Mosby
(16,299 posts)Later they claimed assisted open knives were illegal under Baltimore codes.
If you can walk around with a Bowie knife on your hip then no kind of folding pocket knife should be illegal anywhere.
killbotfactory
(13,566 posts)They don't make sense, they aren't really enforced, and the only reason to keep them on the books is to so a cop can have an excuse to arrest someone who pissed them off.