Dog Brothers Public Forum

It has always seemed strange to me that it seems to come down to where you happen to be standing as to what actions you can (legally) do to defend yourself. If I'm in Pennsylvania, by the time I worked out whether or not I was actually being threatened and to what degree, I'd be dead - at least I think I would, since I'm not an attorney and can't really interpret the law well enough where I would be sure that my opinion would hold up in court.

Home in Missouri, though, I have the state's castle doctrine and -- I believe much more important, I know most of the people at the Sheriff's department -- so when a couple patrol cars show up, they're going to have at least a preliminary idea that me, the old guy with the gun, is probably the good guy.

Another question in an earlier post, what's a threat? Somebody in my home is a threat and I'm not talking to them. My home, so I'm just attacking whatever my German Shepherd is biting. But, and this did happen, some clown showed up late one night and tried to kick in the front door. Threat? Not at all. I got a shotgun and the big dog and my wife called 911. Fifteen minutes later, two cars showed up from one direction and then another car from the other way (our neighbor, also a deputy, decided to get up and see what was going on). The guy who had attempted to break the door down didn't realize the door is steel with reinforced everything and I guess he broke his knee or something, the deputies found him outside in the yard. Oops. No threat. Had he made it through the door, which I thought was extremely unlikely, I'd have taken some action, but again, didn't think that was possible unless he had some kind of breaching tools.

I think that had I shot through the door, that would have been excessive and unwarranted. Perhaps that isn't the way to look at the situation, but as long as I consider myself "safe," then I don't see any reason to attack. I'm sure various laws will castigate me both ways..........

Good post David. 

Has anyone here written a letter about this yet?  NOW is the time for comments people!

Crafty Dog - the comment period ended June 21st. Customs was asked for an extension but they refused. Meanwhile a couple of Representatives tried to tag a rule onto the Customs appropriations bill to not let Customs have the money needed to enforce the new switchblade ruling (kind of clever, I thought, hit them in the wallet). Of course, the rule got pitched out of committee on some kind of technical error.

So, we wait and see. At least here, a Missouri CCW includes all weapons, so I can always carry my Bowie knife in one of Mike Sastre's sheaths.....!

There was very little linked in the original article- although the writer states that all one-handed folders would be banned, about an hour of tooling around through the Customs pubically available information only yielded to me that

a) spring-assist would be effected
b) this would only effect import and not carry

The writer may have materials I am not privy to, but neither I nor any friends were able to find them.

Yes, spring assist would be affected. Yes, this would only affect importation. There are some other areas where this ruling may have an impact. Customs is saying that "It is now CBP’s position that knives incorporating spring- and release-assisted opening mechanisms are prohibited from entry into the United States pursuant to the Switchblade Knife Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1241–1245" -- page 7 of their statement. Customs then has some letters from 2005 where they said that spring assist was not a switchblade. Fine. Agreed.
Problem is with their 2008 letters that retract the earlier view. At this point, they are citing the report of the "Senate Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce" -- ". . . We hold, therefore, that a knife may be found to be a switchblade knife within the meaning of the Switchblade Knife Act if it is found that
it can be made to open automatically by hand pressure, inertia, or gravity after insignificant alterations, and that one of its primary purposes is for use as a weapon" - page 24.
Then Customs goes back and gets some rather obscure rulings to further reinforce their view that a switchblade is now [either] a knife that opens by pushing a button or a knife that can be opened with inertia. They cite a dictionary definition of inertia, etc.... and then these past rulings: "In New York Ruling Letter (‘‘NY’’) G83213, dated October 13, 2000, CBP determined that ‘‘a folding knife with a spring-loaded blade [which could] be easily opened by light pressure on a thumb knob located at the base of the blade, or by a flick of the wrist’’ was an ‘‘inertia-operated knife’’ that ‘‘is prohibited under the Switchblade Act and subject to seizure.’’ See 19 C.F.R.
§ 12.95 (a)(1). In NY H81084, dated May 23, 2001, CBP determined that 18 models of knives ‘‘may be opened with a simple flick of the wrist, and therefore are
prohibited as inertial operated knives.’’ - page 32

OK, so spring assist and, based on their definition, any knife that can be opened with a "flick of the wrist" - and at some other point they discuss any knife that can be opened with one hand (but I'm too lazy to find it in the 63 pages of legalese), let's say all these can no longer be imported. My big Cold Steel knife can be flicked open, I'm sure there are plenty of others. With the thumb-stud types, the makers can leave the thumb stud off and then tack weld the fastener holding the blade so it can't be backed out (and thus it can't be loose enough to be flicked open).

These are the Feds and they work with the Federal definition of a switchblade, of course. That's 15 USC -- 1241-1245.
Here's the warped part. Most all state laws that ban switchblades do not define a switchblade. The state law defaults to the Federal definition. So, if the Federal definition would now mean all the knives above, then a lot of regular knives could no longer be carried under state statutes.
Has this happened? No. But we haven't heard from Customs yet. They have 30 days from June 21st to make a ruling, which takes effect 90 days from that time. I don't know what the states will do with it. Some will probably ignore it. Others, who knows? Meanwhile, a lot of knife manufacturers are going to have a mess.

I am not an attorney, nor did I sleep in whatever motel last night. But, I do get paid as my full time job to interpret firearms law and when I happened across the Customs bulletin, I thought it wouldn't hurt to take a look. So, my opinion is only worth the two pennies and I am only listing possibilities. Some of those, unfortunately, are just rather disheartening.

A pump gun used to be my go to for everything weapon for years, but it is really collecting dust these days. Unless it's to dispatch some critter around the house, if I want a long gun, I go with an AK. Several reasons - a shotgun is pretty good sized and relatively heavy for its six to 8 rounds, my wife doesn't like shooting a shotgun at all, it's hard to move around inside a building with a shotgun (compared to a folding AK), and my wife likes the AK, which is pull the bolt back and just shoot a while. I really can't find a niche for the shotgun that works for me anymore - except the aforementioned critters.
Here's the "disclaimer" part that may allow me to make more sense in my choices - we live way out in the sticks. I could care less where rifle bullets end up, they are not going into someone else's house, they're going into the woods. We have no children, there are only the two of us. It's very likely I'll know where my wife is so as to not shoot through a wall and hit her (I'll listen for gunfire and that's her).
And, my wife specifically asked for a long gun that would penetrate most parts of a car. If someone shows up, she prefers to keep them in their car. We have no uninvited visitors ever.