![]() “It appears the ship has sailed,” he said in a written statement.īronx District Attorney Darcel Clark - who also signed the 2016 letter to Cuomo - said in a statement she believed in charging in gravity knife cases only when a person is accused of “intent to use it unlawfully against another.” Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon called the legislation “another Albany overreach,” but is not advocating the governor to veto the new measure, either. Gonzalez was not involved in discussions about the bill and is not calling for a veto, spokesperson Oren Yaniv wrote in an email. “I use it for work, I don’t use it for nothing else.” “Something small like that shouldn’t be a crime,” said Jones, 33. He was released and the charges will be dismissed in six months if he avoids trouble with the law. Keshone Jones, an ambulance repairman, spent a full night and day locked up in Brooklyn last month for having a folding knife among other tools in his car while driving home from the gym. The Legal Aid Society, which analyzed gravity knife cases in the city from the first half of 2018, found that 85% of those arrested for possession were black or Latino. ![]() Gravity knives are defined by users’ ability to quickly flick open and lock using just one hand - a standard a federal judge recently ruled vague. This year marks Albany lawmakers’ third attempt to repeal the folding knives prohibition, which opponents argue punishes thousands annually for holding blades commonly sold in stores, carried for work and believed by many to be perfectly legal. Below is another fine example of a small maker making a high-end gravity knife.City prosecutors’ changing stances and a recent court ruling appear to be shifting the balance toward lifting the state ban on so-called gravity knives. You’ve seen the Reate EXO in the video above, and it’s a beauty. That leaves smaller, independent companies in the space making interesting and stylish pieces. Many of the top factory makers don’t invest in making gravity knives. It’s also illegal to conceal carry in North Dakota and West Virginia. Maryland has an odd law where it is legal to own a gravity knife but illegal to both conceal carry and open carry the blade. Despite the law being struck down at a state level, New York City still forbids the public transport of gravity knives.ĭelaware is the lone state currently with an explicit ban on gravity knives. A New York state statute banning gravity knives was struck down by a federal district court in 2019, and many states from coast to coast explicitly allow the sale and carry of gravity knives. Meanwhile, modern gravity knives are having a renaissance, whether those that slide out the front or swing out the side.” Also, modern designs and materials make the resulting knives smoother, stronger and more useful than ever before.įortunately, the laws against gravity knives are loosening. Any knife that didn’t open with a nail nick and two hands “had” to be a weapon used only by “the wrong sort of person.” As Mike noted, “Any spring-loaded side-opening or OTF automatic and any gravity-opening side opener or OTF was exploited to that end. Any collector of these knives knows their history and their utility, in spite of the bans. “The lawmakers’ goal was to frighten the public and exploit that fear for political gain,” Mike wrote. Why Is The Gravity Knife So Controversial?Īccording to knife enthusiast Mike Crenshaw, switchblade and gravity knife laws date from the 1950s when lawmakers worked to link switchblades/automatics and gravity knives to criminals and minorities. In terms of contemporary gravity knives, the EXO could conceivably be called the gold standard. The titanium handle with micarta scales provides a strong, resilient grip, and the Kydex sheath allows you to carry the knife safely. The blade is made from Elmax super steel with a satin finish. Neeves Knives has an excellent breakdown of the Reate EXO gravity knife, how it works, and what makes them so fun to use.Īs you can see, the EXO is an incredibly smooth OTF gravity knife. Of course, that could pose a safety issue if the knife is pointed toward you. This means that the simplest way to do that is by pointing the knife downward and pulling up on the handle although you can also deploy the blade by flicking it open like an assisted-opening folder. The only way to deploy the blade is via gravity. ![]() These knives came to prominence in the 1950s and remain a popular, if controversial, style of EDC. The blade is in the handle and opens by moving a segment of the knife and allowing the blade to fall out. And then there’s the gravity knife, which opens with the help of the force of gravity. Many knives can be opened with a thumb stud or a nail nick. When it comes to pocketknives there are all sorts of different ways to deploy the blade. Fast-Opening, Gravity Knives Are Banned In Many Places But Are Incredibly Versatile And Fun To Use.
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