Oklahoma Law Regarding Knives

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I have a funny story. I was in the military stationed in Colorado Springs at Fort Carson and it was 230 a.m. and we were sitting at Denny's enjoying the nasty drunk mans food and a fight broke out. A guy fell into our seats and threw a punch for no reason and one of the guys gave him a very nice get away from our table throw. Then the police came and during the altercation my buddy who was eating pancakes had a butter knife in his hand while he was trying to push a guy away from our table. The police almost took him to jail because he had a butter knife in his hand. It was considered a deadly weapon. Thank God he was the DD and was sober or he would have went to jail. They let him off the hook. The moral of the story is do not have anything in your hand when you are trying to brake up a fight.
 

LightningCrash

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Then the police came and during the altercation my buddy who was eating pancakes had a butter knife in his hand while he was trying to push a guy away from our table. The police almost took him to jail because he had a butter knife in his hand. It was considered a deadly weapon. Thank God he was the DD and was sober or he would have went to jail.

That's nuts!
There's an assault/a salt pun somewhere in here. I can feel it.
 

cjjtulsa

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"knife having a blade which opens automatically by hand pressure applied to a button, spring, or other device in the handle of the knife"

This part is what clears it up IMO, most of the assisted opening knives are opened by a stud or "Lip" on the blade itself, not in the handle.

Thanks. I knew the basic difference, but not the legal difference. I'll just go with a new spring assisted in a larger size than what I've got.
 

Rez Exelon

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I have never been searched and any time i have had contact with le none have said anything about what kind of pocket knife i had. Even the ones i have rode with before. Just don't be a moron and wave it around and if they ask be honest, if your not a felon i am pretty sure they won't do jack.

Not entirely true. I remember a thread a few months back where a guy got pulled over (pretty roughly) because he was on a motorcycle and his carry piece showed. When they stopped him and they found he had an auto knife they took it away in a heartbeat, and he thankfully got talked out of complaining about the confiscation because of the legal aspects.

Personally, I wouldn't carry one on my person. If someone wanted to donate one for my house (because I think they're snazzy) I wouldn't mind, but it's not going off my property.
 

ez bake

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Not entirely true. I remember a thread a few months back where a guy got pulled over (pretty roughly) because he was on a motorcycle and his carry piece showed. When they stopped him and they found he had an auto knife they took it away in a heartbeat, and he thankfully got talked out of complaining about the confiscation because of the legal aspects.

Personally, I wouldn't carry one on my person. If someone wanted to donate one for my house (because I think they're snazzy) I wouldn't mind, but it's not going off my property.

Actually, it was a Kershaw assisted-opener if I remember right, but the officers claimed it was an "automatic opening knife".

That's the problem is that the law is subject to what the LEO who happens to stop you actually knows about said law. If they take your knife (even if its assisted and not "auto by definition", the onus is on you to get it back (and if you think its easy to get back something that has been confiscated, its not).

That "blurry line" of opening by a switch/button vs a flipper (which we all know to be a part of the blade's tang, making it like a thumb-stud, hole, or thumbnail slot), is still blurry enough that it makes me leave my assisted knives at home a lot more than my non-assisted just to be safe.

I still don't use a folding knife for self-defense, as a small fixed-blade is much easier to deploy and readily available for use in such a situation, but I typically carry a folder for utility.
 

Rez Exelon

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Actually, it was a Kershaw assisted-opener if I remember right, but the officers claimed it was an "automatic opening knife".

That's the problem is that the law is subject to what the LEO who happens to stop you actually knows about said law. If they take your knife (even if its assisted and not "auto by definition", the onus is on you to get it back (and if you think its easy to get back something that has been confiscated, its not).

Yeah. I have a good friend who spent 20 years as a litigator in the courts of OKC and his favorite saying is that the law is only what 12 people and a judge think it is. Unfortunately I have to add on "and what the LEO on the scene thinks it is." Because that whole "innocent until proven guilty" idea has been dead for a LONG time.
 

mhphoto

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Well, I'm gonna compose my letter to my state reps saying it's time to get rid of the ridiculous auto-knife laws. When they were passed everyone was scared of knife-wielding gangs, something not based in reality but rather perpetuated by Hollywood.
 

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