Meanwhile, in the Free State of Texas... swords! woo! https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/08/30/en...
Meanwhile Florida Man follows the way of the Samurai: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/07/27/florida-man-wields-samu...
How a ’50s-Era New York Knife Law Has Landed Thousands in Jail
31–40 of 168 posts
Re: How a ’50s-Era New York Knife Law Has Landed Thousands in Jail
#32My brother got charged as a result this law as the police wanted information about one of his friends. It is enforced very selectively too. If you can swing it down very hard and it opens, it is a gravity knife and thus criminal possession of a weapon. It is a bad law, and according to their definition nearly every pocket knife is a gravity knife. There was an effort to repeal it, but for some reason governor Cuomo d…
It was a few years back, but I first learned about this in a documentary that had police officers practicing to flip knives open and teaching each other how to do it with different brands/styles of knives.
Try as I might, I can't come up with an ethical justification for this behavior. They were literally training to make knives do things beyond their design, for the purpose of charging people who had no intent to do anything of the sort with their knives. There's nothing just about that.
Re: How a ’50s-Era New York Knife Law Has Landed Thousands in Jail
#33This is a single symptom of a larger issue, namely an excess of laws to the point that any law can be arbitrarily used to prosecute you if you are of an unwanted class, race, etc. Add on top the police quota system and you have a recipe of this type of injustice that runs the gamut, from antiquidated knife laws to the drug war. To me, this is largely a result of lawyers fucking ruining everything they touch, and then…
Lawyers aren’t the ones who propose the laws, or write them, or vote on them. Professionally, lawyers are the ones who represent people in disputes. Arrogant jackasses like you are what give techies a bad name.
>Lawyers aren’t the ones who propose the laws
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44762.pdf (page 2 shows 218 lawyers in congress)
http://library.clerk.house.gov/documents/Lawyers.pdf
>or write them
Congress doesn't really write laws. K-street (lawyers) tend to write them in conjuction with congress (lawyers) staff helping.
>vote on them.
See above two links.
Please now clarify how I give techies a bad name?
Re: How a ’50s-Era New York Knife Law Has Landed Thousands in Jail
#34IANAL, but in such an absurd knife case, on the jury, why not just vote to acquit, for innocent?
As I understand the situation, a juror can vote whatever based on whatever, for any reason or no reason, and never give their reason.
So, for a nonsense knife case as in the OP, really just a way for a lot of lawyer politicians to posture before the public and a lot of other lawyers to throw innocent citizens in jail just for the jollies, why not just vote innocent?
Re: How a ’50s-Era New York Knife Law Has Landed Thousands in Jail
#35This is a single symptom of a larger issue, namely an excess of laws to the point that any law can be arbitrarily used to prosecute you if you are of an unwanted class, race, etc. Add on top the police quota system and you have a recipe of this type of injustice that runs the gamut, from antiquidated knife laws to the drug war. To me, this is largely a result of lawyers fucking ruining everything they touch, and then…
Lawyers aren’t the ones who propose the laws, or write them, or vote on them. Professionally, lawyers are the ones who represent people in disputes. Arrogant jackasses like you are what give techies a bad name.
Over 40% of Congress are lawyers,
http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/lawyers_no_longer_dom...
Re: How a ’50s-Era New York Knife Law Has Landed Thousands in Jail
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not a switchblade. That's like calling a handgun a 'rifle with a shorter barrel'. There is a distinction between a switchblade (which opens at the operation of a switch or button), a gravity knife (which opens as you described),and a spring assisted knife (which has a spring but not one strong enough to open the blade on its own). It's dangerous to mix and match words when describing an item that could or could…
Agreed it’s not a switchblade, it differs fundamentally in that it doesn’t have a spring and is not automatic. You take that thing, remove a bit, have this thing. Wikipedia: A switchblade is a type of knife with a folding or sliding blade contained in the handle which is opened automatically by a spring when a button, lever, or switch on the handle or bolster is activated. Most switchblade designs incorporate a locki…
There have always been methods to skirt laws on these sorts of things. My personal favorite from a conceptual standpoint was the knife, whose sheath dropped away, rather than the blade coming out. https://www.google.com/patents/US4523379
Re: How a ’50s-Era New York Knife Law Has Landed Thousands in Jail
#37My brother got charged as a result this law as the police wanted information about one of his friends. It is enforced very selectively too. If you can swing it down very hard and it opens, it is a gravity knife and thus criminal possession of a weapon. It is a bad law, and according to their definition nearly every pocket knife is a gravity knife. There was an effort to repeal it, but for some reason governor Cuomo d…
Most weapon bans are pretty silly and arbitrary. Look at the old AWB... Flash hider? Banned.. Muzzle Break? ok... Bayonet Lug? Banned... Grenade launcher oh sorry I mean “flaregun attachment” is ok as long as you can’t fix a bayonet on it...
"Flash hider? Banned.. Muzzle Break? ok"
In all fairness, muzzle breaks have practical civilian use as a way to reduce recoil for target shooting, while flash hiders just make it difficult for authorities to spot the location of a shooter. Muzzle breaks actually increase the noise level of a firearm, making more detectable than a stock barrel.
Re: How a ’50s-Era New York Knife Law Has Landed Thousands in Jail
#38Save a life, bin that knife. Only criminals need knives. /british-persona That said, shouldn't the retailers be prosecuted for being in legal possession of the item prior to sale? They legally own all of the products in their inventory
The article mentions that most of the knives would have been law-abiding when sold, but due to wear, the blade hinge loosens enough that an officer can flick it open.
Re: How a ’50s-Era New York Knife Law Has Landed Thousands in Jail
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wait a minute, I have one of those and they're hard enough to open two-handed, your arm would break the sound barrier before you could flick this thing with enough speed to open it one-handed. Is this really considered a gravity knife?
Flicks aren't required. The thumbhole on the blade is there specifically to enable a one-handed opening, and would likely therefore qualify as a "gravity knife", whatever we might think of such a classification.
According to the article, flicks are the requirement. It's a long article and they don't get into it until quite a ways down.
One handed would be okay, so long as it can't be flicked open by officers who practice flicking knives open on a regular basis and have pretty much perfected the art.
But, yes, the flicking is a requirement - according to the article.
Re: How a ’50s-Era New York Knife Law Has Landed Thousands in Jail
#40So, we have a combination of lawyer politicians pushing total nonsense laws and posturing before the public, some cops looking to make arrests as sadists to attack innocent people, and a lot of lawyers -- judges and prosecutors -- out to be with the sadistic cops to throw as many innocent citizens in jail as possible.
So, with this situation: (1) Stay the heck out of NYC. (2) Try to stay the hack out of NYS. (3) Stay the heck away from cops. (4) Look the part of the powerful, upstanding, responsible, politically influential citizen. E.g., don't drive an old car. Etc.
Ah, a lot like what a lot of wild animals in the jungle have to do -- stay out of areas with potential attackers, stay away from potential attackers and generally out of sight and to any potential attacker look strong.
So, right, NYC is a jungle with vicious wild animals; cops, lawyers, and lawyer politicians are among the most dangerous wild animals in that jungle.