Thanks to everyone's had work in pressuring Congress the knife community has a great win. The pending US Customs ruling about assisted opening knives has finally been resolved.
On October 28, 2009 The President has signed the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill (H.R. 2892) for FY 2010 that includes a permanent "fix" so that any folding knife with a bias toward closure cannot be declared a switchblade by U.S. Customs.
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Hey guys, can you explain what you mean by "bias towards closure"? Thanks
Basically what that means is that the blade wants to stay closed. Unlike, a switch blade that is spring loaded and will open as soon as it is released. A knife that is biased towards closed will stay closed until it is opened approximately 1/4 of the opening arc. Does that make sense?
Yes, it does. Thank you. Also, I'm currently in Peru (US Citizen though), and saw a really neat assisted opening knife with a roughly 3.5 inch blade. Needless to say, I bought it, and am wondering...will I be able to take it through Customs without a problem because of this new legislature? Or will I have to hide it inside of something in order to get it through without a problem.
Did you REALLY just ask a company about trying to subvert US Customs on a public website?? I think you wanted to know what their opinion of your new treasure was in reference to the legality of it.
You need to describe it in more detail. From what I read above, is there basically a spring loaded blade that is being held back by a trigger-like device? Or, will it stay shut on its' own without assistance from a block/trigger? That's probably the test to apply.
Thank you SOG and AKTI for aggressively protecting our rights.