The fact that a knife manufacturer is now selling automatic opening knives on its website might seem, well, less than earthshaking. Auto knives (here we're talking about what colloquially are called "switchblades") have been around since at least the mid-1800s and their popularity soared in the early 1900s thanks in part to the work of knifemaker George Schrade. Before World War II, for instance, auto-opening knives were sold at hardware stores, general stores and available through the venerable Sears and Roebuck catalog.
But a funny thing happened in the middle of the 20th century. It was propaganda that first blacklisted switchblades in the U.S. It sprouted from a well-prepared package of misinformation that appeared in the November 1950 issue of “Women’s Home Companion” magazine. There, in a headline-grabbing story titled “The Toy That Kills” by Jack Harrison Pollack, automatic knives were identified as a societal curse. “Designed for violence, deadly as a revolver – that’s the switchblade, the ‘toy’ youngsters all over the country are taking up as a fad,” read the story. “Press the button on this new version of the pocketknife and the blade darts out like a snake’s tongue. Action against this killer should be taken now.”
The nation's tabloid newspapers were quick to help beat the drum. Throughout the early 1950s, the papers advanced the narrative as switchblade being the deadly weapon of choice for delinquents and violent gang members. Particularly, “gangs of immigrants.” As the media whipped up the outrage, the U.S. Congress began pushing for a national switchblade ban. The hysteria in both the media and the government was often couched in racial and xenophobic overtones. The entertainment industry hopped on board as well: In Broadway's 1957 musical "West Side Story" (it later became a movie), two rival teenage gangs - the white American Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks - had a deadly fight with switchblades. Congress, of course, just had to take action. Sen. Frederick Payne, a Maine Republican, asked during a Congressional hearing on the issue, “Isn’t it true that this type of knife, switchblade knife, in its several different forms, was developed, actually, abroad, and was developed by the so-called scum, if you want to call it, or the group who are always involved in crime?"
Frank J. Pino, a state senator from Brooklyn, NY, testified before Congress in support of the switchblade ban. New York was the first state to ban switchblades in 1954, and Pino had the talking points down. To Congress the Democrat appealed to the senses of America’s white suburban middle class: "these knives are... inherently dangerous, they have only one purpose. They are just deadly,” he testified. “They are lethal weapons, and they are suited for crime, that is all they are suited for."
None of that is true, of course, but neither Payne, Pino or others on both sides of the political aisle who were pushing for the ban of switchblades were going to let truth get in the way. So, on Aug. 12, 1958, Congress passed the "Federal Switchblade Act" with bipartisan support. President Eisenhower signed it into law, and it regulated the manufacture and introducing of switchblades into interstate commerce. It should be pointed out the Federal Switchblade Act does not forbid someone from carrying or owning a switchblade in the U.S. Ownership provisions were left to the states. That's where knife law reform has had the most success.
Things have changed. Luckily.
Today, automatic knives in some form (there may be blade length restrictions, for instance) are legal in 44 states. Since 2010, according to a recent story in Knives Illustrated magazine, switchblade bans in 16 states have been repealed. Much of that is due to the work of Knife Rights and the American Knife & Tool Institute, two organizations that work tirelessly on both the state and federal level to ensure knife-friendly legislation comes before lawmakers and that additional bans are not enacted. Whenever new, knife-friendly legislation is passed in the U.S., Knife Rights founder Doug Ritter deserves much of the credit.
"Since 2010 we have passed 32 bills repealing knife bans in 22 states and over 100 cities and towns," said Ritter. "That record and trend also dissuades many legislators who would love to ban the common knives we enjoy from even trying, or giving up early in the process. When you support Knife Rights, you can be sure your support is accomplishing good things for knife owners everywhere and spreading freedom wherever we go."
When asked where Ritter saw the next opportunities for switchblade repeals, Ritter declined to make too many projections.
"I never make predictions about what we will do next, unless it is follow-up to an existing effort," Ritter said. " For example, we will certainly be back in Washington state next year after a couple years of getting very close to succeeding. We have a revised game plan that will hopefully succeed this time."
There's still work to do, but the softening of switchblade laws in states is something to be celebrated. Changes in legislation now allows for the sale of automatic knives in states where they are legal. That's why the fact a knife manufacturer is now selling automatic opening knives on its website while not earthshaking, is at least noteworthy.
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