Sure enough, one year after Commando was released, the Ballistic Knife Prohibition Act of 1986 was signed into federal law by then-Republican President Ronald Reagan, as part of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986. It enabled knife haters to join ranks with gun haters and both had a common, new, inanimate object to wail and screech about. Politically, the ballistic knife helped fill the gap between guns and knives. What made the ballistic knife so frightening to career politicians, media talking heads and assorted hoplophobes (those who irrationally fear weapons) is that it’s a knife that shoots! Why are Ballistic Knives Illegal? Hype and Politicians Hollywood elitism and hypocrisy is nothing new. O’Neal’s son was charged with reckless driving and possession of a ballistic knife. In May of 1986, Francis Ford Coppola’s son and Ryan O’Neal’s son were in an automobile accident in which Coppola’s son died. ![]() Hollywood never misses a chance to help fuel a misguided weapons ban, and the ballistic knife was no exception. “ ❼omo esta?” asks Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1985 movie Commando, as he fires a ballistic knife into the chest of a bad guy, which amazingly causes immediate death. That means one-armed individuals are forced by federal law to have to throw their knives by hand just like everyone else! The federal law on ballistic knives is very similar to federal law on switchblades, except that the switchblade law exception for “the possession, and transportation upon his person, of any switchblade knife with a blade three inches or less in length by any individual who has only one arm” does not apply to ballistic knives. When the latch is released, the knife and attached inner handle launch and “go ballistic.” The coil spring compresses inside the handle, and a latch holds the knife blade down against the spring pressure. In plain English, a ballistic knife is essentially a blade attached to a hollow handle that fits inside of another outer hollow handle, which contains a coil spring. As used in this section, the term “ballistic knife” means a knife with a detachable blade that is propelled by a spring-operated mechanism. United States Code, Title 15 Section 1245 What Is a Ballistic Knife?įederal law defines a ballistic knife as follows: Here’s a look at what ballistic knives are, how they became banned and why those bans should be repealed. The most banned knife in the country remains the ballistic knife. Switchblades, or automatic knives, might attract the most attention, but reforms in recent years have relaxed restrictions in most U.S. ![]() Editor’s note: This article is an excerpt from the KNIVES 2004 book, but the information is still relevant.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |