this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2024
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Why are knife control laws so strong in the United States as opposed to gun control?

I was realizing it would be nice to have a knife with auto opening for boxes, etc., basically a switch blade or similar, and I found out that they are super illegal in my state (and/or there are length restrictions, or both sides of the blade can't be sharp, etc), but I can go into a sporting goods store and buy a pistol and ammo in under 30min.

Shooting open an Amazon box seems inefficient. What is up with restrictive knife-control laws??

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[–] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

My opinion is that it comes down to people not caring as much.

Yeah, that seems obvious, but bear with me here.

Know what the biggest difference there is between knives and guns? It ain't how they do the job as weapons, though that is a big one. It's that guns all work the same, so if you start banning one kind, it ends up applying to far more than anyone that thinks of firearms as an extension of the right to defense, a core human right, is willing to accept.

You ban switchblades, and there's still fixed blades, slipjoints, lockbacks, etc. Nobody has ever tried to make the kind of laws you see around knives in other countries, but if there was an attempt, I don't think there would be as much passion against it as there are with guns because there's just not as much concern about knives as part of the right to defense because guns exist. Range > melee 90% of the time.

Firearms are the gold standard for personal weaponry. So out of the peeps that care about the enumerated right to keep and bear arms simply don't think about knives as much. Same as they don't think about bows, or swords or halberds. They don't care because the fight isn't as relevant to them.

And, on the other side of things, because guns are the gold standard, you don't have as many people targeting knives. There's less to fight against

Now, if guns disappeared, see how quickly crossbows and swords started being the target as people shifted to them instead of guns. That's where the fight would go to. Ban those, and there's going to be steps all the way down until the debate is about how big a rock you are allowed to have.

Also, because of that lack of give-a-shit, knife laws aren't draconian everywhere. There's some states where you can own and carry any knife you want. Others only ban knives that can shoot across the room, or other specific, niche types

Also, I think you're underestimating how easy it is to get a pistol. If you go in without the work done ahead of time, you ain't buying a pistol in half an hour. I don't think even Texas is that loose. Background checks take at least that long. Maybe I'm behind the times om something, but even "shall issue" permit states, you have to count getting the permit in the time factor, imo.

[–] WoahWoah@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

As I understand it, NICS checks take minutes now that everything is done electronically. The more comprehensive so-called "universal background checks" are only required in a minority of states.

30 minutes is probably on the longer end for the whole process. So, you may be behind the times a little bit on this one, but idk for sure, and obviously it varies from state to state.

I know my friend bought a hunting rifle in about 15min last year to go deer hunting for the first time, because I went with him out of morbid curiosity. I think if you're over 21, a handgun purchase is identical.

The background check was so fast I didn't even know they did one until I told him I thought they need to do a background check and he told me they did it while they were packaging his gun and ringing it up. I thought it was like in The Simpsons where it's a few days, where Homer goes "aww, but I'm mad now!!" Lol

[–] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 months ago

Well dang! That's kinda neat that the tech has gotten better.

I'm in a permit state, so I definitely fell behind on that, thanks for the info.

[–] HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com 2 points 3 months ago (3 children)

we have had a lot of laws against defense to like body armor or nonlethal weapons. its wierd. I remember watching a pbs round table with degerberg on it and he was talking about where are ll the murder corpses with shuriken wounds. H liked arnis because as he says there is no government in the world that can outlaw sticks.

[–] Noel_Skum@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 months ago

He is not wrong about the stick.

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[–] YeetPics@mander.xyz 0 points 3 months ago

I feel you, I needed a bread knife to slice a loaf and there is a 4 day waiting period before I can go down to my FKL and pickup my turbo-bread-saw 9000.

[–] PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Because knives are the weapon of choice of poor people and abuse victims that are lashing out while guns are favored by the white dudes

[–] WoahWoah@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (5 children)

The weapon of choice of poor people? 12x more violent crime is committed using firearms than knives in the United States. You may be under the impression that all guns are expensive, but that's not the case.

Also, your post implicitly categorizes people of color as poor, abused, knife-wielding criminals. That seems like a long, convoluted way to be racist, but you do you.

You were trying so hard to make this a race/class issue that you accidentally did a racism. 🤣

[–] PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Pointing out that white men are a privileged class the law and especially law enforcement caters to is not in fact a racism.

[–] WoahWoah@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

That's true. But implying non-white people are poor, abused, and knife-wielding criminals is. You just structured your comment in a clumsy matter, it's fine. The conversation went somewhere more interesting and involved without you.

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[–] morphballganon@lemmy.world -4 points 3 months ago (3 children)

You don't need a switchblade to open boxes. A box cutter (hence the name) works just fine.

If you think box cutters are too blue-collar, get a multitool with a knife on it (a "pocketknife" with other gizmos).

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