Quote Originally Posted by Anonymous D View Post
And the whole switchblade thing is stupid IMO. The point of a switch blade is to be able to deploy the blade fast ans easy. So they ban it. What about fixed blades? THEY ARE ALREADY "DEPLOYED"
Yet another example of weapons legislation being driven by ignorant perception rather than fact. Switchblades have been perceived as being associated with gang violence and criminality, largely due to media imagery depicting them in this way and the popular image of the leather-jacketed switchblade-wielding thug, so they get regulated more heavily than other knives, without any consideration of whether they are actually more dangerous than other types of knives. It's the exact same thing that drives AWBs and similar gun legislation. People and lawmakers, with no realistic understanding of these issues, form opinions--and laws--based on what looks scary when they see it on the tee-vee. Lawmakers are not going to pass sensible laws about things that they don't understand and can't think about rationally.