Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has sent shock waves through the knife community after it announced that its interpretation of a ‘prohibited weapon’ had changed to include most everyday folding pocket knives.
The organization points to a November ruling by the Canadian International Trade Tribunal(CITT) which denied an appeal (AP-2017-012) to reclaim an imported shipment of seized Kershaw Skyline knives. The tribunal determined that the knives were outlawed because they could be ‘wrist-flicked’ after minimum manipulation to partially open the blade.
According to Section 81(1) of Canada’s Criminal Code a pocket knife is a prohibited weapon when it “has a blade that opens automatically by gravity or centrifugal force or by hand pressure applied to a button, spring or other device in or attached to the handle of the knife.” The scope of Canadian enforcement originally targeted automatic knives and balisongs. But, in 2015 the CBSA began seizing flipper knives after a similar CITT ruling.
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