It’s been less than two weeks since Governor Greg Abbott signed knife law reform legislation in Texas and Knife Rights hopes New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder will follow suit. Legislators in both states passed Knife Rights’ authored reforms last week, but before the bills can be enacted into law, they need the Governors’ sign off.
Last year, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo vetoed the Gravity and Switchblade Reform Bill in a controversial eleventh-hour decision. The 2016 bill sought to revise New York’s penal code language to exclude common folding knives from falling under the vague legal definition of “Gravity Knife.” Cuomo objected, stating that the proposed amendments would “place the burden upon law enforcement to determine the design attributes of each given knife.”
To address Cuomo’s concerns, 2017’s New York Gravity Knife Law Reform Bill removes ‘centrifugal force’ from the definition of a gravity knife and adds ‘solely’ to the phrase ‘by the force of gravity.’ By eliminating the vagaries in the legalese of the penal code, the bill would put an end to the infamous ‘wrist flick’ testing used to determine the legality of a knife in New York City. This policy is at the heart of Knife Rights’ ongoing lawsuit against New York City and District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr.
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