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??

  • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    4 months ago

    Well there are such restrictions on guns, try and get a short barrel rifle in under 30 min, the paperwork alone will take that long.

    But also yeah those laws suck and shouldn’t exist. Much like the original intent behind CCW permits where the theory was “concealing is for criminals,” those knives were also seen as “for criminals.” It’s just old outdated bullshit that goes largely uncharged but can be used if they want to fuck with you. In some cases “criminals” was also synonymous with black people or even italians depending on the year lol, and were passed for racist reasons.

    • pushECX@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      I was thinking the same thing. There are definitely restrictions on the size/function of guns, and you have to fill out paperwork, get fingerprinted, etc to get past those restrictions.

      To buy any gun at a store, you also have to have a background check, which you generally don’t have to do for knives.

    • Bgugi@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      https://amedia.concealedcarry.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/12135010/atf-braces.jpeg these are just some of the gun laws you can accidentally break… And some of those “legal” options have been flip-flopped in recent years based on meandering policy decisions by the ATF.

      It’s very rare that people who wish that “guns were regulated like x” or “can’t believe that guns are less regulated than y” have very little knowledge of what gun laws actually are like at the federal level, much less the archipelago of state laws.