By Dean Weingarten
Arizona – -(Ammoland.com)- Knives are arms protected by the Second Amendment. In American history, knives have been banned as often, perhaps more so, than firearms have.
The concealed carry of knives have been banned, along with firearms. The possession and carry of knives have been regularily banned and forbidden by the states.
In Montana, Constitutional carry for knives was achieved on 21 April, 2017.
Montana law treated knives with a blade of more than 4 inches the same as firearms in their concealed carry statute.
It is legal to carry concealed weapons in most of Montana, without a permit, except inside city limits. The law only applied to people in incorporated towns and cities.
This year, 2017, Governor Bullock is term limited, and cannot run again. He vetoed the proposed Constitutional Carry bill for the third time.
But Governor Bullock allowed HB 251 to become law. HB 251 is simple. It removes all weapons from the concealed carry law except firearms.
The votes for the bill were 70-29 in the House and 38 to 11 in the Senate. That is more than enough to override a veto from the Governor.
In Montana, if the governor does not sign or veto a bill, within 10 days after it is delivered to him, it becomes law.
Constitutional Carry for knives became law on April 21, 2017. It goes into effect on 1 October, 2017.
In Georgia, on May 8th, 2017, Governor Deal of Georgia signed a reform of the states’s knife law to go along with the campus carry bill this year. The knife law reform was in HB 292. HB 292 had a number of gun law reforms included in it. Knife Rights supporter Senator Bill Heath was able to include the knife reform as part of the bill.
Before the law was signed, it was illegal to carry any knife with a blade that was more than five inches in length. With this reform, the limit has been increased to 12 inches. 12 inches includes most bowie type knives.
(2) ‘Knife’ means a cutting instrument designed for the purpose of offense and defense consisting of a blade that is greater thanfive12 inches in length which is fastened to a handle.”
Why stop at 12 inches, and not simply eliminate the length restriction altogether? Because it was the increment that could get passed this year at this time. The restriction dated from the first restrictions on concealed weapons in Georgia, that were based on concerns about slavery and dueling. A specific ban on the concealed carry of bowie knives was passed in 1837.
Rolling back a restriction on the carry of arms that dates to 1837 is a significant Second Amendment victory. The right to arms is the gateway drug to an appreciation of freedom. That is why it was denied to slaves in much of the South before the slaves were freed, and why laws were crafted to deny freed blacks arms after the Civil War.
Knife Rights promoted, pushed and was the principle force behind these Second Amendment victories. Year in, year out, they remove knife bans. They pass knife preemption laws that stop local governments from infringing on Second Amendment rights. They are making the right to bear knives the second front in the war to restore the Second Amendment.
©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of constitutional carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and recently retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
Montana Governor Bulls***, towing the national Democratic party line, vetoed permitless carry in Montana despite overwhelming evidence that existing permit holders and firearms owners in general pose no threat to the public. I wrote him in protest and his explanation was he did not want to interfere with the County Sheriffs. I replied that is a “Cop out”.