Prohibited Offensive Weapons? Knives?

[lourendo]

18 Pa.C.S. § 908: Prohibited offensive weapons
...any blackjack, sandbag, metal knuckles, dagger, knife, razor or cutting instrument, the blade of which is exposed in an automatic way by switch, push-button, spring mechanism, or otherwise,...

Am i to believe that this includes any knife?

If i follow basic english syntax, that is what it means, But how could it be?

Thanks, Louis.

[Deleted]

Don't get hung up on the syntax... you can with most statutes figure out fairly easy what the intent of the legislature was.

[lourendo]

I am assuming that you are a LEO by your title, When you make an arrest, Is it based on the letter of the law or the spirit of the law?

[GunLawyer001]

It's poorly punctuated, but case law holds that the operative phrase is " dagger, knife, razor or cutting instrument, the blade of which is exposed in an automatic way by switch, push-button, spring mechanism, or otherwise". So any automatic dagger, knife or razor.

Other edged weapons may be held to be offensive weapons as well, based on the catch-all phrase "or other implement for the infliction of serious bodily injury which serves no common lawful purpose." This would also apply if you bolted a chain to a handle and a shoe filled with concrete and used it as a weapon. It's VERY broad and open-ended.

So your BSA pocket knife is not a POW. But if you use it to attack someone, it could be an "instrument of crime".

[lourendo]

It's poorly punctuated, but case law holds that the operative phrase is " dagger, knife, razor or cutting instrument, the blade of which is exposed in an automatic way by switch, push-button, spring mechanism, or otherwise". So any automatic dagger, knife or razor.

Other edged weapons may be held to be offensive weapons as well, based on the catch-all phrase "or other implement for the infliction of serious bodily injury which serves no common lawful purpose." This would also apply if you bolted a chain to a handle and a shoe filled with concrete and used it as a weapon. It's VERY broad and open-ended.

So your BSA pocket knife is not a POW. But if you use it to attack someone, it could be an "instrument of crime".

Ahhh case law... How could i forget.

Would you consider self defense or even someone that "delights in its possession" to be a common lawful purpose? I know many people that buy horrific looking implements just because they like them and think they are "cool".

Thank you sincerely for the insight, Louis

[GunLawyer001]

Ahhh case law... How could i forget.

Thank you sincerely for the insight, Louis

Here's the Pa Supreme Court, back in 1979:

". . . While cutting instruments are specially listed, along with daggers, knives and razors, the portion of Section 908(c) which enumerates these objects with blades is limited by the phrase "the blade of which is exposed in an automatic way by switch, push-button, spring mechanism, or otherwise." See Commonwealth v. Cartagena, 482 Pa. 6, 28, 393 A.2d 350, 361 (1978) (plurality opinion). Any other reading of this phrase of the statute would render possession of almost any instrument with a blade a punishable offense, no matter how commonplace the object. Our purpose in interpreting statutes is to ascertain and effectuate the intention of the legislature,[5] and we may presume the legislature did not intend a result that is absurd or unreasonable.[6] We conclude a Wyoming Knife is not among the objects specifically enumerated by Section 908(c) because, although it is a cutting instrument, its blades are not exposed in an automatic way by switch, push-button, spring mechanism, or otherwise."

Com. v. Fisher, 400 A. 2d 1284 - Pa: Supreme Court 1979

[mrnyman]

Ahhh case law... How could i forget.

Would you consider self defense or even someone that "delights in its possession" to be a common lawful purpose? I know many people that buy horrific looking implements just because they like them and think they are "cool".

Thank you sincerely for the insight, Louis

I am one of those who thinks they are coool, there are millions of us out there, i am a knife collector, i own roughly 200 hundred knives, machettes, axes and hatchets , i carry 2 knives on me daily with my SOG seal pup in my GHB and my Machette in my trunk.

There comes a time in the life of every man when he has to decide if he is a free man or not or just living on paper freedom cowering from every law passed by bureacrats , afraid to be a man.

So because some bureacrat 50 or 60 years ago say you cant have a knife, you are going to piss your pants if a cop see you with one, what are you going to do when the bureaucrats say you cant have a Gun? And yes they are going to, they have to!

[fttfbass]

i carry 2 knives on me daily with my SOG seal pup in my GHB and my Machette in my trunk.

GHB? I'm assuming that means Get Home Bag? Sorry, my internet acronyms aren't completely up to par yet.

[Deleted]

I am assuming that you are a LEO by your title, When you make an arrest, Is it based on the letter of the law or the spirit of the law?

Either or both...depending on the situation.

[OldSchoolPC]

18 Pa.C.S. § 908: Prohibited offensive weapons
...any blackjack, sandbag, metal knuckles, dagger, knife, razor or cutting instrument, the blade of which is exposed in an automatic way by switch, push-button, spring mechanism, or otherwise,...

Leave your hacky-sacks at home, lest you wind up in the pokey. It's common to see kids around here brandishing such weaponry.