StantonCree
Watch your beer
- Jan 23, 2011
- 23,940
Now I feel better ...
I guess that carrying a brick of C4 would be a bad idea too.
No its my fault I know the rules
Now I feel better ...
I guess that carrying a brick of C4 would be a bad idea too.
RIMINAL LAW
TITLE 4. WEAPON CRIMES
SUBTITLE 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS
Md. CRIMINAL LAW Code Ann. § 4-102 (2011)
§ 4-102. Deadly weapons on school property
(a) Exceptions. -- This section does not apply to:
(1) a law enforcement officer in the regular course of the officer's duty;
(2) a person hired by a county board of education specifically for the purpose of guarding public school property;
(3) a person engaged in organized shooting activity for educational purposes; or
(4) a person who, with a written invitation from the school principal, displays or engages in a historical demonstration using a weapon or a replica of a weapon for educational purposes.
(b) Prohibited. -- A person may not carry or possess a firearm, knife, or deadly weapon of any kind on public school property.
(c) Penalty. --
(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection, a person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction is subject to imprisonment not exceeding 3 years or a fine not exceeding $ 1,000 or both.
(2) A person who is convicted of carrying or possessing a handgun in violation of this section shall be sentenced under Subtitle 2 of this title.
So technically all the maintenance people and contractors who come to do work at a school are guilty of a crime if they have a knife on them? I don't see anything exempting them from the law?
So technically all the maintenance people and contractors who come to do work at a school are guilty of a crime if they have a knife on them? I don't see anything exempting them from the law?
Accordingly, we hold that in order to convict a person of carrying or possessing any rifle, gun, or knife on school property under [CRIMINAL LAW Code Ann. § 4-102], the State must show that the instrument possessed can, under the circumstances of the case, reasonably be considered a deadly weapon. This objective approach is in keeping with the legislative intent to prohibit the possessing and carrying of deadly weapons on public school property and will avoid the regular violation of that statute by students, teachers, and staff who are engaged in the routine performance of their duties at the public schools.
...
It was an all-metal flatware knife which had a blunt edge and a rounded end. The State’s Attorney described it as a “butter knife”; it is obviously not intended for slashing or stabbing. After Mr. Rooney seized the knife, Melanie admitted that it belonged to her and explained that she used it to break into locked food cabinets in the middle of the night at her group home when she was hungry, that is, as a lever rather than a knife.
Under the circumstances of this case, we cannot reasonably conclude that the knife possessed by Melanie was proscribed by the statute, i.e., a knife reasonably adapted for use, or capable of being used, as a deadly weapon. We therefore reverse the judgment of the juvenile court.
Hey yall,
I know a lot of us like the spring assisted knives - they are very useful tools. I use mine many times a day. Well, I used to, before I had it confiscated by the cops.
And of course they don't know that spring assisted knives are not illegal.
So technically all the maintenance people and contractors who come to do work at a school are guilty of a crime if they have a knife on them? I don't see anything exempting them from the law?
About a year ago, I called the State Police Barrack in Rockville and talked to the Duty Sgt and asked him about a Kershaw Assisted Opening Knife. He said "any assisted knife is illegal.
Is he legally correct, don't know? In any event I went ahead and purchased one from REI.
Oh FFS people, yes, of course there are cops out there that don't have a clue what the law is. This shouldn't be news to anybody here.
Assisted openers are NOT switchblades. By definition a switchblade involves applying pressure to something on the HANDLE - assisted openers operate by having to apply pressure to the blade itself.
Does this mean some cops won't be ignorant, and you'll have to hire a lawyer to prove it in court? Sure, maybe, but so what? I've never heard of it happening outside of what I thought I recalled being a MD case where the judge ruled that AOs were not switchblades, and the defendant ultimately ended up successfully suing the local police for wrongful arrest, resulting in a memo going out reminding officers that AOs are not switchblades. Maybe that was another state? That wouldn't make sense though, since this is a MD law... I dunno.
I am confused now. Are assisted knifes legal or not ? I just got a ZT 350 and I should know.
I am confused now. Are assisted knifes legal or not ? I just got a ZT 350 and I should know.
And not without some reason -- the lower court had held that a buck knife *was* a switchblade. Bacon v. State
322 Md. 140, 586 A.2d 18 Md.,1991.
However some of the language in Bacon ay be relevant. For example, in Bacon, the court of appeals quoted from Webster's to state: Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language (unabridged) (1981) states that a switchblade knife is “a pocketknife having the blade spring-operated so that pressure on a release catch causes it to fly open [from its position folded in the handle].” This suggests (but does not appear to hold) that the operative fact is the spring, not the location of the button that operates the spring....
The State first suggests that "the penknife exception is properly read to apply only to the offense of carrying a concealed weapon." This posture is bootless. It is firmly established that "'the beginning point of statutory construction is the language of the statute itself.'"
I hope everything works out for you. On the bright side I think that the "yanking out of your pocket thing" is an illegal search. I'm not sure about that however... Best of luck!