STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3422
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 6, 2019
___________
Introduced by Sen. SAVINO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to the definitions of a
switchblade knife and a gravity knife
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivisions 4 and 5 of section 265.00 of the penal law are
2 amended to read as follows:
3 4. "Switchblade knife" means any knife which has a blade which opens
4 automatically by hand pressure applied to a button, spring or other
5 device in the handle of the knife. "Switchblade knife" does not include
6 a knife that has a spring, detent, or other mechanism designed to create
7 a bias toward closure and that requires exertion applied to the blade by
8 hand, wrist, or arm to overcome the bias toward closure and open the
9 knife.
10 5. "Gravity knife" means any knife which has a blade which is released
11 from the handle or sheath thereof by the force of gravity or the appli-
12 cation of centrifugal force which, when released, is locked in place by
13 means of a button, spring, lever or other device. "Gravity knife" does
14 not include a knife that has a spring, detent, or other mechanism,
15 including but not limited to resistance to opening designed to create a
16 bias toward closure and that requires exertion applied to the blade by
17 hand, wrist, or arm to overcome the bias toward closure and open the
18 knife.
19 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09706-01-9
