doing my civic duty

You have probably heard that the Customs and Border Protection folks are bound and determined to define as “switchblades” all knives that can be opened with one hand, making them illegal for shipment across state boundaries, and illegal to own/carry in a fair number of states.
Unfortunately, the period to communicate with the Customs and Border Protection folks expired today (that period was only 30 days long), and the CBP was only accepting comments by snailmail, so I am too late for that. However, it is never too late to communicate with your duly-elected representatives, especially given that the CBP answers to Congress.
This letter was just spammed to both of my Senators’ and my Representative’s email inboxes, and will go out in snailmail tomorrow morning:

Dear [insert elected representative's name here],

My wife and I live in [Sometown], TN, and I am an owner and daily user of folding knives which would be made illegal by certain changes to 19 CFR Part 177 on the part of the United States Customs and Border Protection. These proposed changes would label as “switchblades” all knives that can be opened by just one hand, including knives that have no springs in them whatsoever. I use these knives throughout the course of my daily work and life, mostly for activities as mundane as opening packages and boxes and cutting rope. However, should the situation ever call for it, I would also depend on them for protecting my life or someone else’s. My knife is simply something else that I put in my pocket in the morning, along with my wallet and keys. Currently, I own three knives that would be made illegal under the above referenced proposal, though I have every intention of purchasing more while I can.

However, that only references my current, civilian life. A year ago, I separated from the United States Navy, after serving four years as a Surface Warfare Officer. Looking back on my admittedly short time in the service, I can name numerous times when the one-handed use a knife was of tremendous importance to mission accomplishment and personnel safety, especially during and in preparation for line-handling operations. In fact, 2,200,000 active and reserve military members own knives, as do 900,000 active law-enforcement personnel, and 2,100,000 EMTs, firefighters, and security guards. Many, if not most, of those knives being used by our country’s servicemembers, police officers, firefighters and others would be made illegal by this modification to 19 CFR Part 177, as planned by CBP.

I am extremely distressed and adamantly oppose this CBP proposal which would have an effect far beyond that implied by the title of the proposal. The extraordinarily broad, novel, and exceedingly creative interpretation of what a switchblade is that is contained in this proposal would apply to 80% of the folding pocket knives sold in America.

This will affect more than just imported knives. This “agency determination” could have the effect of making it illegal for me and millions of my fellow law-abiding Americans to own a simple pocket knife. It would also cost this country dearly in destroyed businesses, lost jobs and ruined families – according to the 2007 AKTI State of the Sporting Knife Industry report, this arbitrary rule-change could demolish a $5,900,000,000 industry directly responsible for almost 4000 jobs, and indirectly responsible for an additional 19,000 support jobs. CBP appears to not have considered the consequences of this unnecessary, inappropriate and even illegitimate action. Furthermore, it would appear to me that this proposed modification goes in direct contravention of the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1999, in that it discriminates against American citizens who may not be capable of operating a knife requiring the use of both hands. Since CBP is not required to consider the effects of their actions, only Congress or the courts can rein them in. If left to the courts, the industry and our rights will be devastated and America will lose much, regardless of who wins the legal fight.

I appeal to you to intervene to prevent CBP from taking this foolhardy and uncalled-for action. Please immediately contact DHS Secretary Napolitano and Jayson P. Ahern, Acting Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and demand that they cease this extraordinarily costly assault on me, millions of other law-abiding knife owners, and our great nation. The CBP’s refusal to extend the unduly short 30-day comment period for this absurd proposal is an insult to Americans who deserve to be heard. Their contention that this issue requires their immediate action, and that they cannot wait a reasonable period for citizen input, is ridiculous. They simply don’t want to hear from us.

At a minimum, please demand they extend the comment period by 120 days to allow me and others time to fairly comment. Please also insist they allow us to submit comments via email, which they have so far refused to do. Their refusal to accept emails adds an unnecessary expense, and discourages many citizens from commenting, no doubt the CBP’s reason for doing so.

IMPORTANT: Customs is, unfortunately, misleading Members of Congress about the content and the ramifications of this proposal. DO NOT ACCEPT the assurances from CBP about what this action will do. I encourage you to have your staff research this by reading the full proposal and talking with the knife and tool industry to find out the truth.

An arbitrary action which will make criminals of millions of Americans and destroy a vibrant U.S. industry is an action which must be stopped immediately.

May I count on your help to stop this travesty?

Sincerely,
[Insert My Name Here]

(Numbers and statistics mentioned above may be found here: http://www.tactical-life.com/online/news/us-customs%E2%80%99-attempts-to-hinder-knife-industry-with-import-regulations-knife-classifications/ .)

Most of this letter was courtesy of KnifeRights.org, so feel free to copy-paste, edit, and use it to your own heart’s desire. Many thanks to Joe Huffman and Massad Ayoob for kicking my lazy ass into gear and getting me to write this, and to Gay Cynic for the useful statistics. Likewise, I think I will be following in Joe’s footsteps again, only in my case, given my satisfaction with their Speed Bump, I will probably be giving a bit of my money to Kershaw in the next few days…