[SML] Prop Weapon Question - Legality

[Richard John Archer]

Expanding on Kristi's comment:

New York VIllage Voice Article - How a '50s-Era New York Knife Law Has
Landed Thousands in Jail

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2014/10/nyc-gravity-knife-law-arrests.php?page=all

Stuart B

Yes I read this one before.   Here's a snippet from the article……for stagecraft


Stagehands are so frequently targeted that the major union representing them started publishing legal advice about pocketknives in its monthly newsletter.


or this part from a legal aid

"Client was working as a stagehand and was stopped by police at Times Square."

and this
Others had noticed too. Daniel Gilloon, a representative with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, a trade union, says arrests of its members have become so routine that the leadership had to get involved. Now, several times a month, IATSE's president sits down to send form letters to local D.A.s, on the behalf of this or that member, explaining what the knife is for. In his industry, Gilloon adds, pocketknives aren't just common but, in fact, mandatory equipment. Stagehands who show up without a knife can actually be disciplined for coming to work unprepared. "It happens all the time," he says of the arrests.


Well worth the read to see what illegal knife you have in NYC.

I remember as a kid in the 50's when we had to get rid of switchblades and gravity knifes and were left with just "pen knifes" and my Dad's real Swiss Army Knife.




DickA
TD, Cornell U

Stopped carrying my one handed opening knife year ago for similar reasons.
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