We really have ourselves to thank for this stupid ruling. Lobby organizations have worked for years to convince all, including the court that the second amendment was only for firearms, and particularly concealed handguns with a permit. Where is the NRA? SAF? GOA? the state gun orgs? They should be on this like white on rice, but advocating carrying anything but a concealed permitted handgun goes against P4P.
Really? Citations?
How often did any RKBA advocate get up and lobby
against RKBA for knives? This contrasted with focusing on advancing RKBA for firearms while simply neglecting knives?
The focus is easily explained by where the largest attacks were. I'm not aware of any federally imposed "Gun Free
Knife Zone" for instance, though most all schools do seem to ban students from possessing even Boy Scout pocket knives under the idiocy of zero-tolerance policies.
In Utah, our Concealed Carry Firearm Permit exempts the holder from the section of code otherwise banning concealed weapons. I can legally conceal carry a knife or three just as I can my firearms under said permit. So far as I can discover, we've never had any State level laws banning possession of switch blades or other auto-knives--only a couple our liberal cities had such bans--though the federal ban on inter-State sales for non-first-responders made acquisition a little inconvenient.
I count myself responsible for my apathetic years of my life. I could carry because I had state sanction, so I did not get involved. I am still state sanctioned but I now realize the lunacy of the current gun laws for the people.
This is a far more sensible and likely explanation for the current situation re knives than some conspiracy about your much hated "P4P".
It is a real shame that instructors in some States have made RKBA into a personal money-making industry. We've not had that problem in Utah.
People just don't get the real danger with the permit industry, they have to learn the hard way it seems. There are those that extol it, those that make excuses for it, but it is the devil's work no matter how it is portrayed.
Those who never enjoyed your "State sanction" to carry were faced with the choice of either getting something they could get, or going a lifetime with nothing. Permits have lead to an increase in the number of persons owning and carrying guns specifically and solely for self defense. This has lead directly to the political power for half a dozen States to advance to permit-free carry. With the exception of Vermont, I'm not aware of a single State that has adopted permit-free carry (OC and CC) without first having a few years' experience with shall-issue permits.
I do think you make an unintentional good observation here.
Many fall into the mistake of claiming that the Bible condemns money as the root of all evil, when it is actually the love of money that is condemned.
In like fashion, I can see the problem with the "permit industry" being distinct from permits themselves. I've always viewed permits to carry as offensive to the Constitutionally enumerated RKBA. Who would accept a permit to attend church, print a book, read a newspaper, or be presumed innocent until duly convicted? Yet it has also been obvious that permits are a necessary, hopefully temporary, evil, on the road to fully reclaiming and/or establishing our RKBA as the individual right it is, without need for permits (nor to carry antiques to sneak through some loophole). We've very deliberately worked to make sure that the State of Utah does not see a profit from issuing permits to carry. Fees are set as close to "break even" as we can maintain, lest any agency develop a profit motive for permits. And the culture of our activists and general residents alike have prevented our instructors from making permit courses the basis of their livelihood.
Someday soon, we will drop our requirement to have a permit. And eventually, all federal and inter-State reasons to have a permit will also be eliminated. When that happens, neither the State of Utah, nor our instructors, will face the loss of any significant revenue. Instructors will continue to offer training spanning the gamut from first introduction to guns all the way to advanced tactical methods. And gun carrying residents will continue to seek out the training they desire. Permits will have served their purpose to provide a temporary avenue to effective self-defense, while also helping to change social and political views toward greater acceptance of RKBA. And having served their purpose, will no longer be needed, and won't be missed when the much better permit-free legal environment is available.
Charles