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Knife Rights Featured in Sunday Washington Post

Knife Rights was featured in a front page story in this Sunday's Washington Post in an article by Todd C. Frankel that was widely republished by other media outlets. The reporter was fascinated with our success as a Second Amendment organization that in almost every instance enjoys bipartisan support as we have repealed knife bans in 21 states. It is a generally favorable article from a paper not known for its love of the Second Amendment.

Click here to read the full article on The Washington Posts' website (limited views).

Click here to download the article as a PDF.

Frankel extensively interviewed (by phone and in person) myself and Knife Rights' Director of Legislative Affairs, Todd Rathner, over a period of three weeks, including coming out to Las Vegas to attend the USN Gathering. Where, I should note, no act of violence was committed by the hundreds of attendees carrying all sorts of knives, many of which would have been illegal before we repealed Nevada's knife bans in 2015.

Having said that, it deserves pointing out some of the more glaring errors and omissions in order to set the record straight. In his opening paragraph Frankel took pains to note that my pocket knife was illegal to carry concealed in Clark County (Las Vegas), even though it wasn't carried concealed and so was completely legal. As were the hundreds of folding knives over three inches long clipped to USN Gathering attendees' pockets. I certainly appreciate most of those folks treating Frankel and his photographer with respect.

Apparently unfazed by the fact that kitchen knives are by far the most common knife used to commit a violent crime, which we pointed out repeatedly, Frankel belabors the point that knives are the second most common weapon used to commit murder. And, he reports on so-called mass stabbings like they are common occurrences, which they are not. He also failed to take note these are also most commonly committed with kitchen knives.

Frankel's closing focused on our successful efforts in Texas and the tragic story of the student murdered while that effort was ongoing. As we explained to him, there is no clearer repudiation of any knife ban than the fact that the knife used in that murder was illegal to carry at the time of his murder. That didn't stop this severely deranged individual, recently released from a mental heath institution, from committing murder. And, let's not lose sight of the fact that murder is, itself, a capital offense in Texas.

I could go on, but the real point is that Knife Rights continues to garner generally positive attention from national media in large part because we are a bipartisan organization that gains support from both sides of the aisle as we work to forge a Sharper Future for all Americans™. We couldn't do it without your support.

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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on September 16, 2018 at 20:22

Doug,

Thank you. I have been getting emails all day from around the world about this article. Having followed Knife Rights all along, my view of the article was a little prejudiced. I am always amazed that the kitchen knife aspect seems to be lost/ignored on a great many people when this discussion comes up. I am always grateful that Knife Rights is here for us. Thank you to Doug Ritter and all of the staff for working as hard as they do.

Please support Knife Rights if you can, they are providing for us a future freedom many countries have already lost.

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FeaturedPermalink Reply by dead_left_knife_guy on September 16, 2018 at 23:09

Doug, the article was really only good PR for Knife Rights. At worst it was neutral, because there really is no formidable anti-knife movement in the U.S. for the exact reason that was pointed out in the article -- why worry about knives when there are guns (statistics included!)? But it really came off as positive.

The author didn't drum up any fear (it was too pathetic an attempt at fear mongering for this to have been a sincere motivation), though there was a little coincidental sensationalism. And you know it as well as anyone by now -- reporters never tell the story you want them to tell. And that's not a bad thing in the aggregate.

The main thrust (excuse the pun) of the Knife Rights argument in the article was that the common tradesman is often the target of the NY gravity knife laws, and disproportionately enforced against black & Hispanic residents. This point could have been better stated & more clearly detailed, but it's not the reporter's role to advocate.

Regardless, the author made the point clearly. On the front page of the WaPo Business section. And you came off as the underdog champion of the common knife owner. Pretty good, especially when the reporter very clearly is not a knife guy. On the whole, this Washington Post article was a win for you & for Knife Rights.

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KnifeMakerPermalink Reply by Doug Ritter on September 17, 2018 at 7:39

dead_left_knife_guy: While definitely good PR for us among those "naturally" inclined to support our efforts, one only has to sample the over 1,900 comments on the WaPo article alone, not to even count the many comments made on sites where it has been republished, to see that the reporter's efforts to stir up emotions against knife law reform were successful to some extent. Whether that translates to problems down the road remain to be seen. OTOH, ignoring the reporter's request for interview and failing to work this as best we can, would have certainly resulted in a far worse article. We count it as a win overall, but the final determination won't come until we see if it has any effect on ongoing and planned legislative and litigation efforts.