Summary
For background on the Customs proposal to ban assisted opening knives, click here.

Operation Switch Hunt has begun.

Never in its history has BLADE undertaken such an operation. But the country has not seen this kind of sweeping knife legislation since the 1958 Federal Switchblade Act. The United States Customs and Border Protection Agency (Customs) is seeking to redefine assisted openers, as well as other knives operated with one hand, as illegal switchblades.

If put into effect, the measure will drastically alter the knife landscape in the United States, and not in a good way. For more background on this push by Customs, click here.

Customs threw liberty-minded folks a bone when it requested public comments on this measure. Those comments must be falling on deaf ears, because Customs denied a request by the American Knife & Tool Institute (AKTI) to extend the comment period past its deadline of June 21. Similar requests on behalf of Knife Rights and knife manufacturers were also denied.

Clearly, kicking the toe of the Customs giant is not going to change its mind.

Enter Operation Switch Hunt.

Knife owners should not live in fear of the government stealing their possessions. Peaceful people should not live in fear of being labeled criminals overnight by a bureaucratic government out of control.

No, the equation is backward. Operation Switch Hunt aims to make that point clear.

Membership in Operation Switch Hunt is free to anyone interested in preserving their right to keep and bear arms. No application. No fees. Members are asked only to stay informed and take action.

PHASE ONE of Operation Switch Hunt is to follow the money. Customs is more likely to buckle to pressure from the people who allocate its money.

Overseeing Customs is the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Funding for DHS, as with all government operations, comes from the United States Congress.





Both houses of Congress have committees that oversee DHS activities. The people who sit on these committees are the ones Operation Switch Hunt members need to contact about the Customs issue.

TAKE ACTION

If you need help writing the letters, here is a form one from AKTI:

AKTI Form Letter to Legislators (Word document)

AKTI Form Letter to Legislators (Rich Text File document)

Knife Rights also offers a form letter:

Knife Rights Form Letter to Legislators (Word document)

Knife Rights Form Letter to Legislators (Rich Text File document)


CONTACT THESE PEOPLE

U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security

Bennie G. Thompson (MS-2) (Chair)

Loretta Sanchez (CA-47)

Jane Harman (CA-36)

Peter DeFazio (OR-4)

Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC)

Zoe Lofgren (CA-16)

Sheila Jackson-Lee (TX-18)

Henry Cuellar (TX-28)

Christopher P. Carney (PA-10)

Yvette D. Clarke (NY-11)

Laura Richardson (CA-37)

Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-1)

Ben Ray Lujan (NM-3)

Bill Pascrell, Jr. (NJ-8)

Emanuel Cleaver (MO-5)

Al Green (TX-9)

James A. Himes (CT-4)

Mary Jo Kilroy (OH-15)

Eric J. J. Massa (NY-29)

Dina Titus (NV-3)

Peter T. King (NY-3)

Lamar S. Smith (TX-21)

Mark E. Souder (IN-3)

Dan Lungren (CA-3)

Mike Rogers, (AL-3)

Michael T. McCaul (TX-10)

Charlie Dent (PA-10)
    
Gus M. Bilirakis (FL-9)

Dr. Paul Broun (GA-10)

Candice Miller (MI-10)

Pete Olson, (TX-22)

Anh "Joseph" Cao, (LA-2)

Steve Austria, Ohio



U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

Joseph I. Lieberman (Chairman) (CT)      

Susan M. Collins (ME)

Carl Levin (MI)     

Tom Coburn (OK)

Daniel K. Akaka (HI)     

John McCain (AZ)

Thomas R. Carper (DE)     

George V. Voinovich (OH)

Mark L. Pryor (AR)     

John Ensign (NV)

Mary L. Landrieu (LA)     

Lindsey Graham (SC)

Claire McCaskill (MO)     

Jon Tester (MT)     

Roland Burris (IL)     
 
Michael Bennet (CO)