A letter-writing campaign promoted by AKTI in response to the introduction of H 5797 by Representatives Smith and Hood in the Michigan legislature effectively discouraged the bill from being considered and it died in committee.

AKTI responded to the arrests of New York City knife retailers in late 2003 and early 2004 by contacting the head of the NYPD task force directly, explaining that gravity knives have not been produced in this country for some 50 years. We also provided materials and referrals for attorneys representing various defendants.

One year later, the American Knife and Tool Institute remembers the victims and volunteers who died on September 11, 2001.

AKTI lobbied for changes in Boston’s knife ordinance that banned knives with blades in excess of 2-1/2 inches. The changed ordinance allows for use of recreational knives with longer blades.

Governor Gray Davis of California signed SB 274, the American Knife and Tool Institute-sponsored bill that further clarifies the definition of a one-hand opening knife so they are not wrongly classified as switchblades, which are banned in California if they are two inches or more in blade length.