Title 15Commerce and TradeRelease 119-73

§1244 Exceptions

Title 15 › Chapter CHAPTER 29— - MANUFACTURE, TRANSPORTATION, OR DISTRIBUTION OF SWITCHBLADE KNIVES › § 1244

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Certain switchblade rules don't apply to some people and situations. They don't apply to interstate carriers; to switchblades made or moved under contract for the Armed Forces or used by Armed Forces members or employees on duty; to a person with only one arm carrying a switchblade with blade three inches or less; and to knives with a spring, detent, or similar part keeping the blade closed and requiring push to the blade by hand, wrist, or arm to open.

Full Legal Text

Title 15, §1244

Commerce and Trade — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

section 1242 and 1243 of this title shall not apply to—
(1)any common carrier or contract carrier, with respect to any switchblade knife shipped, transported, or delivered for shipment in interstate commerce in the ordinary course of business;
(2)the manufacture, sale, transportation, distribution, possession, or introduction into interstate commerce, of switchblade knives pursuant to contract with the Armed Forces;
(3)the Armed Forces or any member or employee thereof acting in the performance of his duty;
(4)the possession, and transportation upon his person, of any switchblade knife with a blade three inches or less in length by any individual who has only one arm; or
(5)a knife that contains a spring, detent, or other mechanism designed to create a bias toward closure of the blade and that requires exertion applied to the blade by hand, wrist, or arm to overcome the bias toward closure to assist in opening the knife.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2009—Par. (5). Pub. L. 111–83 added par. (5).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective on the sixtieth day after Aug. 12, 1958, see section 6 of Pub. L. 85–623, set out as a note under section 1241 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

15 U.S.C. § 1244

Title 15Commerce and Trade

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73