AUGUSTA, Maine - Rep. Joel Stetkis says Maine's criminal law dealing with certain knives is preventing the use of many tools that are useful for sportsmen and those in the trades.
At a hearing on the measure, Stetkis held up a knife he had purchased at a local hardware store that he says is illegal under current law.
"When I push the button on the handle, just like the law says, when I do this, it opens," Stetkis said. "It's illegal in the state of Maine under that law."
But the Maine Chiefs of Police Association and the Criminal Law Advisory Commission opposed the bill. They warned that the bill, as proposed, would allow switchblade-like knives in Maine, something they strongly oppose.
They argue that any problems with the law have been the result of a misinterpretation, not the law itself.
John Pelletier, Chair of the Criminal law advisory commission cut
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" You do not want a law enforcement officer to encounter someone on the street who has the ability to approach them with a closed fist , and out of that fist, what looks like a closed fist, and out of that fist comes a knife that plunges into their body."
