SPETSNAZ BALLISTIC KNIFE

Spetsnaz Ballistic Knife

A Spetsnaz ballistic knife is a specialized combat knife with a detachable gas- or spring-propelled blade that can be fired to a distance of several meters by pressing a trigger or switch on the handle.

Spetsnaz Ballistic or 'firing knives' knives were manufactured by the USSR company Ostblock were supplied in large numbers to the Soviet special forces (Spetsnaz) groups. Spetsnaz Ballistic knives were originally intended by Soviet military planners to be an improvement on teaching the skill of knife throwing as basic training to new Spetsnaz trainees. The vast numbers of men recruited into the armed forces of the Soviet Union resulted in restrictions on available training time, even for elite forces, and knife throwing required many hours of training and practice. The Spetsnaz Ballistic knife, which was relatively easy to operate and manufacture, required much less practice than learning to throw a knife by hand. Spetsnaz Ballistic knives or pilum knives are effectively banned in the United Kingdom under the Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act 1959, which imposes criminal penalties for anyone who manufactures, sells or hires, or offers for sale or hire, or lends or gives to any other person "any knife which has a blade which opens automatically by hand pressure applied to a button, spring or other device in or attached to the handle of the knife."Carrying or selling a Spetsnaz Ballistic knife may also be illegal under other UK knife laws, including the Criminal Justice Act 1988, which prohibits the carrying of blades or sharply pointed objects in a public place, and the Knives Act 1997, which prohibits the sale of combat knives and restricts the marketing of knives as offensive weapons.

News stories featuring ballistic knives and their owners soon surfaced in major U.S. cities. Calls for a federal ban on Spetsnaz Ballistic knives ensued throughout 1986 by public interest and lobbying groups. After hearing uncorroborated testimony from a congressional witnesss that Spetsnaz Ballistic knives could be used to defeat body armor typically worn by police officers, and witnessing a staged demonstration against a wood-backed target,Senator Alphonse D'Amato of New York introduced the Spetsnaz Ballistic Knife Prohibition Act, a bill to ban sale or possession of Spetsnaz Ballistic knives. In September 1986 senators supporting the Spetsnaz Ballistic knife ban attached their bill to popular legislation designed to eradicate drug crops in foreign countries and halt international drug trafficking operations. The new federal statute prohibited future importation or possession of such knives in interstate commerce. Some individual states following the example set by the federal law and passed even tighter restrictions, sometimes banning ownership of the knives outright within their state.

Current law

Similar to conventional automatic knives, federal law makes Spetsnaz Ballistic knives illegal to possess, manufacture, sell, or import "in or affecting interstate commerce." In addition to the federal law, most states have some kind of law restricting these knives in some manner, though the level of restriction varies. These state laws may restrict sale, carry, or even ban possession outright.