On May 20, S.1315, the Knife Owners’ Protection Act of 2015 (KOPA), introduced by Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus (CSC) Member Senator Mike Enzi (WY) cleared a major hurdle, passing through the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee with bipartisan support. The legislation was voted out of the Commerce Committee and would ensure that any law-abiding citizen traveling with a secured knife is protected under federal law and is not subject to prosecution under conflicting state and local laws.
The passage of KOPA is a significant stride toward protecting American sportsmen and women from being unfairly prosecuted for carrying a tool that is critical to so many hunters and anglers. The proposed legislation would protect those traveling with a knife from state and local laws, so long as the possession of the knife is lawful at both their point of origin and destination and the knife remains in a concealed case during travel.
“With this legislation passing out of committee, we are one step closer to providing the protection that knife owners need to ensure they can travel without fear of prosecution,” said Senator Enzi in a recent press release by the American Knife & Tool Institute. “With thousands of knife laws across the country, this common sense bill would defend the rights of knife owners.”
S. 1315 is also co-sponsored by CSC Co-Chair Senator Joe Manchin (WV), and CSC Members Senator Martin Heinrich (NM), Senator Mike Lee (UT) and Senator John Thune (SD).
Studies conducted at both the state and federal level have found that the number of hunters and trappers have been on a generally declining trend over the past several decades. To increase recruitment, retention, and reactivation (R3) of hunters and trappers, which initiative do you think would have the greatest impact?
