Knife Switch

what clasifys a knife as a switch blade?

what exaclty is a switch blade? i know that if you push a buton and the blade pops out its a switch…but i have a knife where the blade sticks out of the top a bit and you can pull tat down with your finger and the blade is hinged and it will swing out from the side of the handle and lock into a forward poition untill you unlock it with this little sliding button thing… would that be a switch?
i can open it like a regular old knife to just grab the little notch on the blade and pull…
sorry about all the switch blade ?’s lately it just makes me mad if my knife is classified as a switch and i run the chance of loosing it…

Exact definition depends on the state and local laws, but from what i have seen so far it is the ability to open the knife and lock it in the open position w/o ever touching the blade.

E.g. California defines switchblade in PK 653 as:
“For the purposes of this section, “switchblade knife” means a knife having the appearance of a pocketknife and includes a spring-blade knife, snap-blade knife, gravity knife or any other similar type knife, the blade or blades of which are two or more inches in length and which can be released automatically by a flick of a button, pressure on the handle, flip of the wrist or other mechanical device, or is released by the weight of the blade or by any type of mechanism whatsoever.”

Assisted openers are not switchblades, at least in CA, because: it has a thumbstud on the blade, which the knife operator has to push to open the knife, second Kershaw AOs have a detent, and just those two would be enough to comply switchblade law, but the torsion bar of the Speed Safe mechanism also forces the blade to stay in closed position, i.e. provides bias towards locked position.

There’s more details here – http://www.zknives.com/knives/articles/law/caknifelaws.shtml

The tricky part is the local laws, your town or city, they might have more strict laws than the state….

SigTac Auto knife: Switch On EDC