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Thread: Nunchaku legalized!

  1. #1
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    Nunchaku legalized!

    I know that a lot of martial arts weapons are illegal in many states (dumb move...just let the gangsters use guns instead). However, would it be possible for a person to get a license to carry a concealed MA weapon like you would have to carry a gun? Does it differ much state-to-state?

  2. #2
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    Ryan, the bill in my state reads, "The Department of State Police is authorized to issue licenses to carry concealed firearms or other deadly weapons to persons qualified as provided in this section." So, a CCP DOES allow you to carry (as I understand it) any concealed weapon, including nunchucku in KY.
    Also, Pennsylvania has what is known as a "reciprocity agreement" with Kentucky which makes MY CCW good in your state...as yours would be in mine.
    BUT, it looks like YOUR legislation reads, "Firearms not to be carried without a license."
    SO, I'm not certain about your specific state laws (I could only find a summary for Pennsylvania). Maybe you could contact your local law enforcement and ask?

    A good place for general info on the subject of concealed carry is:
    www.packing.org

    Sorry I couldn't be of more help.
    Keep it simple, stupid.

  3. #3
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    Laws vary from state to state. In Nevada (where I live) nunchaku are completly legal to carry concealed or otherwise.

    Now If I were to use the nunchaku to hurt someone, Im sure some witty lawyer could find some way to get me for something.

    Cops here wont issue you a ticket or take them away unless you were chasing people around the streets "brandishing" the weapon....

    The local chinese weapon shop gives out a flyer with each weapon giving a brief summary of the legalitys invloving that weapon, and places you can go to find out more.
    strike!

  4. #4
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    Slightly OT

    But I just had to post this photo. Also, the article summarizes our nunchuk situation here in CA very succinctly.

    Nunchucks Are Banned in California...Except in Martial Arts Schools, Where They're All the Rage
    By L.J. Williamson Thu., Nov. 15 2012 at 1:37 PM


    Chris Pellitteri demonstrates the art of nunchucks.

    To the uninitiated, the list of illegal weapons in the summary booklet of California Firearms Laws might be mistaken for an algebra text. Full of unintelligible strings of letters and numbers -- MAS 223, HK-PSG-1, Encom MP-9 -- and obscure terms (thumbhole stock, flash suppressor, center fire, forward pistol grip) the booklet also contains specific definitions for illegal items: A short-barreled shotgun is one with a barrel of less than 18 inches. A short-barreled rifle has a barrel of less than 16 inches. A large-capacity magazine is one that can accept more than 10 rounds.

    All of it evokes the militaristic, menacing world of weaponry: sophisticated, technical, deadly. Until you get to the section defines the term nunchaku -- basically, two sticks on a rope.

    In California, possession of an AR-15 -- the same gun that James Holmes used to shoot up a Batman premiere in Aurora, Colo. -- is legal, provided it was bought and registered prior to 2000. Possession of nunchaku, or nunchucks, however, is a felony -- no matter when they were purchased.

    The nunchucks ban was added to the California penal code in 1974, at a moment when the United States was in the kung-fu grip of a martial arts craze. Sparked by the 1973 release of Bruce Lee's Enter The Dragon and spurred by such pop phenomena as the TV series Kung Fu and the song "Kung Fu Fighting," martial arts fever was spiking, along with a faddish interest in martial arts weapons.

    Menaced by the trend, Newsweek published a sensational article on nunchucks, called "Killing Sticks." The article's alarm bells prompted lawmakers around the country to contemplate bans, but only New York, Massachusetts, Arizona and California followed through, with then-Gov. Ronald Reagan signing California's bill into law.

    In California, desperate martial arts instructors made a successful plea to the state assembly the following year to amend the bill. It now allows possession of nunchucks -- but only on the premises of a martial arts school.

    Sensei Chris Pellitteri is a karate instructor with a studio in Upland; he teaches two weekly classes on using nunchucks. At the age of 15, Pellitteri made his first pair of nunchucks out of a chopped broom handle and a piece of dog leash chain. If, wanting a practice pair, any of his students did the same at home, they'd be guilty of a felony.

    Pellitteri would like to see the law repealed. Yet rather than express outrage, Pellitteri describes the ban as "silly" -- and describes efforts to change it as nearly hopeless.

    "Nunchucks is a subset of martial arts, which is a subset of sports, and you go down and down and down, and I don't see that being enough people to care," he says.

    It's "not like the NRA guys that call every day and leave messages for the representatives and get things done."

    Despite his 7th degree black belt in karate and a 6th degree black belt in nunchaku, along with 25 years of teaching martial arts, the 42-year-old Pellitteri looks nothing like a ninja. Soft, round and bearded, he's easy to spot in his black karate gi amid the white gi of his students. At the entry to his dojo, there's a faux-menacing poster that says, "The Pellitteris: We're Coming To Get You!" It's an image of Pellitteri, his 5-year-old son and his 3-year-old daughter, all in karate gear, fists at the ready. His son's belt is purple, his daughter's pink.

    Kids, of course, are the lifeblood of any karate business. Even while Pellitteri maintains the formalities of martial arts custom -- students bow as they enter and exit the dojo and answer him with a shouted "Yes, Sensei!" -- he rules the roost more like a favorite uncle than a feared fighting master. At the end of class, the kids line up and yell, "Thank you, Sensei!" to which Pellitteri barks: "Car Wash!" His students respond by clapping out the rhythm to the disco-era tune.

    As the kids class files out and the smaller group of nunchucks students files in, the playful atmosphere hardly changes. Although these students are dedicated, they're clearly not trying to become Bruce Lee-style killing machines. They're just here to learn Pellitteri's techniques, which incorporate a blend of traditional and "freestyle" moves, defined as "the flashy stuff that looks cool."

    Elaborates one student, "Nunchucks are good for learning hand-eye coordination, and they help you think about how to move your body, but they're not really practical for self-defense."

    Nunchucks originated from a rather primitive agricultural tool -- a flail for separating rice from chaff. The trouble with this farm-boy weapon is that it takes a significant amount of instruction just to reach a point at which you can consistently smack your target more often than you smack yourself. The San Diego Police Department, which employed them for a time, gave up after realizing that most of the available alternatives didn't require nearly as much training. Obviously, a well-placed klonk with a wooden stick is enough to ruin anyone's day, especially if that stick is attached to a fast-swinging rope. But a beginner could score roughly equivalent damage points with the handle of a garden rake, or any wooden stick you had lying around -- and possessing most wooden sticks isn't a felony.

    Pellitteri theorizes that because lawmakers who want to buck the NRA frequently find themselves outgunned, they do what they can by aiming for easier targets -- like nunchucks. In New York, a guy named Jim Maloney mounted a Second Amendment challenge to that state's ban but was unsuccessful. Maloney then took his case to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. There, a panel of three judges, including a pre-SCOTUS Sonia Sotomayor, upheld New York's ban, determining that the Second Amendment keeps the federal government from limiting weapon ownership but doesn't prevent state governments from doing so.

    Other than that case, there's been little initiative to have any of the bans lifted. Unlike the NRA, the martial arts community has no lobbying group. Pellitteri circulated an online petition for a while but never got enough signatures to effect a real change.

    The class ends with a game that might be described as nunchucks baseball. A student hauls out a Rubbermaid garbage bin filled with chopped-up pieces of Styrofoam pool noodles and begins pitching them, one by one, to the other students, who swat them in midair with their nunchucks, sending them flying around the room like gaily colored snowballs.

    Soon, the floor is littered with chunks of bubble-gum pink, lime green and periwinkle blue, as if there has just been a particularly riotous party. But the party's over almost as soon as it's begun, and it's time to toss the foam bits back into the garbage bin. Then the students hang their nunchucks back on the dojo wall, because, of course, they can't take them home. That would be a crime.
    Gene Ching
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  5. #5
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    Follow up on Pellitteri Sensei

    Initial Pellitteri post.

    Check out our latest ezine offering: When Nunchuk Skills Get You Busted: Nunchaku and the Law by Greg Lynch Jr
    Gene Ching
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  6. #6
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    Legalized?

    Federal court says NY ban on nunchucks unconstitutional
    By DEEPTI HAJELA
    yesterday


    FILE - In this April 6, 2017, file photo, objects confiscated from passengers' carry-on luggage, including nunchucks, bottom, are displayed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in SeaTac, Wash. A federal court says New York's ban on nunchucks, the martial arts weapon made famous by Bruce Lee but prohibited in the state for decades, is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

    NEW YORK (AP) — A 1974 New York state ban on nunchucks that was put into place over fears that youth inspired by martial arts movies would create widespread mayhem is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment, a federal court has ruled.

    Judge Pamela Chen issued her ruling Friday in a Brooklyn federal court on the martial arts weapon made famous by Bruce Lee.

    The plaintiff, James Maloney, started his legal quest after being charged with possession of nunchucks in his home in 2000. He initially filed a complaint in 2003, and appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court when the case went against him. The Supreme Court in 2010 remanded the case back down to be reconsidered in light of a Second Amendment decision it had made in another case, and Maloney filed an amended complaint later that year.

    Maloney had been focused on getting the part of the law overturned that banned nunchucks, two rigid rods connected at one end by a chain or rope, even in private homes.

    In her ruling, Chen said the court couldn’t simply take that part out, and ruled that the state’s law as it pertained to possessing nunchuks as well as to manufacturing, transporting or disposing of them was in violation of the Second Amendment.

    The ruling went over the history of the ban, and said it “arose out of a concern that, as a result of the rising popularity ‘of ‘Kung Fu’ movies and shows,′ ‘various circles of the state’s youth’ — including ‘muggers and street gangs’ — were ‘widely’ using nunchaku to cause ‘many serious injuries.’”

    In an email to The Associated Press, Maloney said “perhaps the most amazing thing” was getting more relief than he had asked for.

    Maloney, a professor at the State University of New York’s Maritime College, said some of his motivation was outrage. “How could a state simply ban any and all possession of a weapon that had a long and proud history as a martial-arts weapon, with recreational, therapeutic and self-defense utility,” he said.

    Maloney also wanted to teach a form of martial art using nunchucks that he created, which he calls “Shafan Ha Lavan” to his sons, the ruling said.

    The suit names the Nassau County district attorney as a defendant. The county’s lawyer had no immediate comment.
    This is very exciting. Get your nunchuks here.
    Gene Ching
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  7. #7
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    A Legal Fight Over Nunchucks

    Gene Ching
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  8. #8
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    Now that the nunchuck ban has been ruled unconstitutional...

    ...I'm curious if anyone here ever got busted for nunchucks? I'm sure we all know people that got busted for them. I can think of several offhand, although most of them were just warned and not cited. I got shut down for trying to make a pair in wood shop in High School, but I wasn't penalized beyond just being told I couldn't do that for my project (I made a wine rack and a pirate peg-leg instead). Later, I brought a pair to my Humanities class for a speech I gave on Kung Fu and nobody batted an eye, except for the poor kid who was seated in the front row as I twirled them about.

    At this point, MAM is still not selling Nunchuks to NY or the other previously banned states until the dust settles on all of this. As a martial arts vendor, MAM does get audited regularly and it's a huge hassle. But soon, hopefully.

    I was arrested for having nunchucks in New York. I’m glad the law was overturned. | Marc Thiessen
    Updated: December 27, 2018 - 8:43 AM


    ELAINE THOMPSON

    WASHINGTON -- I was arrested for having nunchucks in New York. I'm glad the law was overturned.

    When news broke last week that a federal judge had ruled a New York law banning possession of nunchucks unconstitutional, I felt vindicated. You see, as a teenager growing up in New York City in the 1980s, I was arrested and thrown in jail for illegal possession of nunchucks. Really.

    During high school, I got into Bruce Lee martial-arts movies. Long before Mayor Rudy Giuliani turned Times Square into a family-friendly theme park, there was a movie theater on Broadway that showed nonstop kung-fu fare. Over summer break, I would go to see Lee movies such as "Game of Death," "Fist of Fury" and "Enter the Dragon," Lee's last film before his death from cerebral edema at age 32 in 1973. The highlight of every Lee movie, for me, was when he picked up a pair of nunchucks -- two short sticks connected by a steel swivel chain -- and began swinging them around his body, taking out dozens of enemy fighters.

    After the movie let out one afternoon, I went to a martial-arts store across the street from the theater and bought myself a pair of nunchucks. Unlike the hardwood pair Lee used, I bought a soft pair made of light plywood and covered in bright yellow foam so that when I swung them around and accidentally hit myself on the head, I wouldn't knock myself out.

    One day I was riding on the subway going to a friend's house, quietly holding my nunchucks, when a police officer approached me. "Do you know those are illegal?" he asked. No, I told him, I didn't. It hadn't even occurred to me that possessing a pair of the foam-covered nunchucks could be against the law. But it turned out that New York state in 1974 had enacted a complete ban on the possession of nunchucks by private citizens.

    The police officer told me to get off with him at the next stop. He pushed me against a wall, handcuffed me, threw me in a squad car and took me to the New York Transit Police station on Columbus Circle, where I was put into a cell with a bunch of drunks and booked on charges of a Class A misdemeanor, "criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree."

    I used my one call to phone my mother -- a doctor who worked treating heroin addicts in the South Bronx. She came down to the station and berated the arresting officer in her thick Polish accent, offering to take him to Central Park and point him to all the drug dealers selling heroin there. Why didn't he do something about them, rather than harassing a harmless teenager? She had to spend thousands of dollars to hire a lawyer, who told us that the charges were serious and that I could face jail time. We went to court, and he cut a deal to have the prosecution deferred. I stood before a judge who told me if I did not commit another crime in the next 12 months, the charges would be dropped and my arrest record expunged. Until then, I was a "juvenile offender." I passed the time without incident and never picked up a pair of nunchucks again.

    I have often wondered what would have happened to a kid whose mother could not afford a decent lawyer. It was absurd that a teenager could have had his life ruined, and be stuck with a criminal record, simply because he wanted to be like Bruce Lee.

    I always knew my arrest was a travesty. Now three decades later, the law under which I was arrested has been declared unconstitutional. Citing the Supreme Court's decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, which applied the Second Amendment to the states, U.S. District Judge Pamela Chen, who was nominated by President Obama, ruled that "the possession and use of nunchaku is protected by the Second Amendment" and that the sections of the New York law banning them are "an unconstitutional restriction on the right to bear arms ... and are, therefore, void."

    The suit was filed by a lawyer named James Maloney, who, like me, had been arrested for possessing nunchucks. He has been fighting this fight since his arrest in 2000. Eighteen years later, he and I have been vindicated. Americans have a constitutional right to keep and bear nunchucks. Not just the foam kind, but the real thing.

    I have the feeling that, somewhere up there, Bruce Lee is smiling.

    Marc Thiessen writes a twice-weekly column for The Post on foreign and domestic policy. He is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and the former chief speechwriter for President George W. Bush. @marcthiessen
    THREADS:
    Bad Day for Wannabe Bruce Lees
    Nunchucku license?
    Gene Ching
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  9. #9
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    Amusing op-ed piece

    I'm changing the thread title from 'Nunchaku license?' to 'Nunchaku legalized!'


    HOLLIFIELD: Give me back my nunchucks

    BY SCOTT HOLLIFIELD The McDowell News 8 hrs ago

    As an American, I believe I have the God-given Constitutional right to bear nunchucks and beat the ever-loving stuffing out of anyone who looks at me crossways.

    After writing that, I realized that beating the ever-loving stuffing out of anyone who looks at me crossways is considered assault in many instances, but I am happy to report that a federal court agrees with me on my right to bear nunchucks.

    First, for those who were not children of the 1970s ingesting a steady diet of badly dubbed kung-fu movies on Saturday afternoons, here is a definition of nunchucks – or technically nunchaku -- according to the Encyclopedia Britannica of the 21st century, Wikipedia: “…a traditional Okinawan martial arts weapon consisting of two sticks connected at one end by a short chain or rope. The two sections of the weapon are commonly made out of wood, while the link is a cord or a metal chain.”

    Back in 1974, two sticks of wood connected by a cord or a metal chain were considered so dangerous in New York that state lawmakers decided ban them.

    According to a December story from The Associated Press, the source I turn to for information about government overregulation of cheap martial arts equipment, a recent court ruling overturning the 1974 ban said it originally came “out of a concern that, as a result of the rising popularity ‘of ‘Kung Fu’ movies and shows,’ ‘various circles of the state’s youth’ — including ‘muggers and street gangs’ — were ‘widely’ using nunchaku to cause ‘many serious injuries.’”

    Let’s take a quick look back what was going on in 1973, just prior to the 1974 New York nunchucks ban. Some of the movies released that year and seen by various circles of the state’s youth include “Enter the Dragon,” “Snake Fist Fighter” and “The Blood Brothers, (AKA ‘Dynasty of Blood’)” in which, according to the IMDB summary, “Assassin Chang and his brother Hung meet up with a soldier, Mu. Together, they form a small mountain army, but when Hung’s wife arrives, emotions swell, and Mu leaves for the army… (and) treason forces Hung to take up arms against his former comrade.”

    Also in 1973, there were 2,040 murders and 80,795 robberies in New York, nearly all of which involved guns or knives and not nunchucks.

    Still, some concerned lawmaker must have given an impassioned speech like this at the state capital:

    “My fellow legislators, I come to you today to warn you that various circles of the state’s youth — including muggers and street gangs – are soon to be eschewing the traditional weapons of guns and knives in favor of this scourge from the East – nunchucks, as depicted in depraved movies where the words do not match the mouths of actors, films with such names as ‘The Blood Brothers,’ which sources inform me is filled with swelling emotions and treason.

    “Why, the very word itself – NUNCHUCKS -- offends my sensibilities due to its foreign origins. Just the other day, one of my constituents informed me that a young boy in her neighborhood watched a film starring an ‘actor’ – and I use that term loosely -- named Bruce Lee. The boy – a good boy prior to this -- then sawed off two pieces off his mother’s broom at the handle, connected those pieces with a string and beat his Scoutmaster half to death. This will not stand! We must ban nunchucks now and forever!”

    Forever, as it turns out, was the end of 2018.

    On Dec. 14, a federal judge “ruled that the state’s law as it pertained to possessing nunchucks as well as to manufacturing, transporting or disposing of them was in violation of the Second Amendment,” reads the AP story.

    So, if I’m ever up New York way, I advise you not to look at me crossways. You have been warned.

    Scott Hollifield is editor/GM of The McDowell News in Marion, NC and a humor columnist. Contact him at rhollifield@mcdowellnews.com.
    Gene Ching
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  10. #10
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    WSJ op-ed

    OPINION REVIEW & OUTLOOK
    The Right to Bear Nunchucks
    A rare victory for the Second Amendment in New York.
    By The Editorial Board
    Dec. 23, 2018 2:35 p.m. ET


    PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO

    Martial-arts movie legend Bruce Lee made famous the use of nunchucks, twin sticks joined by chain or rope. Now an amateur martial artist has won the right for everyone to use them in self-defense. A federal judge this month overturned New York’s 44-year ban on nunchucks, claiming it violates the Second Amendment.

    In 2000 Nassau County police raided the home of James Maloney and charged him with a misdemeanor for owning nunchucks. New York lawmakers had outlawed them in 1974, fearing Bruce Lee would inspire young men to use them to terrorize the public and commit crimes. But Mr. Maloney, whose father was stabbed to death when he was a boy, appreciated the defensive potential of a weapon that can be wielded from a distance, so he developed his own nunchuck-centric martial-arts style, known as Shafan Ha Lavan.

    Mr. Maloney is also a lawyer, and after his Nassau County ordeal he sued in federal court in 2003 for his right to bear nunchucks. The case meandered through the courts as the Supreme Court issued its Heller and McDonald rulings, which, respectively, upheld an individual right to bear arms and applied the Second Amendment to the states.

    Mr. Maloney’s case was eventually remanded to federal court in New York, and on Dec. 14 Judge Pamela Chen ruled that the Empire State’s ban on nunchucks is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment. She noted that Americans bought some 65,000 nunchucks between 1995 and 2018, so the weapon can’t be banned under Heller’s standard that arms in “common use” are legal.

    Mr. Maloney wanted the court simply to reaffirm his right to possess nunchucks in his home, but Judge Chen overturned New York’s entire prohibition on the possession, sale, manufacture and purchase of nunchucks. Judge Chen was appointed by Barack Obama.

    That should invite challenges to New York’s bans on other weapons, including switchblades, gravity knives, brass knuckles and slingshots. New York’s attorney general may appeal to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and Judge Chen’s ruling would be a useful test of the burden of proof that states must meet when they restrict weapons.

    The Supreme Court has ducked substantive appeals on the Second Amendment since McDonald in 2010, and states have gradually eroded the right to bear arms with bans and regulation. The nunchuck appeal is a case to hear if the Second Circuit ignores Judge Chen’s solid reasoning.
    Given U.S. gun laws (or lack thereof) a lot of the bans regarding cold arms seem silly.
    Gene Ching
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  11. #11
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    The fight goes on in AZ

    Bill that makes nunchucks legal advances to Arizona Senate
    By Howard Fischer Capitol Media Services Feb 7, 2019


    Some judges argue that nunchucks should be legal based upon the Second Amendment.
    Getty Images

    PHOENIX — Good news for Arizonans who fashion themselves as the next Bruce Lee.

    The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 4-3 on Thursday to remove the ban on nunchucks.

    Also known as nunchaku, they are defined in state law as “two or more sticks, clubs, bars or rods to be used as handles, connected by a rope, cord, wire or chain, in the design of a weapon used in connection with the practice of a system of self-defense.”

    Arizona law puts them in the same category as bombs, automatic weapons and sawed-off shotguns: it’s a crime to possess them.

    Sen. David Gowan, R-Sierra Vista, said Arizona was one of four states that banned the devices amid various fears that they were being used by gangs to commit crimes. The bans all appear to have been enacted in the 1970s as martial-arts movies were popular, with Bruce Lee becoming a bit of an icon for the genre.

    But Gowan, who is a martial-arts instructor, said a ban makes little sense given that Arizona law allows people to carry guns, even when they are concealed. And he derided the idea that Arizona should outlaw something just because it could be used as a weapon.

    “Under that thought ... you might as well take the bats away from baseball, take the crowbars away from anybody (that) changes their tires,” Gowan said.

    Last December a federal judge voided a similar ban in New York state ruling that nunchucks were protected under the Second Amendment right to bear arms. Sen. Sonny Borrelli, R-Lake Havasu City, said he agrees with that logic.

    “The Second Amendment, the right of people to keep or bear arms, does not exclusively mean it’s a firearm,” he said.

    The three Democrats on the committee remained unconvinced, voting against SB 1291 but without explaining why. The measure now goes to the full Senate for debate.
    Good points from Gowan.
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  12. #12
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    Who doesn't like a good nunchucking?

    I'm posting this here because of the author's use of the term 'nunchuking'. That's awesome.

    At least we'll have nunchucks
    Feb 17, 2019

    I want to thank my AZ Republican friends for their brave and long overdue work on legalizing nunchucks. Now don't get me wrong, nunchucks should never have been illegal in the first place. Who doesn't like a good nunchucking?

    More importantly, as a longtime conservative and Republican I understand the value of important bills like nunchuck legalization. Surely this will help Republicans win back seats in 2020, and they'll need something bold like this since they almost lost the House in 2018.

    But nunchuck legalization should be the centerpiece of their 2020 re-election strategy. Yes, they could have gone with something boring like the Tax Conformity Bill that would have prevented a $200 million tax increase, had Governor Ducey not vetoed it, but hey, we're talking nunchucks.

    They could focus locally and actually assign to committee a bill which would stop cities from imposing new taxes on food, but who needs cheaper groceries when you've got nunchucks?

    They could win back seats in 2020 by giving a hearing to the tax fairness law that would require cities send to the voters any property tax increase thus eliminating politicians nearly automatic 2% annual increase. Yes, homeowners are seeing upwards of 50% property valuation increases by some county assessors plus upwards of 14% property tax rate increases in some cities. What would Bruce Lee do? Yep, nunchucks.

    And yes they could run with Rep. Noel Campbell's massive gas tax increase that will make it just a little more expensive to drive to the store to buy nunchucks, but Republicans may just be preparing for the end of the combustion engine and implementation of Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal.

    I should probably revise the title of this piece from "At least we'll have nunchucks" to "In theory, we could have nunchucks if we could afford nunchucks after all the tax and fee increases our Republican friends are imposing on us." It's a little long, but I'll work on that. Perhaps I'll just channel Bruce Lee for a better title.

    JEFF ORAVITS
    Flagstaff
    Gene Ching
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    Gravity Knives unconstitutional.

    First Nunchuks and now Gravity Knives. Bless our constitution.

    Judge rules New York ‘gravity knife’ ban unconstitutional
    By Andrew Denney March 28, 2019 | 7:49pm | Updated


    A utility knife Elliot Parrilla had purchased at Home Depot and was deemed a gravity knife.
    Legal Aid Society

    A federal judge ruled on Thursday that the state law that bans “gravity” knives is unconstitutional because it’s too difficult to enforce.

    Federal District Judge Paul Crotty specifically mentioned a so-called “wrist-flick test” used by Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance’s office.

    The test, used by cops who attempt to open the knife by flipping it, is arbitrary and shows that the law is too difficult to enforce, the judge said.

    “The wrist-flick test is just absurd,” said Martin LaFalce of The Legal Aid Society. “It’s absurd that criminal liability turns on the athletic skill of individual officers.”


    Under Vance’s method a police officer who isn’t very good at flicking open a folding knife could give it four or five tries before it locks into place — and it could still be considered a gravity knife, Crotty said.

    The ruling pertains to a suit filed by Joseph Cracco, a sous chef who works in Manhattan and who was arrested in 2013 at Grand Central Station for carrying on his belt a folding knife that he uses for work.

    Cracco said it took the arresting officer four or five attempts to open the knife with the wrist-flick method. Cracco eventually pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct.

    A spokesman for the Manhattan DA said the office is reviewing the decision.

    Vance has been outspoken in his opposition to changes in the state gravity knife law, saying that it is needed to keep New Yorkers safe from knife attacks on the streets and subways.
    I've always thought the definition of gravity knives was ambiguous.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by GeneChing View Post
    First Nunchuks and now Gravity Knives. Bless our constitution.



    I've always thought the definition of gravity knives was ambiguous.
    It's the gravity knife ban that a judge ruled unconstitutional, not the knives themselves.

  15. #15
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    Now legal in AZ

    Arizona lifts nunchuck ban inspired by 1970s Bruce Lee movies
    By David Williams, CNN
    Updated 1:13 PM ET, Mon May 13, 2019



    (CNN)Nunchucks are now legal in Arizona after Gov. Doug Ducey signed a law lifting the ban on the martial arts weapons.
    They were on the state's list of "prohibited weapons," along with automatic firearms, sawed-off shotguns, grenades and IEDs.
    Nunchucks, or nunchaku as they are also known, were described in the legislation as "two or more sticks, clubs, bars or rods to be used as handles, connected by a rope, cord, wire or chain, in the design of a weapon used in connection with the practice of a system of self-defense."
    They were reportedly added to the deadly weapons list in response to the Kung Fu movie craze in the 1970s.
    Ducey signed the measure to remove nunchucks from the list on Friday.
    "It's good to know that nobody's going to get arrested for carrying their nunchucks to their training," Shawn Sample, a Phoenix karate instructor told CNN affiliate KTVK/KPHO.
    Arizona residents are allowed to carry guns without permits or licenses, according to the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action and the Giffords Law Center To Prevent Gun Violence.
    "I find it interesting that a state that allows you to walk around with a gun on your hip worries about nunchucks being a problem," Sample said.
    He said martial artists aren't using nunchucks to commit crimes and they're not practical for self-defense. "If you pull yesterday's weapons out on today's people, they could pull a gun out and shoot you," Sample said.
    Thank you Arizona. Get your legal nunchuks here.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

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