Why is the Butterfly Knife Illegal?

Prior to reading this; please note that the butterfly knife is not illegal in many states around the united states or many countries. You'll have to due some research depending on where you live to find out.  The laws can vary greatly and I wouldn't suggest taking a risk.

The balisong is not a common weapon in crime, in fact it is rather uncommon. Much more people are to be found with lead pipes or switch blades than the butterfly knife. Which leads to the question; why would it be illegal? 

The knife itself is very addictive and fun to play with, someone who is interested in learning the art of the knife is most likely doing it for self defence. Just as in the sense that you won't see a lot of black belts in any form karate performing street crime, you won't see many masters of the butterfly knife committing a crime. The thing that mostly contributed to the knifes illegality, is the cut rate for new flippers and people not familiar to the blade.

There is no mistake more common, and stupid, to the beginning flipper than to get a very sharp or high performance blade. When just starting out you want to either make sure the blade is dull, get a trainer, or some other object such as a bottle opener (Check out this link for beginner butterfly knife shoppers). This is the mistake that made the biggest contribution to making the butterfly knife illegal.

People started popping up all around the world in ER rooms due to cuts or scratches from the butterfly knife. That being said this is true about all kinds of knives for years, so I think its ridiculous some places decided to ban a certain kind of knife. So once you find out whether it is legal or not, please don't be stupid. We don't want anyone getting hurt. Have fun and stay safe