Here is the announcement.

After about 3.4 million words written on EDC gear, it is time for the blog to change. This is a good change for me and I hope it is a good change for both you the reader and the gear community at large.

Some of you may know that I have helped on the legal side of the knife world in a very minor role in the past. Dan Lawson, the lawyer for AKTI, would, on occasion, ask for some help and I was always happy to do it. Dan is a really great lawyer and an even better dude (and saved the entire industry in 2009, which is a story I will tell later) and I always said yes. A few months ago Dan called again and indicated that he was scaling back and wanted to know if I would help AKTI.

I really believe in both the cause and the approach AKTI has taken. While they are a trade organization that works hand in hand with companies, they also help knife owners out. They have filed amicus briefs, engaged in lobbying for important changes in knife law, and they have been working behind the scenes to help out knife owners caught up in the criminal justice system due to unfair, unreasonable, and overbroad laws. Given all this I said yes.

My firm will help with various efforts with AKTI and as a result, I am, out of an abundance of caution going to set up a few rules to make clear where I stand and what I am doing.

Rule #1: I am no longer going to review products produced by AKTI member organizations.

I think this is a no-brainer, but I don’t want it to go unsaid. Being a reviewer is a position of trust. People like and read your opinions because even if they don’t agree they can trust you. If I am helping AKTI and member businesses, I have to do so in a way that comports with legal ethics. I also wouldn’t want people to assume that I gave a certain score because of my affiliation with the company through AKTI. So instead of trying to navigate those complex problems, I will just make it simpler—no reviews. I am going to extend this to other forms of writing, too. There are brands out there that I already do not cover for a variety of reasons. I have been okay with that because I never claim to be 100% comprehensive. This change just means that some companies won’t appear anymore, good, bad, or indifferent.

Rule #2: I am going to end the ban on politics. Kinda.

After practicing law for nearly 20 years, I understand that law and politics are on a spectrum, as opposed to distinctly different things. As a result, the ban on politics is going to go away. Don’t expect a huge dissertation on deepening polarization, but do look for insights and analysis of issues that effect knife owners and law. That is, of course, inherently political. In truth, I don’t neatly fit into any political category or party as it is, so while I will be venturing into explicitly political issues (such as why we should repeal the Switchblade ban), I don’t think it will be particularly controversial stuff given the blog’s readership.

Rule #3: I am going to do more overt legal analysis.

The law around knives is changing. While it is impossible to give out legal advice without meeting people and knowing the facts, it is possible, for example, to do commentary and analysis on issues associated with knife law. One of the articles I have always wanted to do, but stayed away from given the scope of the blog was how to fit the right of knife ownership into the context of 2nd Amendment jurisprudence. The 2nd Amendment Trilogy (Heller, McDonald, and Caetano) is critically important for gun owners, but I think there is a strong case to be made, especially post-Caetano, that these cases apply in equal force to knife owners. I know the attorney that argued Caetano (who thought Massachusetts would produce a pro-2nd Amendment case) and he is brilliant legal strategist and tactician. Hopefully, I can reach out to him and ask some questions. There is a lot to mine here and the “commentary” part will be as true as it was before, but in a different sense.

One concern I had in making this move was that the community would view me as a sell out. I can tell you that is not the case. I made this move based on a belief that I could do more good for the knife community in this role than as someone that reviews virtually every major knife release. I like writing reviews and I will still write them, with the cavaet above as a limitation, but I think I can do more good for more people helping out AKTI.

It bears noting that we are in a boom for knives AND knife content. When I started the blog it was basically just Dan and I. Now there are a few more written sites and dozens and dozens of great YouTube channels, many of whom are better reviewers than I am. So while I am cutting back on reviews, given the quantity of stuff out there, I don’t think you will even notice the difference.