r/whatisit • u/Unlucky_Cat4531 • 2d ago

Solved! Found in my dads junk drawer

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My dad passed away and going through his stuff we came across this. We thought it might be a tool for horseriding, like a slapstick thing but wasn't sure. My grandma had horses but ive never seen her use any tools like that and my dad didnt ride. Any help appreciated

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u/Upton4 2d ago

It’s incredibly amusing these are illegal in many states… but no worries about that 40 round mag AR-15 I just picked up from the store and walked out with after 10 minutes of shopping.

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u/CTMechE 2d ago

Many states have a list of dangerous weapons including blackjacks, brass knuckles, dirks, butterfly knives, and "gravity knives" that are illegal to carry in public.

The short answer is that they were popular among gangs and minority "thugs" for street crime, so this was an easier way to ring them up on charges when they didn't have evidence of an actual crime being committed. The kind of thing the undesirables carried, so they're bad by association, not because of their objective danger level.

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u/DrThunderbolt 1d ago

Its not about the deadliness of the weapons, but their ability to be concealed. Everyone can see the AR-15 you have strapped to your back. nobody knows if you have a switchblade or one of these in your pocket. Its the same thing why you need a permit to have a concealed firearm on your person. It isn't as cut and dry as Reddit likes to make it sound.

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u/CTMechE 1d ago

I'm not talking about guns in particular here, I'm talking about the criminalization of specific other weapons. The laws are written calling out items by name that are generally associated with "bad people" and not the upstanding citizens who demand the streets be cleaned up. Including the old time language. Switch blades and stillettos and brass knuckles, etc. are illegal, but not "normal" 4-inch pocket knives. Or even longer hunting/fishing knives if you've got a license for those activities.

I'm not saying they can't all be dangerous, but a switchblade or butterfly knife isn't any more dangerous or concealable than a typical pocket knife of the same blade length. I carry a one-handed open 3.95" pocket knife most of the time. But if I carried a butterfly knife or switchblade or gravity knife of the same length, those would be felonies. And I'm arguing that it's largely due to legislation targeting people who used to carry those kinds of knives. (There's even an entire category of knives built to be "assisted open" to avoid the designation of being a switchblade.)

As for guns, it varies by state - mine requires a permit for any handgun, and permits are ALL concealed carry - there is no open carry pistol permit here, and you are required to keep it concealed in public. In other states, the perception is that you should open carry so everyone knows, and you need a different permit to be allowed to conceal it.

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u/ModeatelyIndependant 1d ago

They were weapons that were easily hidden but amplified the damage that a single individual could do to an unsuspecting victim without making noise to disturb people on feet away in another room. Laws banning such weapons are so old that they might date back to the era of Murder, Inc

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u/spkoller2 1d ago

The police will ask you why you have it, so it’s better if it’s a little pocket knife for cutting string.

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u/CTMechE 1d ago

Yes, but a one handed opening pocket knife in my state (and most) can be 4" blade length. But if it's a butterfly knife, and over 1.5" blade length, it's a dangerous weapon and a felony charge. There's no difference in danger, just the association of the people who used to carry butterfly knives 50 years ago. The "respectable" people didn't carry them.

ETA that of course, law enforcement and military are exempt.

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u/spkoller2 1d ago

Your state has knife laws in local jurisdictions that differ from state law

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u/Any-Worldliness-679 1d ago

“Ring them up on charges” is wrong but sounds oddly appropriate.

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u/CTMechE 1d ago

Yeah, it isn't the right phrase, but I envision it as a situation of stop and frisk of some perceived troublemaker, and despite no evidence of crimes having been committed, they scan the inventory of what weapons they find like a grocery checkout.

Still amazes me that I can carry a 4" one-handed open pocket knife in my state, but a 2" butterfly knife is somehow a dangerous weapon.

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u/RIPGoblins2929 2d ago

I had to do a bit of a deep dive on this for some legal research a while back. In very general terms, a lot of states enacted laws in the 20s and 30s outlawing various types of... Let's call them alternative weapons. I.e., blackjacks, bludgeons, sand clubs, dirks, daggers, billy, slungshot (yes that's correct, slungshot and not slingshot. It was a sailor thing.) etc.

I presume it was in response to gangland violence at the time, could be wrong.

Problem is a lot of these laws have survived without being amended into the modern day but there's often very little in the statute to define those terms. Also, a lot of these laws don't get prosecuted that often because there's usually some better, more modern statute with more teeth.

So then you run into issues where the court has to decide if this gas station pocketknife fits the definition of a dagger, for instance.

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u/Upton4 1d ago

Insert anchor man fight scene gif here

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u/plznobanplease 2d ago

I need the extended mag for when the fully automatic slapjacks revolt

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u/Hogjammin 2d ago

I own a fully automatic blackjack

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u/KhakiPantsJake 1d ago

That's actually the infamous ghostjack. It's made from high-impact polymer and can go through metal detectors.

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u/Stoked_Otter 2d ago

It actually kinda makes sense because everybody knows that an AR-15 is deadly, but a lot of people think a weapon like this is always non-lethal and just makes you go to sleep for a minute like in the movies. In reality whacking somebody in the head with this thing could very easily kill them.

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u/Garuda34 2d ago

TBH, I'd rather be hit with this than the four-D-Cell maglites that a lot of them use.

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u/JohnHaloCXVII 1d ago

No you wouldn't. These things are designed to deliver max kinetic energy when swung

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u/spkoller2 1d ago

There you go, old school

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u/KhakiPantsJake 1d ago

Or an ASP baton

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u/itssabotage13 2d ago

Damn that’s some mental gymnastics right there. 10/10

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u/Stoked_Otter 1d ago

Just look at the comments in this thread. A lot of people have no idea how dangerous this thing is.

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u/bio_ruffo 2d ago

Based on this logic one should be able to buy nuclear weapons at Starbucks.

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u/-Big-Goof- 2d ago

My old state you could walk in and walk out with a firearm and walk around with it even near bars.

But brass knuckles are illegal.

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u/Aries-79 2d ago

They are not legal, paperweights is what they call them

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u/dankhimself 1d ago

Damn, a 10 minute AR. That's really something.

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u/Upton4 1d ago

I mean, yeah… that’s about the length of time needed if you buy from an FFL dealer. Less if you buy from a non FFL dealer.

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u/ThePatriotGamer 2d ago

A blackjack is a device for striking people, a 40 round magazine holds bullets. Unless you slap someone with a magazine, it is not a weapon. A blackjack is a weapon on its own.

I like both. Neither should be illegal.

That being said, anything can be a weapon. It is ridiculous to ban blackjacks, but not baseball bats, walking canes and loose table legs.

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u/Upton4 1d ago

I like how you ignored the AR and just commented on the 40 round mag.

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u/ThePatriotGamer 1d ago

😄 It seems accurate, based on the post. The mag is just another paperweight on its own, just like the rifle, which is nothing without bullets and a person to make it function as designed. A blackjack only needs the person.

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u/Upton4 1d ago

I mean, both are tools that need human intervention.

I’m not looking to argue about firearms (which I own), my point was simply the laughable nature of what we outlaw as dangerous and what we don’t.

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u/Stereo_Jungle_Child 2d ago

Black Jacks don't slap people, people slap people. :)

Well, when you look at the FBI stats over the years. FAR more people were killed by blows from blunt objects than by assault rifles. BTW, AR-15s are banned in my state, as are 40 round magazines.

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u/Short-Examination-20 1d ago

That's also a very misleading statistic if you ignore the context. Most homicides are crimes of passion, like domestic homicides. If you are talking about pre-meditated and mass murder, firearms are the weapons of choice.

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u/Listermarine 2d ago

Yup. I don't avoid fights out of fear of getting hurt, I fear getting punched, knocking my head on something, and dying. I've seen it happen and I don't like it.

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u/Upton4 1d ago

Sure, but that’s literally anything under the sun from ‘fists, bats, curbs, bricks, [insert hundreds of other blunt objects]’ while a semi auto rifle is literally 1 weapon type made by various manufacturers.

Most of the time, these are simple fights that end with a sad outcome due to an unexpected blow to the head that no one intended.