Who knew you could buy an illegal switchblade or gravity knife at The Home Depot in the Flatiron District and Paragon Sports in Gramercy Park?
The two national chain stores — along with five other Manhattan retailers — have agreed to stop selling hunting and utility knives that snap open with the push of a button or flick of a wrist, and which, therefore, are illegal, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. announced yesterday.
The retailers have also agreed to turn over all of their illegal knife inventory and their profits from the past four years of selling such knives, Vance said — nearly $1.9 million so far — to stave off prosecution.
“What makes these knives so dangerous is the ease with which they can both be concealed and brandished,” Vance said at a press conference announcing a major initiative to take switchblades and gravity knives off the street.
One third of the homicides from 2009 and so far in 2010 — a total of 26 killings — were knifings, according to Karen Friedman Agnifilo, who heads the DA’s trial division.
Last year, some 3,000 people were prosecuted for possessing illegal knives, she said, including switchblades, gravity knives, daggers, stilettos and knives with blades 4 inches in length or longer.
The seven retailers also include Eastern Mountain Sports in SoHo, Citywide Locksmith in Harlem, Native Leather in the West Village, the Orvis Co. in Midtown and Cougar Corp., a subsidiary of Baretta, in Lenox Hill. They agreed to fork over their knives and profits after the DA conducted a sting operation in which undercover investigators posed as knife buyers.
At a press conference announcing the knives-off-the-street initiative, Vance screened hidden video of some of the investigators’ negotiations with knife vendors at 41 stores, from big chains to mom-and-pop businesses.
In one video, a salesman flicks open a gravity knife and, asked if the knife is dangerous, jokes, “I’ve almost taken my fingers off with this one!”
“It depends on if the cops want to bust your chops,” a salesman says, when asked if a switchblade is illegal.
The $1.9 million will be divided between the city and the state, with $741,000 set aside to encourage and fund similar investigations by district attorney offices throughout New York, Vance said.
The Manhattan investigation isn’t over, Vance warned. Other retailers face prosecution if they don’t strip their shelves of switchblades and gravity knives, he said. The office will also go after out-of-state illegal knife retailers who target Manhattan customers.
Beware, online knife vendors.
“We may use the Internet as an investigative tool,” the DA warned.