What is the difference between Switchblade knives and assisted opening knife?

In this blog post, we will discuss the difference between Switchblade knives and assisted opening knife.

Switchblade knives, commonly known as automatic knives are generally reserved for law enforcement and military personnel; assisted opening knives are easily available across most markets.

Is it all in the name?

Are the laws regarding both the knives differ?

Is one harmless than the other?

Let’s look at it.

Switchblade Knives

Switchblade knife is defined as a pocket or EDC knife; sometimes known as an automatic knife. It opens with the press of a button. While this carries a certain “cool factor” with sleek and elegant design; it causes legal issues sometimes.

Switchblade knives can come in a manual version, which has a straight blade with an opening at the front; known as OTF knives. Its blade is pushed out via a slide on the side of the knife. It also comes in a spring-loaded version which requires simply pressing a button and the blade appears.

Switchblades, some of them, have safety locks. Those with no locks are quite dangerous as any accidental press can cause serious damage to the user.

Assisted Opening Blades

Assisted open knife is a folding knife with names like Quick release knife, quick draw, semi-auto knife, and more.

While not all assisted opening knives have a lock on them, most do for the safety. This makes for a very streamlined and easy to access lock.

Assisted opening blades can be quite difficult for left-handed people to use as it is made keeping the right-handed user in mind.

So, by now, we assume that you have understood the difference between Switchblade knives and assisted opening knives.