Today the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee passed a bipartisan measure that would ensure people who are traveling with a secured knife are not prosecuted under local or state laws. The measure is led by U.S. Senators Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

“With this legislation passing out of committee, we are one step closer to providing the protection that knife owners need to ensure they can travel without fear of prosecution,” said Enzi. “With thousands of knife laws across the country, this common sense bill would defend the rights of knife owners.”

“The bill that Senator Enzi and I introduced and the Commerce Committee passed today takes a commonsense approach by allowing knife owners who follow the rules to transport their property between places where it’s legal to own knives,” Wyden said. “Our bill requires travelers to keep knives inaccessible during the journey, maintaining public safety and respecting state laws.”

The Knife Owners Protection Act would provide safe harbor to Americans travelling with a knife where it is lawful for the knife to be possessed at both the points of origin and destination, so long as the knife is transported in a closed container. This legislation is based on the Firearms Owner Protection Act of 1986 which provides the same protection to law?abiding gun owners.

The legislation, S. 1315, is also cosponsored by Senators Mike Lee, R-Utah, Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., John Thune, R-S.D., and Martin Heinrich, D-N.M. Passage by the Commerce Committee sets the measure up for consideration by the Senate floor.