"assisted opening" knives ?

I've carried every form of knife over the years. After concluding most imagined knife needs never occur I've settled on a little Swiss Army "Classic" in my pocket and the sharp, serrated knife in my mess kit. BUT, if you ever REALLY NEED a knife pronto, an "assisted opening" like this Buck would be handy:

"Buck 290 Rush features a 2.50 in. speed assisted 420HC stainless steel drop point blade and a 3.75 in. blue or platinum anodized 6061 T6 aluminum body. ..."
www.bestknives.com/buck290rush.html

These have locking closed and open mechanisms, but can be opened fast and closed with one hand. Having said that, these have been criticized and compared to switch-blades and are not legal in every state. Does anyone own one, think they'd be handy or are they just appealing to the Rambo in me ?

I have a kershaw assisted opening knife. I can open my spyderco that is not "assisted" just as fast w/ the thumb hole. I also have the Swiss army one handed trekker, that can easliy open w/ one hand. I do find it convenient to be able to open them w/ just one hand, but do not feel the spring assist is any big deal. I have also talked to several different police officer friends and they were all split on the the legal status of the assisted opening knives.

I have the Darrel Ralph designed Camillus C.U.D.A. Heat and love it. There are smaller versions of this and other knives, the Sizzler is the smaller version of the Heat, Kershaw has various incarnations of the Ken Onion Speedsafe opening knives as well.

I've had other "one-hand-opening" knives that are not assisted opening, but none open as fast. I do have to be careful opening it around some people, and don't carry it everywhere. The nice snapping sound that it makes when it opens can be intimidating to people who don't know anything about knives (especially laws concerning knives.)

I don't carry the Heat when hiking, however, it's too heavy. I carry my Gerber LST . It's all I really need.

I think the Heat is both handy and appeals to my inner Rambo.

My everyday carry knife is a Spyderco Dragonfly.

Dragonfly

I also carry almost all the time a Spyderco Assist II for my EMT work.

Spyderco Assist II

I did the Rambo thing back when I was in the army. My every day carry knife was this.
Gerber Fighting knife

While I still have it I haven't carried it for 20 years. Nor is it useful for every day carry since I left the army or when I camp.

Knifes are tools. There is nothing inherently evil in them any more than there is in a claw hammer. The ones I use every day are not illegal in just about any state. Neither are switchblades with blades under 1.5 inches long in most states. Most knifes are only illegal if they are used as a weapon or in a threatening manner. A straight razor is a "tool of a trade" unless used as a weapon or too threaten in most states. Republic of Boston and New York excluded. Much of this is at the discretion of the officer. Don't worry about what the sheeple say. These knives are not illegal in most states, nor should they be.

When camping I don't carry it but I have with me in the pack either my Becker Brute or my Gerber Pac Axe

Becker Brute or
my Gerber pac Ax - Now we need Pete Hickey with an "Ax, that ain't an Axe. This is an Axe"

Chip, I believe your buck 290 has a Liner lock which I am not a fan of. I find that using that type of knife hard, squeezing it at odd angles it is possible to unlock the knife, usually at the most inopportune times with usually bad consequences. But that’s me. If you use your knife always like a knife you probably won't have that problem YMMV.

Keith