It is my understanding that in Ohio, the laws are written about locking blade knives of a certain length, whether or not they are auto-open (which we used to call "switchblades.") I have a Shrade-Walden flourescent orange paratrooper's knife which was issued by the US govt to pilots. It has a large switchblade, plus a hook blade. The hook is for cutting parachute cords, if you get tangled up in a tree, etc. The pilot I got it from carried it over the skies of Vietnam, but was never shot down. He told me that the switchblade was deemed necessary in case the pilot could not access the knife with both hands if he were tangled in cords...not for personal combat. For EDC I have a Stanley "box-cutter" knife, which is super convenient to change blades, and always very, very sharp.