context: As reflected in the comment's language, knives are often considered not to constitute objects that are of such of a nature that they should be prohibited under section 908.
citation_a.signal: see
citation_a.parenthetical: thirteen-inch butcher knife which defendant carried while he was charging up a crowded street and threatening to kill another person had a common lawful purpose and thus defendant was not guilty of possession of prohibited offensive weapon
citation_a.sentence: See Fisher, 485 Pa. 8, 400 A.2d 1284 (1979) (“Wyoming Knife” which consisted of metal handle with two finger holes incorporating two cutting blades, one facing outward and the other inward, was hunting implement which had “common lawful purpose,” and thus such knife was not “offensive weapon” for purposes of statute); Commonwealth v. Cartagena, 482 Pa. 6, 393 A.2d 350 (1978) (Section 908 does not define a simple kitchen knife as a prohibited offensive weapon); Commonwealth v. Artis, 275 Pa.Super. 127, 418 A.2d 644 (1980) (although defendant waved a folding knife with a seven-inch blade in a crowded bar, the knife, which was purchased at a sporting goods store and used for hunting, was not an implement for infliction of serious bodily injury that served no common lawful purpose within the meaning of statute); Commonwealth v. Myers, 273 Pa.Super. 381, 417 A.2d 700 (1980) (thirteen-inch butcher knife which defendant carried while he was charging up a crowded street and threatening to kill another person had a common lawful purpose and thus defendant was not guilty of possession of prohibited offensive weapon); Ashford, 263 Pa.Super. 100, 397 A.2d 420 (1979) (absent proof that knife, which did not have blade “exposed in an automatic way,” had no common lawful purpose, Commonwealth’s evidence in prosecution for possession of prohibited offensive weapon failed to prove essential element that such knife was “offensive weapon”).
citation_b.signal: cf.
citation_b.parenthetical: court used an improper circumstances-of-possession approach to determine that a thirty-inch knife found in possession of defendant while in a high crime urban area in the early morning had no common lawful purpose and was a prohibited weapon under statute
citation_b.sentence: Cf. Gatto, 236 Pa.Super. 92, 344 A.2d 566 (1975) (court used an improper circumstances-of-possession approach to determine that a thirty-inch knife found in possession of defendant while in a high crime urban area in the early morning had no common lawful purpose and was a prohibited weapon under statute).