Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor says an amendment he added to an appropriations bill will allow pocketknives and utility knives to continue being brought into the U.S.

In a conference call today with Arkansas reporters, Pryor, D-Ark., said the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol was looking at reclassifying some knives as switchblades, which would have prevented them from coming into the country.

“The problem is, what they were going to do would cover about 80 percent of all knives. We began getting letters and e-mails from all over the state from people like park rangers, electricians, people who like to go climbing and hiking, etc., so we got to work,” he said.

Pryor said he and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, worked with the Border Patrol and the Department of Homeland Security to come up with a measure both agencies could agree to. The measure was added as an amendment to an appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security.

“This is good news for consumers, good news for retailers, good news for the knife industry — which we have some in this state,” Pryor said.

The Senate gave final approval to the appropriations bill Tuesday. The bill now heads to the president’s desk for his signature.