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Notes -
Heck, I remember learning as a kid that nunchucks and butterfly knives were illegal in England not just to own but even to show in movies, which explained some bizarre censorship in some movies (IIRC the Mel Gibson movie Payback had a non-violent, non-combat scene cut where someone was showing off a butterfly knife). So it wouldn't be surprising if telescoping polearms were banned as soon as they became commonly used.
C. Thomas Howell in the original Red Dawn film did the butterfly knife open and close in a random scene I guess to show his transformation into a "real fighter" compared to the high schooler he had been at the film's beginning. I remember owning at least two after watching that and becoming adept, if not in the actual use of the knife, in its rapid, smooth opening and closing.
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