The Defendants have filed their appeal briefs in our federal civil rights lawsuit against Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. and the City of New York. The Defendants once again attempt to steer the Court away from the main issue in the case, which is that no one can ever test a knife using the challenged “wrist flick test” and conclude that it is legal.
This is because the Wrist Flick Test only identifies an illegal knife. It cannot ever identify a legal knife, which is essential if the Plaintiffs, John Copeland, Pedro Perez, or retailer Native Leather (or anyone else for that matter), want to ever purchase and carry a common folding knife in New York City without risking arrest and prosecution. This is the essential constitutional vagueness problem at issue and neither the DA nor the City ever engage this point in their briefs.
Once again the Defendants are grasping at straws because they have no real response to the key issue in the case. Hopefully the Court will not be misled and will recognize the real issue before them, just as they understood in the first appeal in this case when they unanimously reversed the previous erroneous ruling of the District Court.
Click here to read the City’s Brief
Click here to read the DA’s Brief
Meanwhile, Knife Rights’ Gravity Knife Law Reform Bill passed in June with only a single “nay” vote in either house. It should be transmitted to Governor Cuomo shortly. This bill attempts to solve the problem of the continuing arrests and prosecutions on bogus Gravity Knife charges in New York City by removing “centrifugal force” from the definition of a gravity knife. That should stop the use of the unconstitutional “wrist flick test” that is the source of the problem and target of our lawsuit.
“We will continue to pursue both tracks towards a solution until we are victorious and New Yorkers can carry a common folding knife without fear of arrest and prosecution,” said Knife Rights Chairman Doug Ritter.