Legislative Update

Your emails helped make it happen! The Washington Senate just passed Knife Rights’ bill that would repeal Washington’s ban on “spring blade” (automatic) knives, SB 5860, with a bi-partisan vote of 45-3! We sincerely appreciate our good friend Senator Phil Fortunato for his efforts shepherding this bill through the Senate. We know from speaking to our sponsor that your hundreds of emails over the course of the last month made a huge difference. … Continued... Read More

Mississippi Senator Joseph “Mike” Seymour has introduced SB 2269, a bill that would enact Knife Rights’ signature Knife Law Preemption in the state. Co-sponsors are Senators Kevin Blackwell and Charles Younger. Knife Law Preemption is a Knife Rights’ criminal justice reform effort that repeals and prevents local ordinances more restrictive than state law which only serve to confuse or entrap law-abiding citizens traveling within or through the state. Preemption ensures citizens can expect consistent enforcement of state knife laws everywhere within a state. … Continued... Read More

Knife Rights has filed a consolidated Opposition & Reply Brief to the Fed’s Motion for Dismissal and Opposition to our Motion for Summary Judgement in our federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of portions of the Federal Switchblade Act. Click to read Plaintiffs’ Consolidated Opposition and Reply Brief Click to read Plaintiff’s Declarations in Support of our Brief In their own consolidated brief, … Continued... Read More

Following up on repeal in 2022 of Virginia’s ban on automatic knives and this year’s repeal of the state’s ban on concealed carry of these same knives, Knife Rights’ good friend Delegate Lee Ware has introduced HB 11 that would remove dirk, bowie [sic] knife, stiletto knife and razor from the list of weapons that cannot be carried concealed. Knife Rights will let you know next year when it is appropriate to contact your Virginia legislators to support HB 11. … Continued... Read More

Knife Rights has filed an Amicus (Friend of the Court) Brief with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in a criminal case involving illegal carry of a switchblade. In Commonwealth v. Canjura the Appellant has challenged the constitutionality under the Second Amendment of Massachusetts’ ban on carry of a switchblade. A decision in favor of the Appellant could strike down the Commonwealth’s ban on carry of switchblades. Click to read the Amicus Brief. … Continued... Read More

While we were at BLADE Show West last week, attorneys for the Appellants filed their response brief opposing Hawaii’s petition to the Ninth Circuit for a rehearing En Banc in an attempt to overturn the recent 3-0 panel decision in Teter v. Lopez that Hawaii’s ban on Butterfly Knives is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment. Click to read the Appellants’ Response to Defendants’ Petition for Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc. … Continued... Read More

Knife Rights today filed a Motion for Summary Judgment in its federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of portions of the Federal Switchblade Act. A motion for summary judgment asks the court for a judgment on the merits of the case before the trial where there is no dispute of material facts and only a question of law needs to be decided. Knife Rights’ motion sets out the indisputable facts under the standard laid out last year by the U.S. … Continued... Read More

Led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, 17 Attorneys General have filed an amicus (Friend of the Court) brief supporting Hawaii’s petition to the Ninth Circuit for a rehearing En Banc in an attempt to overturn the recent 3-0 panel decision in Teter v. Lopez that Hawaii’s ban on Butterfly Knives is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment. This amicus brief by 17 anti-Second Amendment AGs just adds an exclamation point to how important this knife-related 2A case is in the larger battle for the Second Amendment. … Continued... Read More

Hawaii has petitioned the Ninth Circuit for a rehearing En Banc in an attempt to overturn the recent 3-0 panel decision in Teter v. Lopez that Hawaii’s ban on Butterfly Knives is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.  As explained in our original post, That was a huge win not just for owners of Butterfly Knives in Hawaii, but for all pro-Second Amendment supporters. Knife Rights filed an important amicus (friend of the court) brief in support of the appellants in that case. … Continued... Read More

Today, a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that Hawaii’s ban on butterfly knives violates the Second Amendment. Knife Rights filed an important amicus (friend of the court) brief in support of the appellants in the case of Teter v. Lopez. In its decision, the Court reversed the district court’s judgment in favor of Hawaii and remanded the case back to the district court “for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.” The Court also denied the appellees’ request to remand the case for further factual or historical development in light of New York State Rifle & … Continued... Read More

Second Amendment Knife Freedom Rings in Philadelphia! In 2014 Knife Rights published a list of the Ten Worst Anti-Knife Cities in America. At that time, New York City was number one, but we fixed New York City’s “gravity knife arrests” problem in 2019, moving Philadelphia up to the number one Worst Anti-Knife City spot. Now Knife Rights has accepted Philadelphia’s offer of judgment in Knife Rights, Inc. v. Outlaw, our federal Second Amendment lawsuit that sought to declare unconstitutional and enjoin Philadelphia’s laws that ban the possession and carry of ANY bladed arms (knives) in public. … Continued... Read More

LegalBlade™ 3.0, the latest iteration of Knife Rights Foundation’s groundbreaking LegalBlade™ Knife Laws in America™ App, is now available in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. As before, LegalBlade™ provides guidance at your fingertips to the knife laws of all 50 states, the District of Columbia and over 40 cities. Knowledge of the law is the first step in avoiding an unfortunate arrest, loss of your knife or other legal complications. … Continued... Read More