In a not very shocking result, the Ninth Circuit panel has ruled against Knife Rights in our appeal of the ludicrous District Court decision in our lawsuit challenging California’s ban on switchblade (automatic) knives with a blade 2 inches and greater on Second Amendment grounds. The decision by a panel of two Clinton and one Biden appointees is disappointing and contrary to the plain text of the Second Amendment and the clear guidance provided by the Supreme Court in Heller and Bruen.
To conclude that California’s switchblade ban is constitutional, the Ninth Circuit had to twist itself into a pretzel and essentially rewrite the challenged law, turning it into a so-called “concealed carry” prohibition. This is absurd. The law bans all possession, all forms of carry, and all sale, purchase, or transfer of switchblades. It is not a concealed-carry law. The Ninth Circuit worked around these undisputed facts and upheld a law that does not exist.
In other words, the Ninth Circuit did not defend the law California actually enacted. Instead, it invented a narrower, imaginary version of the statute that bans only “concealed carry” — even though the California switchblade ban says nothing about concealment and criminalizes simple possession. Courts are not supposed to rewrite laws to save them.
This decision conflicts with Supreme Court precedent and rests on a legal fiction. We are evaluating all options, including further review, to ensure that courts cannot erase constitutional rights by rewriting unconstitutional statutes from the bench.
Since 2010 Knife Rights’ efforts have resulted in 58 bills & court decisions repealing knife bans & protecting knife owners in 36 states and over 200 cities and towns! Knife Rights is America’s grassroots knife owners’ organization; leading the fight to Rewrite Knife Law in America™ and forging a Sharper Future for all Americans™.