Second Amendment
Switchblades are protected by the Second Amendment, Massachusetts Supreme Court rules
A Massachusetts law banning the possession of switchblades violates the Second Amendment, the state’s highest court ruled Tuesday. (Image from Shutterstock)
A law in the US state of Massachusetts that prohibits the possession of switchblades violates the Second Amendment, the state’s highest court ruled on Tuesday.
Spring-release pocket knives are protected because folding knives were commonly used for legal purposes – as tools and for self-defense – at the time of the state’s founding, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled in an August 27 decision.
The court relied on the analysis set out in the US Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen. The Bruen The decision states that a gun is presumptively protected by the Second Amendment if it is described in its plain language. If so, a restriction on the gun may be justified if it is “consistent with this country’s historic tradition of (gun) regulation.”
Under BruenAccording to the Massachusetts Supreme Court, a switchblade is a “weapon” under the two-part test of the Second Amendment.
“Second Amendment protections extend beyond firearms,” the court said.
In the second part of the test, the state failed to identify any laws regulating bladed weapons that resembled folding knives or switchblades that were in effect at the time of the state’s founding or at the time of ratification of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the court said.
Although most states banned or controlled switchblades in the 1950s and 1960s, “Bruen makes it clear that historical regulations from the mid-20th century have little probative value at best,” said the Massachusetts Supreme Court. Switchblades have been banned in Massachusetts since 1957.
The state had argued that switchblades were not protected because they are not commonly used for self-defense today and because they are “dangerous and unusual.”
However, the court stated that switchblades are commonly used, as they are only categorically banned in seven states and the District of Columbia. Two other states prohibit blades of certain lengths. Switchblades also do not have dangerous properties that are disproportionate to their use for self-defense, the court stated.
The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled in favor of David E. Canjura, who was carrying a switchblade when police searched him after reporting an argument with his girlfriend.
The case is Commonwealth v Canjura.
Publications reporting the opinion include Boston.com, Insurance Journal, Reuters and MassLive.com.
