MA Supreme Court overturns 1957 switchblade ban . . .

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Family trip to the East Coast. Woke up in Boston this morning getting ready to head down to my Embassy Suites cooked to order hot breakfast (one of the best travel deals on the planet), turned on the local Boston CBS News, and learned that yesterday, the MA Supreme Court overturned a 1957 ban on switchblades.

I'll leave the Reuters story for you to digest, but essentially the Court held that the ban was a violation of the right to keep and bear arms, that such knives had been in common use for centuries, and cited Bruen and Heller as their precedent.

On to Cooperstown . . .

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For those that like them...that's great news!
And now others can see what they are missing.

My job allowed me to own and carry automatic openers years ago. I have owned them, but yet to find one that I like very much. The Benchmade axis are OK but I chose non automatic versions.
 
Don't care anything about them myself, but I guess that's okay as long as another court doesn't reverse the ruling, or local police departments decide to ignore the decision.
 
These laws were written because of movies like West Side Story. A knife isn't inherently evil because you can open it with one hand.

Cars aren't evil, even though drunk drivers kill 13K+ people a year.

Guns aren't evil because sociopaths sometimes use them.

Doctors aren't necessarily evil, even though 200K people die each year from their mistakes.

When will we finally put the blame where it belongs and hold individuals accountable?
 
Amazing for a state like MA. Can't say much for the new gun laws just passed. Bad news as usual. Always bad and doubt things will improve.
 
Cooperstown is a nice trip from eastern MA. Kind of long, but it's been at least 15 years since I was last up there. Enjoy the visit.

As to the ruling, it's a bit of a surprise, especially as they properly applied the review criteria as laid out in Heller and Bruen.

Too long to quote the entirety of Chapter 269 Section 10, but (b) is the applicable part for this case.

(b) Whoever, except as provided by law, carries on his person, or carries on his person or under his control in a vehicle, any stiletto, dagger or a device or case which enables a knife with a locking blade to be drawn at a locked position, any ballistic knife, or any knife with a detachable blade capable of being propelled by any mechanism, dirk knife, any knife having a double-edged blade, or a switch knife, or any knife having an automatic spring release device by which the blade is released from the handle, having a blade of over one and one-half inches, or a slung shot, blowgun, blackjack, metallic knuckles or knuckles of any substance which could be put to the same use with the same or similar effect as metallic knuckles, nunchaku, zoobow, also known as klackers or kung fu sticks, or any similar weapon consisting of two sticks of wood, plastic or metal connected at one end by a length of rope, chain, wire or leather, a shuriken or any similar pointed starlike object intended to injure a person when thrown, or any armband, made with leather which has metallic spikes, points or studs or any similar device made from any other substance or a cestus or similar material weighted with metal or other substance and worn on the hand, or a manrikigusari or similar length of chain having weighted ends; or whoever, when arrested upon a warrant for an alleged crime, or when arrested while committing a breach or disturbance of the public peace, is armed with or has on his person, or has on his person or under his control in a vehicle, a billy or other dangerous weapon other than those herein mentioned and those mentioned in paragraph (a), shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than two and one-half years nor more than five years in the state prison, or for not less than six months nor more than two and one-half years in a jail or house of correction, except that, if the court finds that the defendant has not been previously convicted of a felony, he may be punished by a fine of not more tha

There is a note at the end of the opinion and order that it ONLY applies to folding knives, not any of the other weapons included.

Which doesn't preclude others from appealing other parts as needed.

Well, if nothing else MA can keep the sword in the state seal. :D

Family trip to the East Coast. Woke up in Boston this morning getting ready to head down to my Embassy Suites cooked to order hot breakfast (one of the best travel deals on the planet), turned on the local Boston CBS News, and learned that yesterday, the MA Supreme Court overturned a 1957 ban on switchblades.

I'll leave the Reuters story for you to digest, but essentially the Court held that the ban was a violation of the right to keep and bear arms, that such knives had been in common use for centuries, and cited Bruen and Heller as their precedent.

On to Cooperstown . . .

Play
 
Many moons ago you could bring a pocket knife with you on an airplane but the blade had to be less than 4 inches. So of course I had a knife with a blade that measured 3 and 7/8 inches. In a lot of airports they had a mark on a table when you went thru security. The mark was 4 inches from the edge. If you had a pocket knife, they would open it and put it at the edge of the table where the mark was. If the blade didn't reach the mark, you were good to go.

I had such a knife with me when me and my family visited Washington DC. We were out and about and decided to go the the Washington Monument. This was one of those times they had security search you before you were allowed in and I didn't know if my knife would pass so when I saw a federal security officer I went up to him, showed him my knife and asked him if was legal for me to take it into the Washington Monument. He looked at the knife and then at me and said, "Hell, that knife isn't legal anywhere in DC.

I ended up leaving my family there and ran six blocks back to the hotel, dropped off the knife in my hotel room and ran six blocks back. Then we all went to the monument. Of course I was much much younger then.
 
If the Supreme Court......

....heeds the Second Amendment a LOT of restrictions on arms are going to go away. If I had a pair of nunchucks it would be to swing around. I'm sure not going to hit anybody with them. Somehow having certain kinds of weapons are supposed to turn you into a criminal.
 
I seem to recall a bunch of ne'er do wells a while back taking over four commercial passenger jets with box cutters . . .

Many moons ago you could bring a pocket knife with you on an airplane but the blade had to be less than 4 inches. So of course I had a knife with a blade that measured 3 and 7/8 inches. In a lot of airports they had a mark on a table when you went thru security. The mark was 4 inches from the edge. If you had a pocket knife, they would open it and put it at the edge of the table where the mark was. If the blade didn't reach the mark, you were good to go.

I had such a knife with me when me and my family visited Washington DC. We were out and about and decided to go the the Washington Monument. This was one of those times they had security search you before you were allowed in and I didn't know if my knife would pass so when I saw a federal security officer I went up to him, showed him my knife and asked him if was legal for me to take it into the Washington Monument. He looked at the knife and then at me and said, "Hell, that knife isn't legal anywhere in DC.

I ended up leaving my family there and ran six blocks back to the hotel, dropped off the knife in my hotel room and ran six blocks back. Then we all went to the monument. Of course I was much much younger then.
 
This won't last. The guvnor, Maura Healey will be passing new legislation asap. I was at the track and the Chief called me and asked if I was sitting down when he told me about this. I have a collection of them but in all honesty I don't carry one just because most of them don't fit my utilitarian needs for a knife.
 
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NJ has an incomprehensible law that prohibits carry of many types of knives without a lawful purpose. Until Bruen self defense was not considered a lawful purpose in NJ. The MA case could be cited as non-binding but persuasive authority to a NJ court that self defense is a lawful purpose for carrying a knife.
 
I must admit that I'm not a knife guy, but I do EDC. I own several bowies and an assortment of belt and pocket knives, but my EDC for many years has been a very dependable and durable SOG Mini Aegis Tanto assisted folder. I inherited a couple of common Italian switchblades (2-1/2" and 5" blades) from a dear friend who was too afraid to own or carry them. I'm glad that the switchblades have safeties because their blade springs are very strong when the button is pushed. SBs are legal in FL (with a CCW), but I prefer to carry my SOG as an all-purpose pocket knife. Enjoy!
 

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