US switchblade law violates Second Amendment, appeals court says

A federal appeals court said in a ruling Wednesday that the U.S. restrictions on switchblades are unconstitutional.

Under the Federal Switchblade Act, it is illegal to sell, transport or manufacture the knives across state lines.

“We determine that switchblade knives qualify as ‘Arms’ and are covered by the ‘plain text’ of  the Second Amendment,” U.S. Circuit Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod wrote in the ruling. “Because the regulation implicates the amendment, the government bears the burden of establishing that the FSA comports with well-established principles of the Second Amendment and its regulatory tradition. The government fails to meet its burden.”

Reuters reported that the three judges who made the ruling were appointed by Republican presidents.

Knife Rights, the organization that brought the suit against the Department of Justice, celebrated the ruling in a statement.

“This is a significant judicial recognition of what Knife Rights has argued for years,” Knife Rights said. “The Second Amendment protects knives, not just firearm