shanneba
Professional
Oct 22 (Reuters) - A US law that bans the manufacturing of switchblades for sale or distribution across state lines violates the right to keep and bear arms under the US Constitution's Second Amendment, a federal appeals court ruled.
The New Orleans-based 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals in a ruling late on Wednesday said a landmark 2022 US Supreme Court decision requiring modern gun restrictions to be consistent with the nation's history and tradition of arms regulation also applied to bladed weapons covered by the Federal Switchblade Act.
US Circuit Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod wrote in the decision that Congress adopted that law in 1958 during a period of "hysteria" surrounding juvenile delinquency, with the goal of keeping such spring-release pocketknives out of the reach of teenagers. But Elrod said the ban was inconsistent with how the nation at its founding in the 18th century had regulated the use of such weapons.
"Knives have been used for defense throughout human history, including the American founding," Elrod wrote.
While the 5th Circuit struck down the core part of the Federal Switchblade Act, it concluded that the plaintiffs could not mount a challenge to a separate provision that restricts the manufacturing, sale and possession of the knives in US territories and on tribal land.
The New Orleans-based 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals in a ruling late on Wednesday said a landmark 2022 US Supreme Court decision requiring modern gun restrictions to be consistent with the nation's history and tradition of arms regulation also applied to bladed weapons covered by the Federal Switchblade Act.
US Circuit Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod wrote in the decision that Congress adopted that law in 1958 during a period of "hysteria" surrounding juvenile delinquency, with the goal of keeping such spring-release pocketknives out of the reach of teenagers. But Elrod said the ban was inconsistent with how the nation at its founding in the 18th century had regulated the use of such weapons.
"Knives have been used for defense throughout human history, including the American founding," Elrod wrote.
While the 5th Circuit struck down the core part of the Federal Switchblade Act, it concluded that the plaintiffs could not mount a challenge to a separate provision that restricts the manufacturing, sale and possession of the knives in US territories and on tribal land.
