The Right To Bear Switchblades

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicia Court has this bon mot today

Since 1957, G. L. c. 269, § 10 (b) (§ 10 [b]), has prohibited people from possessing certain spring-release pocketknives, commonly known as “switchblades.” In this case, we are asked to decide whether § 10 (b)’s prohibition against carrying a switchblade knife violates the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, considering the United States Supreme Court’s decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen, 597 U.S. 1 (2022) (Bruen).1 We conclude it does. Accordingly, we reverse the denial of the defendant’s motion to dismiss.

Reasoning

While both Heller and Bruen involved handguns, Second Amendment protections subsume more than just firearms. See Caetano v. Massachusetts, 577 U.S. 411, 411-412 (2016) (per curiam) (stun guns constitute arms under Second Amendment). Indeed, “the Second Amendment extends, prima facie, to all instruments that constitute bearable arms, even those that were not in existence at the time of the founding.” Heller, 554 U.S. at 582…

In short, folding pocketknives not only fit within contemporaneous dictionary definitions of arms — which would encompass a broader category of knives that today includes switchblades — but they also were commonly possessed by lawabiding citizens for lawful purposes around the time of the founding. Setting aside any question whether switchblades are in common use today for lawful purposes, we conclude switchblades are “arms” for Second Amendment purposes. Therefore, the carrying of switchblades is presumptively protected by the plain text of the Second Amendment.

History

the Commonwealth has not met its burden of demonstrating a historical tradition justifying the regulation of switchblade knives under § 10 (b).

(Mike Frisch)