Knife Rights is going forward with an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States of the Second Circuit’s decision in favor of New York City and District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. in our long running civil rights lawsuit over their persecution of pocket knife owners.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg last week granted us a 60-day extension until January 13th, 2019, for submission of our petition for a writ of certiorari asking the Court to hear our appeal.
While our lawsuit against New York City and DA Vance centers on their abusive enforcement of New York State’s gravity knife ban against owners of common pocket knives, the focus changes somewhat as it moves to the Supreme Court. Keep in mind that the Supreme Court does not generally agree to hear a case just because any particular decision in a case is unjust, irrational or just plain terrible, all of which describe this ruling in spades.
Beyond settling major constitutional issues, the Court will sometimes choose to resolve differences in the application of Federal law among different Federal circuit courts when its decisions are not applied the same throughout the U.S. The Second Circuit panel’s ruling regarding our constitutional vagueness claim in this case opens up that possibility with starkly split decisions between it and other circuits, as well as splits between a number of state courts. The writ explains why this case is important and worthy of the Court’s limited time.
A Supreme Court decision to hear the case could affect the implementation and enforcement of a wide spectrum of laws to persons throughout the U.S. It is no longer just about these common folding knives. New York City’s enforcement of the state’s gravityknife law against common folding knives is now the vehicle to answer the bigger constitutional question at issue. Only if the Supreme Court accepts the case do we get to argue the merits of our particular case as it reflects this bigger issue.
It’s always long odds for any case to be accepted by the Supreme Court. However, not making the attempt ensures we lose. And, that would allow very bad precedent to be set in stone.
Taking a case to Supreme Court is an expensive proposition, more so for a small organization like Knife Rights. We still need to raise significant funds for this effort if we don’t want to hand a victory to New York Governor Cuomo, DA Vance andr New York City Mayor de Blasio
Please also read below about how your holiday purchases can help us to continue to forge a Sharper Future for all Americans™.
CALL or EMAIL TODAY! Knife Owners’ Protection Act Including Federal Switchblade Act Repeal Introduced in Senate!
Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) has introduced S.3264, the Knife Owners’ Protection Act of 2018 (KOPA) including repeal of the Federal Switchblade Act. This is a companion to the House KOPA bill, H.R.84, introduced last year. Originally conceived and authored by Knife Rights in 2010 and first introduced in 2013, KOPA will remove the irrational restrictions on interstate trade in automatic knives that are legal to one degree or another in 44 states, while also protecting the right of knife owners to travel throughout the U.S. without fear of prosecution under the myriad patchwork of state and local knife laws. CLICK for more information.
Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) has introduced 
