Massachusetts Switchblade Ban Overturned on Second Amendment Grounds

The Second Amendment doesn’t protect guns; it protects the human right to self-defense.

The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution undisputedly protects the individual right to own and carry firearms for self-defense, sport, and other uses. But the amendment actually says nothing about guns; it refers to "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms," of which firearms are just one example of what dictionaries define as "a means (such as a weapon) of offense or defense." In Massachusetts, last week, that resulted in a decision by the state's highest court striking down a law against switchblade knives.

Protected by the Second Amendment

"We conclude switchblades are not 'dangerous and unusual' weapons falling outside the protection of the Second Amendment," wrote Justice Serge Georges Jr. for the court in an opinion in Commonwealth v. Canjura that drew heavily on two landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases: Bruen (2022) and Heller (2008). The decision found the state's ban on switchblade knives unconstitutional and dismissed charges against the defendant.

The case involved a 2020 dispute between David E. Canjura and his girlfriend, during which Boston police officers found a switchblade knife on Canjura while searching him. As is often noted, "everything is illegal in Massachusetts" and "a switch knife, or any knife having an automatic spring release device" is only one of a long list of  weapons proscribed under state law. Canjura was accordingly charged.

Such absolute prohibitions on arms aren't permitted in the wake of the Heller decision, so Canjura and his public defender, Kaitlyn Gerber, challenged the ban on switchblades, citing the federal decisions. They also relied on Jorge Ramirez v. Commonwealth (2018) in which the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court overturned a similar prohibition on stun guns on Second Amendment grounds.

"We now conclude that stun guns are 'arms' within the protection of the Second Amendment. Therefore, under the Second Amendment, the possession of stun guns may be regulated, but not absolutely banned," the court found in that case.

Canjura required similar analysis based on the same earlier decisions, this time with Ramirez in the mix.

The Second Amendment Protects All 'Bearable Arms'

Citing Heller, Justice Georges pointed out, "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." Importantly, though, knives and other bladed weapons have a long history, extending back well before the birth of the country.

"A review of the history of the American colonies reveals that knives were ubiquitous among colonists, who used them to defend their lives, obtain or produce food, and fashion articles from raw materials," commented Georges. Folding knives, in particular, grew in popularity to the point they became "almost universal." The court saw no significant difference between the many types of folding knives used over the centuries and spring-assisted varieties developed somewhat more recently, finding "the most apt historical analogue of a modern-day switchblade is the folding pocketknife."

Bruen, the court continued, specified that Second Amendment protections extend to arms that are in "common use" and are not considered "dangerous and unusual." Given that switchblades are just variations on folding knives and that "only seven States and the District of Columbia categorically ban switchblades or other automatic knives, and only two States impose blade length restrictions of less than two inches," they're clearly in common use.

The Massachusetts justices decided, by contrast to some other courts, that "dangerous and unusual" is a separate standard from "common use" that weapons must meet to be eligible for Second Amendment protection. But they emphasized "in the most basic sense, all weapons are 'dangerous' because they are designed for the purpose of bodily assault or defense" and, as mentioned above, they concluded "switchblades are not 'dangerous and unusual' weapons falling outside the protection of the Second Amendment."

So, switchblade knives join stun guns and most firearms as weapons that Massachusetts can't outright ban. But you might expect the state's rules-happy lawmakers to try their hands at some restrictions. Note, too, that the rest of the verbiage in the affected law remains in place for now, including restrictions on many guns, knives, blowguns, blackjacks, nunchaku, brass knuckles, shuriken, and even—I kid you not—studded leather armbands. Massachusetts didn't stop being Massachusetts, it just improved a tad with this decision.

"We commend the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court for its level-headed application of the law," commented Jan Billeb, executive director of the American Knife and Tool Institute (AKTI). "The ruling strengthens our position for advocating for legal ownership of automatic knives in all 50 states."

AKTI, which favors abolishing knife restrictions across the country, maintains a guide to which states do and don't restrict automatic knives, as well as a broader directory of state knife laws. These can rival firearms laws in complication, so they're worth referencing—especially if you're traveling.

Knife Rights, which also advocates for freedom when it comes to bladed tools, similarly hailed the decision. "It is extremely gratifying to see this switchblade ban struck down on Second Amendment grounds in one of the most notoriously anti-Second Amendment states," said Knife Rights Chairman Doug Ritter.

Still Work To Be Done

But Knife Rights emphasized that the Massachusetts decision stands in contrast to a recent federal court decision from California which concluded, oddly, that switchblades "are not bearable arms protected by the Second Amendment." Knife Rights plans to appeal the decision as it challenges California restrictions.

That means there's still work to be done. But as a longtime fan of all things sharp and pointy, I see the Massachusetts decision, with its solid reasoning, as a step in the direction of more freedom, Besides, I'm Italian-American, and who else do you expect to bring a knife to a gun fight?

But Canjura isn't just a victory for people who fancy automatic knives. Building on language from Heller, standards set by Bruen, and precedent in Ramirez, the court in Massachusetts acknowledged that Americans have a right to own and carry arms, whatever forms they may take now and in the future. The Second Amendment doesn't protect guns; it protects the human right to self-defense.