So the Ninth Circuit held today (Teter v. Lopez), in an opinion by Judge Carlos Bea, joined by Judges Daniel Collins and Kenneth Lee.
The butterfly knife, also known as the "balisong," has a disputed origin. Some sources say it originated in France; others, the Philippines. It is anywhere from a few hundred to over a thousand years old. Regardless of its origin, the butterfly knife resembles an ordinary pocketknife, a tool that has been used by Americans since the early 18th century (at the very latest). See State v. Delgado (Or. 1984). Like a pocketknife, the butterfly knife comprises a handle and a folding blade, the cutting edge of which becomes covered by the handle when closed. Unlike a pocketknife, however, the butterfly knife's handle is split into two components. Together, these two components fully encase the blade when closed and rotate in opposite directions to open. With a few short, quick movements, an experienced user can open a butterfly knife with one hand….
[J]ust as with firearms in Heller, bladed weapons facially constitute "arms" within the meaning of the Second Amendment. Like firearms, bladed weapons fit the general definition of "arms" as "[w]eapons of offence" that may be "use[d] in wrath to cast at or strike another." Moreover, contemporaneous sources confirm that, at the time of the adoption of the Second Amendment, the term "arms" was understood as generally extending to bladed weapons. See 1 Malachy Postlethwayt, The Universal Dictionary of Trade and Commerce (4th ed. 1774) (including among "arms" fascines, halberds, javelins, pikes, and swords). Because the plain text of the Second Amendment includes bladed weapons and, by necessity, butterfly knives, the Constitution "presumptively guarantees" keeping and bearing such instruments "for self-defense." …
Read the whole opinion for more. Alan Beck and Stephen Stamboulieh represent plaintiffs.
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