Knife Rights v. Vance

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Cuomo Capitulates In New York And Signs Gravity Knife Bill

May 31, 2019 by

The third time is obviously the charm. Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) signed AB 5944 which removed the vague term “gravity knife” from the Penal Code. Cuomo had vetoed two previous passed bills which would have changed the law. He signed this bill in the face of both Federal court rulings and the realization that the Supreme Court probably would have changed the law anyway.

From his signing message:

As I review this bill for a third time, the legal landscape has changed. In March of this
year, the United States District Court for the Southern District ofNew York declared the State’s
existing “gravity knife” ban unconstitutional. As argued by many who have advocated for this
change in law, the court reasoned that the existing law could result in arbitrary and
discriminatory enforcement.


While I remain aware of the cautious community voices, I cannot veto a bill passed by
the Legislature to address a decided constitutional infmnity in existing law, as recently affirmed
by a federal court. I remain confident that our law enforcement community will continue to keep
our communities safe by pursuing anyone who uses, or attempts to use, one of these knives in an
unlawful manner.

This is a huge win for Knife Rights who have been fighting in both the courts and in the New York State Assembly and Senate to rectify the injustices caused by the prior knife law. It is also a big loss for New York District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. who used the Penal Code to charge way too many honest people with violations of the gravity knife ban and who also used it to shake down a number of businesses.

Knife Rights was assisted in this battle by the New York Legal Aid Society whom they recognized in their statement below. Knife Rights is still warning people to be careful carrying a knife in NYC.

Nine years of hard work and effort, including eight years of
costly Federal litigation and the threat of losing big time at the U.S.
Supreme Court (see below), has finally convinced New York Governor
Andrew Cuomo to sign A5944,
repealing the state’s bans on Gravity Knives. Cuomo previously vetoed
two similar bills which Knife Rights Director of Legislative Affairs,
Todd Rathner, also worked on tirelessly in Albany.

Although the
bill leaves the definition of a gravity knife intact, the statutory
repeals make the knives legal, stripping New York City and District
Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. of their ability to continue to abuse the
definition of a gravity knife and continue to arrest and prosecute
people by claiming a common lock blade folding knife or utility knife is
an illegal gravity knife

The repeal is effective immediately.

Knife Rights Chairman Doug Ritter said, “After nine years fighting, it
is a relief to close the book on this extraordinary abuse of authority
by a corrupt system that has terrorized over 70,000 honest, law-abiding
people, disproportionately minorities, for simply carrying a common tool
used daily in their lives. I am thrilled that we and our partners
across the political spectrum in this fight have finally prevailed, but
it is a sad commentary on the state of politics and justice in New York
State, New York City and at the Second Circuit that it took this long
and that tens of thousands of innocent folks had to suffer so much for
so long.”

“This is a big win for Knife Rights, the people of New
York, and for the sponsors who tenaciously fought to get these
injustices stopped. I am very proud to have worked with them on the
ground in Albany as we fought so long to get this done,” said Rathner.
Knife Rights congratulates our longtime legislative allies in this
effort, sponsors Assemblymember Dan Quart and Senator Diane Savino, as
well as Senator Robert Jackson, for gaining unanimous approval of this
bill this time around and for helping to assemble the coalition of
diverse organizations and politicians who urged Cuomo to sign the bill
after two previous vetoes of similar overwhelmingly passed bills.

“No stage hand, no plumber, no maintenance worker, no office worker, no
New Yorker should have to risk their freedom to carry a tool because of
a vaguely worded 1950’s era statute,” said Assemblymember Dan Quart.
“I’m proud to have been a part of this unlikely and diverse coalition
that included public defenders, union members, criminal justice reform
advocates and Knife Rights. Knife Rights’ tenacious 9-year fight in
Federal court against this unjust and unconstitutional enforcement
scheme proved an important element in this struggle.”

We are very thankful for the support of our friends at The Legal Aid Society who have been on the front lines in this fight.

Legal Aid Society’s Martin LaFalce said, “Repealing New York’s gravity
knife statute has been a team effort with Legal Aid and Knife Rights
partnering to lead the charge. Governor Cuomo’s signature was clearly
influenced by Knife Rights determined litigation strategy and
partnership with Legal Aid. Together we exposed the wrist flick test as
constitutionally absurd and NYPD’s enforcement of the statute flagrantly
discriminatory.”

We’d also like to credit journalist Jon Campbell whose series of articles starting in 2014 in the Village Voice
publicized these abuses and helped immeasurably to catalyze public
support for a solution. Also credit to VICE News who more recently highlighted this issue and Knife Rights’ efforts to solve it to a broad audience, further arousing opposition to this abuse.

Unfortunately,
this is unlikely to be the end of knife owners being harassed by the
New York Police Department.  READ OUR WARNINGS BELOW on why knife owners
in New York and especially in New York City need to still be careful
about what knife they carry going forward and how they carry it in NYC.


Cuomo’s action on this bill came as briefing was completed in Knife Rights’ appeal of its federal civil rights case on these gravity knife arrests to the Supreme Court of the United States. With a strong case including a 4 to 1 circuit split against the Second Circuit on an important constitutional issue, three strong amicus briefs from across the political spectrum and, just recently, feeble and obfuscatory opposition briefs from NYC and DA, the possibility of Knife Rights’ case being heard increased significantly.

A conference to decide whether to take up this case is currently scheduled for June 13th.
A decision in favor of the plaintiffs against the City and DA Vance in
our case would make it much harder for the Second Circuit to abuse the
issue of vagueness, as they have in our case, to make other cases
opposed by these politicians go away, again, as they have also done
previously. That possibility was so concerning that even DA Vance, who
previously steadfastly opposed any reasonable solution and who is a
close confidant of Gov. Cuomo, reversed his prior opposition to the
Governor signing any bill that would stop his abuse.

As cited in the Governor’s signing statement, it didn’t hurt that in another case recently a Federal Judge in New York issued a very narrow ruling saying that the City’s “wrist
flick” test was, indeed, unconstitutional, although in limited
circumstances that did not substantially impact the ability of the City
and DA to continue the arrests and prosecutions. That case relied
heavily on the briefs in our case. But, despite its serious limitations
and the fact that NYC and Vance were working around it, that decision
provided some public cover for Cuomo and Vance without revealing their
real fear, losing at the Supreme Court in our case. They hope the
signing of this bill will moot our case.

Even better for Vance,
if they don’t lose to us in court, Vance won’t be forced to pay our
million dollar legal bills for eight years of Federal litigation, which
he’d consider doubly painful on top of the embarrassing loss he’s
facing. (This is also painfully illustrative, by the way, as to why we
oppose the Interstate Transport Act (S.542) in the U.S. Senate because
is leaves individuals and other open to similar financial abuse while
providing the appearance of solving a problem that it does not
adequately accomplish.)

NOTE: The repeal also applies to true gravity knives, such as the German Paratrooper Knife that we demonstrated in Federal Court. Please note the WARNING below as to New York City.
In particular, some of these aforementioned true gravity knives have
blades that are 4-inches or longer and would not be legal in NYC.

WARNING! 
New York City Administrative Code still has an Under-4-inch Length
Limit and requires knives be carried COMPLETELY concealed.
Knife Rights recommends that you never carry your knife clipped to your pocket in New York City.
If you plan to carry a folding knife in New York City, we suggest that
if it has a pocket clip, you should remove it so you don’t inadvertently
clip it to your pocket after use. Even when covered by a jacket, simply
moving the jacket aside to get to a wallet has been enough to get folks
stopped. Always ensure your knife is completely concealed at all times,
including not “printing” on the outside of your clothing. In addition,
be extremely circumspect about using a knife for any purpose in a public
setting. Knife Rights suggests that you never carry a knife with a 4-inch or longer blade in NYC.


NOTE:
While there is nothing in the Administrative Code compelling or
allowing seizure of the knife in question, invariably the knife will be
taken by the officer and chances of it being returned are very low. In
cases where it has been returned is has taken months of effort and often
use of an attorney. Knife Rights  recommends that you never carry a
valuable knife in NYC or one you would not want to lose.  Knife Rights
strongly suggests that you not resist the officer seizing your knife as
that can lead to more serious legal complications.

For more information on New York City’s Administrative Code with regards to knives: https://kniferights.org/legislative-update/new-york-city-administrative-code-knives/
For more information on what to do when stopped or arrested: https://kniferights.org/if-arrested/
WARNING: Assisted-Opening Knives may be considered illegal Switchblade Knives in New York State.

On June 10, 2018, the highest court in New York State upheld the conviction of an individual in possession of an assisted-opening (spring-assisted) folding knife that
he used in his work under the theory that it was an illegal switchblade
knife under New York law. Essentially, this decision redefined what a
switchblade is under New York State law to include assisted opening
(spring-assisted) knives. This decision applies to the entire state, not
just New York City.  The New York Police Department and DA Vance have
since been prosecuting those caught with assisted-opening knives as
having illegal switchblades. Knife Rights recommends that you do not carry an assisted-opening knife in New York. 

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Knife Rights Will Appeal NY “Gravity Knife” Case To SCOTUS

November 5, 2018 by

Knife Rights has announced that they will appeal their long-running case against New York over the definition of gravity knives to the Supreme Court. The case centers around common folding knives that have been the target of enforcement by the NYPD and the Manhattan District Attorney. The victims of this unjust definition have usually been trades people and minorities.

From Knife Rights on their plan to appeal:

Knife Rights’ NYC Gravity Knife Case Appeal Headed To U.S. Supreme Court

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
gravity knife 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 consider a year-end TAX-DEDUCTIBLE donation to Knife Rights to support our efforts at the Supreme Court.  Donate at:  www.kniferights.org/donate/foundation

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VICE News On Doug Ritter And Knife Rights

March 20, 2018 by 1 Comment

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I stumbled across this short video yesterday on Reddit. It is an episode of HBO’s VICE News that features Doug Ritter and Knife Rights. It is surprisingly well done and even more surprisingly pro-knife. VICE News talks about the founding of Knife Rights, their success in many states, and then concentrates on the problems with New York City’s “gravity knife” law.

One aspect that is brought out is that the fight against unjust laws can have unlikely allies. As an attorney with  NYC’s Legal Aid Society put it, he never thought “in a million years that he’d be working with a Second Amendment group on a criminal justice issue.”

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Some Good News On Knife Rights In New York

June 16, 2016 by

There may be some hope for New York yet. The State Senate just passed the Knife Rights sponsored bill that stops New York City’s switchblade and gravity knife arrests by a vote of 61-0! The State Assembly had previously passed the bill by a vote of 99-12. The bill now goes to Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) for his signature.

From Knife Rights:

NY Senate Passes Bill to Stop Bogus NYC Gravity Knife Arrests
Next to Governor Cuomo  



Knife Rights’ Gravity Knife and Switchblade Reform Bill, S6483-A/A9042-A,
passed the New York Senate today on a unanimous vote of 61-0. Knife
Rights’ Director of Legislative affairs, Todd Rathner, has spent many
weeks on the ground in Albany this session working closely with our
friends there to shepherd this bill through politically treacherous
territory. All that extraordinary personal attention has paid off with
this unanimous vote. The Assembly previously passed this bill 99-12. 



However, it is not over yet. S6483-A/A9042-A still needs to be
signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo. The Governor will not officially
receive the bill for his consideration until it is transmitted.
Transmission of the bill could take a few weeks, so please be patient
with the process. When the time is ripe, we’ll ask for your help, but
until then there’s no benefit to contacting the Governor about this
bill.


Knife Rights would like to thank the following people who
played a key role in helping to get this legislation through the
legislature. Assembly Member Dan Quart (D) our primary sponsor in the
Assembly, Senator Diane Savino (D) our primary sponsor in the Senate,
Senator Michael Nozzolio (R) who made passing this bill a priority this
session and Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan (R) whose staff worked
closely with us to get the bill to the floor for a final vote.

Knife Rights would also like to acknowledge the invaluable
assistance and support of The Legal Aid Society of New York, as well as
the many other organizations that supported this bill. We’d also like to
thank all of you who called or emailed Leader Flannigan asking for a
vote on this bill. Your calls and emails make a difference.

S6483-A/A9042-A add clarifying bias-toward closure exclusions
to the state switchblade and gravity knife definitions, similar to that
included in the revision to the Federal Switchblade Act that Knife
Rights helped pass in 2009. This clarifying exclusion should prevent the
bogus Gravity Knife arrests and prosecutions of honest law-abiding
individuals in New York City who are carrying common folding knives,
tools that are legal to carry everywhere else in the U.S.

Neither Gravity Knives nor Switchblades have a bias towards
closure found in common folding knives to keep the blade safely closed
in the pocket. Only in New York City has the NYPD and District Attorney
Cyrus Vance, Jr. abused the states’ gravity knife law to prosecute those
carrying simple pocket knives by claiming they are illegal Gravity
Knives.

The City’s Village Voice newspaper found two years ago that
there had been as many as 60,000 gravity-knife prosecutions over the
past decade! Hundreds of innocent pocket knife carriers are being
arrested every week! You can read the Village Voice article at: http://bit.ly/1MiJbvv

Knife Rights’ Federal Civil Rights lawsuit against New York City and
District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. over these unconstitutional arrests
and prosecutions continues with oral argument scheduled for tomorrow,
June 16, which will be just over five years since the lawsuit was filed.
The trial continues because until, and only if, Governor Cuomo signs
the bill does the case become moot. The public is welcome to attend the
oral argument, click here for more information about attending.

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A Win For Knife Rights In The Second Circuit

September 23, 2015 by

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals provided a win for knife rights and the Second Amendment yesterday. The case involved the suit that Knife Rights had filed in New York against DA Cyrus Vance, Jr. The judge in the District Court had dismissed that case in favor of the defendants saying that the plaintiffs did not have standing because they hadn’t identified specific knives. The Second Circuit disagreed in part and remanded the case back to the District Court for the Southern District of New York.

In a decision authored by US Appeals Court Judge Reena Raggi, the Second Circuit said the individual plaintiffs clearly showed that they had shown a threat of prosecution for intended conduct. Indeed, Native Leather, the business plaintiff, was under a deferred prosecution agreement with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Because of this, they had standing. However, she found that Knife Rights and the Knife Rights Foundation did not have standing to sue.

The Court concluded:

To summarize, we conclude as follows:

1. Plaintiffs Native Leather, Copeland, and Perez have standing to
challenge defendants’ application of N.Y. Penal Law §§ 265.00(5) and 265.01(1)
because each has expressed a present intent to possess such knives (but for
defendants’ challenged enforcement actions) and each has demonstrated a
credible threat of prosecution based on defendants’ (a) recent enforcement
actions against them, (b) express threat to prosecute Native Leather further
under the terms of a deferred prosecution agreement, and (c) continued defense
of the wrist‐flick test that allegedly prompted plaintiffs’ past violation charges.

2. Our precedent precludes Knife Rights and Knife Rights Foundation
from asserting standing on behalf of their members under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.  Nor
can these organizational plaintiffs demonstrate standing to sue on their own
behalf based on claimed injury to their activities from expenditures diverted to
oppose defendants’ actions.    Such past injuries cannot be redressed by the
declaratory and injunctive relief sought in this action, and plaintiffs fail to demonstrate that any future expenditures and attending injuries are certainly
impending.

3. The district court did not abuse its discretion in denying plaintiffs’
motion for leave to amend their complaint a second time to address defects in
standing.

Accordingly, the district court’s judgment of dismissal is AFFIRMED as to
Knife Rights and Knife Rights Foundation, and VACATED as to Native Leather,
Copeland, and Perez.   The case is REMANDED as to these three plaintiffs for
further proceedings consistent with this opinion.  

 Knife Rights was quite pleased with this ruling even if they were found not to have organizational standing in the case.

The reversed lower court previously found that the claims were not specific enough to proceed because they did not identify specific makes and models of folding knives at issue — even though the very inability to determine which knives would be arbitrarily deemed “illegal” is the basis of the lawsuit itself! The Second Circuit agreed that specific knives need not be identified for the case to proceed.

Knife Rights Chairman Doug Ritter said, “we are very pleased that we have overcome the absurd ruling of the lower court on ‘standing’ and can now proceed with the heart of the case itself — the unconstitutional manner in which the City and DA enforce the New York State’s gravity knife law to potentially demonize all folding knives.”

There have been over 60,000 “gravity knife” prosecutions in the City in the past 10 years, with the rate doubling recently. These prosecutions have focused almost exclusively on common locking-blade pocket knives, not actual historical paratrooper gravity knives which were the basis for the statute back in the 1950s. The so-called “wrist flick” test employed by the City and DA is a completely subjective test with immense variability and no knife owner can know can know with certainty whether or not his or her knife is legal at any point in time. This enforcement is unconstitutionally vague and must not continue.

Perhaps the lower court will finally see just how abusive the NYPD and DA Vance have been towards knife owners.

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From Knife Rights On Their NYC Case Appeal

May 19, 2014 by

Knife Rights has appealed their case challenging New York City’s knife laws for their vagueness to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. US District Court Judge Katherine Forrest had ruled against them saying that they hadn’t specified the knives in question and thus didn’t have standing to sue. Given that the whole point of the lawsuit was the very vagueness of what was or wasn’t a “gravity knife”, this ruling was more than a bit absurd.

From Knife Rights including a link to their appeal:

Last week, Knife Rights filed an appeal of a U.S. District Court’s absurd ruling in its ongoing Federal Civil Rights lawsuit against New York City and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. The 62-page legal brief can be viewed at: www.KnifeRights.org/Knife_Rights_Appeal_Brief.pdf

The lawsuit challenges the City’s practice of treating common folding knives as prohibited “gravity knives,” then arresting and prosecuting law-abiding knife owners and intimidating retailers into paying large cash “sanctions” to avoid prosecution. Under the City’s vague and subjective approach, it is impossible to know whether any particular knife will be treated as legal or prohibited.

Last Fall, U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest ruled that the case could not proceed because Knife Rights and three other plaintiffs (who were falsely arrested or threatened with arrest for possessing common folding knives) did not identify specific knives being wrongly classified in their complaint, and therefore lacked standing to sue. Requiring identification of specific prohibited knives, in a case about the inability to know what is prohibited or permitted, turns the very idea of this lawsuit on its head.

Judge Forrest then added insult to injury by refusing a request to let Knife Rights amend the complaint to attempt to comply with her requirement that specific knives be identified. Briefing on the appeal will continue for several months.

UPDATE: Second Amendment scholar and attorney David Kopel has a good write-up on the case in the Volokh Conspiracy. You can read it here.

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Knife Rights’ Lawsuit About Vague Definitions Tossed

September 27, 2013 by 2 Comments

Knife Rights and an assortment of individuals are suing Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. and the City of New York over its vague definition of what constitutes gravity and switchblade knives. The case, Knife Rights et al v. Cyrus Vance, Jr., et al, is being tried in US District Court for the Southern District of New York. On Wednesday, US District Court Judge Katherine Forrest, a 2011 appointee of President Obama, dismissed the case stating that the plaintiffs lacked standing because they had not identified what was legal or not legal in their complaint.

Excuse me, Judge Forrest, but duh! The whole point of the lawsuit was to force New York to define exactly what knives were legal or not legal under their definition. The District Attorney has already agreed that the same make and model of a knife could be found to be both legal or illegal. If that isn’t vague, what is?


Another aspect of this case is that Vance was shaking down knife retailers for money with an efficiency that would make Mafia dons envious. He collected over $2 million from retailers trying to avoid prosecution.

Knife Rights says they plan to appeal this ruling. Their response to the ruling is below.

A U.S. District Court Judge has ruled that persons falsely arrested or threatened with arrest have no standing to sue in Knife Rights’ Federal civil rights lawsuit against New York City and District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. Although every prior ruling in the case went our way under two previous judges, the case was recently reassigned to Obama appointee Katherine B. Forrest. Litigation always presents the risk that a judge (and especially a judge new to a case) will make an erroneous ruling.

On Wednesday the judge ruled that the plaintiffs in our case – who have been falsely arrested or threatened with arrest over common pocket knives – do not have standing to sue, in part because the case documents don’t identify specific knives that would be illegal under New York City’s interpretation of state law. The trouble is, it’s nearly impossible to identify them under New York City’s haphazard and inconsistent approach – which is the whole point of the case in the first place! Even the DA has admitted that different specimens of the exact same make and model knife could be simultaneously found to be both legal and illegal! Click to read the judge’s ruling.

So here we have a situation where we’re suing because we can’t know with certainty what’s legal or banned, yet the judge is saying we don’t have standing to sue precisely because we haven’t identified what’s legal or banned in our court papers. That’s simply absurd!

But even if the judge were correct – which she is not – she was required by well-established legal principles to allow us a chance to amend our papers to “correct” the supposed “defects.” Instead, she simply ignored these principles and declared the case over.

A similar situation arose in a recent lawsuit involving a U.S. District Judge in neighboring New Jersey. After straining to find supposed “defects” in the complaint that affected standing, the judge refused to allow the complaint to be amended to correct the “defects.” On appeal, the ruling was reversed and the appeals court criticized the judge, saying she had abused her discretion. The same thing could happen here.

But whatever happens, this ruling forces Knife Rights to spend more time and money to appeal the judge’s decision – all while Rome continues to burn. We still receive calls every week from innocent citizens whose lives have been turned upside down simply because they carried a basic tool, a pocket knife, in New York City. Thousands have been arrested on bogus illegal knife charges. In at least one instance of which we are aware, the result of the bogus arrest was that the victim’s entire knife collection was confiscated from his home. Gun owners have had their firearms confiscated based on bogus knife arrests.

We cannot let New York City succeed in its attempt to redefine “gravity knife” to include ordinary folding knives. This could become a model for other cities and jurisdictions across America, resulting in knife owners throughout the country being arrested for doing nothing wrong. We cannot let that happen! And, we will not!

Knife Rights is carefully planning its response to Judge Forrest’s ruling. We will never stop fighting for your rights, and neither should you. Please help us win this critical battle by contributing to Knife Rights Foundation’s Legal Fund today as generously as you can. We’ve led the fight to defend knife rights in the legislative arena and we are pioneering it in the courts. Please help us defend freedom!