Knife Rights Files Appeal in New York City Lawsuit

Deadly Knife Blades
Prohibited Knives
KnifeRights.org
KnifeRights.org

Gilbert, AZ –-(Ammoland.com)- 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.

About Knife Rights
Knife Rights is America’s grassroots knife owners organization, aggressively fighting for a Sharper Future™ for all knife owners. Knife Rights is dedicated to providing knife owners an effective voice to influence public policy. In the past four years, Knife Rights has passed pro-knife legislation in 11 states and prevented anti-knife legislation in four states. Knife Rights is also the lead plaintiff in a federal civil rights lawsuit against New York City and the Manhattan District Attorney over their persecution of knife owners

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Jim Maloney

As pointed out early on in Appellants’ brief, “the District Court dismissed this action because Plaintiffs did not identify in their Complaint specifically which models of knives are at issue. But the inability to identify which knives are prohibited or permitted is precisely the problem complained of in the action. Defendants’ enforcement of the law is void for vagueness precisely because no one can identify which knives are problematic and which are not. Requiring Plaintiffs to name specific knives in order to have standing, in a case about the inability to know what is prohibited or permitted, turns the very… Read more »

James

Looks like the Judge is confused and stuck in a mobious loop.

If one is arrested, then they should have standing because the knife in question would now be entered as evidence at criminal trial, right?