Fifth Circuit Declares Federal Switchblade Ban Unconstitutional Under Second Amendment

In a decision released yesterday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, with Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod authoring the opinion and joined by Judges Don Willett and Cory Wilson, declared the Federal Switchblade Act unconstitutional. Applying the Bruen framework, the judges determined that switchblade knives qualify as “arms” within the plain text of the Second Amendment and that the statute’s prohibitions on introducing, manufacturing, transporting, or distributing such knives do not meet the required historical-tradition analysis.

Historical evidence showed knives, including early spring-blade models, have been used for defense since the colonial era and remain common today for utility and recreation. The government’s reliance on nineteenth-century regulations of concealable weapons failed to provide a comparable precedent for the modern ban. Consequently, the court invalidated the ban. The plaintiffs were represented by John William Dillon of Dillon Law Group, Richard Brent Cooper of Cooper & Scully, and Daniel Schmutter of Hartman & Winnicki.