Fifth Circuit Strikes Down Federal Interstate Switchblade Ban

The Fifth Circuit ruled that the Federal Switchblade Act’s interstate-commerce ban on manufacturing, transporting and distributing switchblades violates the Second Amendment. Applying the Supreme Court’s history-and-tradition test, the unanimous panel held that switchblades qualify as protected arms and that the government failed to show founding-era analogues for the law’s restrictions on their manufacture and commerce. The decision reverses the dismissal of the challenge to the act’s core provision, while leaving in place the dismissal of a separate challenge to restrictions in certain federal jurisdictions, such as military bases and prisons. The case returns to a Texas district court for further proceedings.