This article appeared in Knife Magazine in May 2024
Know Your Knife Laws – Knife Rights v. Philadelphia
By Anthony Sculimbrene, Attorney and Knife Expert
In July of 2023, Knife Rights, on behalf of two plaintiffs, struck a blow in favor of the Second Amendment and knife owners in the city of Philadelphia. The case, Knife Rights v. City of Philadelphia et al., shows how Bruen litigation might work elsewhere. To recap, in NYSRPA v. Bruen, the US Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment conveys an individual right to carry a weapon outside the home and that in order to curtail that right, the State must show that the law has some historical antecedent. Post Bruen, cases have been all over the place, legally speaking. Last month, we looked at a Hawaii case that got around Bruen’s ban. We have also looked at challenges in other states where the issue was litigated and decided in favor of or against the knife or gun owner. This month’s case is something unique.
This case deals with a city ordinance, namely an ordinance in the city of Philadelphia. The ordinance states: “No person shall use or possess any cutting weapon upon the public streets or upon any public property at any time.” Philadelphia Code sec. 10-820(2). Obviously, this ordinance is exceptionally broad. Compounding this problem was the penalty for violating the ordinance–”[t]he penalty for violation…shall be a fine of not less than three ($300) and imprisonment of not less than ninety days.” Philadelphia Code sec. 10-820(3). This means that an electrician going to a job in city limits MUST serve 90 days in jail for carrying a utility knife in his pocket while walking to and from his vehicle and the work site. This law is one of the most draconian in the country. The two plaintiffs, backed by Knife Rights, sued the city under 42 USC 1983. This law allows citizens of states to sue state and local governments when those government actors violate their federal constitutional rights. In this case, the plaintiffs pointed to their Second Amendment rights under Bruen and noted that the Philadelphia ordinance violates their rights. Thus far, this is like any other case, post-Bruen: private citizens claim a violation, sue the government, and the court decides.
But the city of Philadelphia and the other defendants (including the head of the police commission, ironically named Danielle Outlaw) did something different and, as far as I can tell, unique. They agreed to not enforce the law. After that, they entered into an agreement with the plaintiffs whereby the claims under 1983 were withdrawn, AND the city agreed that 10-820(2) was unenforceable. In July of 2023, the federal judge approved the agreement, and the matter was closed.
The entire matter took less than three months to resolve (the complaint was filed on May 8, 2023, and the order endorsing the agreement between the parties was issued on July 31, 2023). No other post-Bruen case has been as quick as this one. And there are a few possible explanations. First, 1983 cases generally result in the awarding of legal fees. In fact, in this case, part of the agreement was the payment of $10,000 in Knife Rights legal fees. If the city of Philadelphia decided to fight this and they lost the legal fees could have been staggering. Given how bad the law is and how strong Bruen is on this exact point, a fight would likely have gone poorly for the city. Second, this case was decided before the Hawaii Supreme Court outlined an alternative path based on state law. Third, unlike other instances in which the court actually ruled on the legal issue, this case ended in agreement. It is possible that the city of Philadelphia could, under a different regime, back out of the agreement or try other methods to do the legal equivalent of blowing it up. Finally, this is a pretty narrow agreement. It does not, for example, bar police in Philadelphia from stopping people for carrying a knife. They can still do so under state law. It just bars them from charging people with a violation of this particular ordinance.
Knife Rights’ approach, in this case, was swift and great for knife owners. Philadelphia’s ordinance was truly one of the worst in the country. While a ruling of law from a court would have more force and be harder to overturn than an agreement between the parties, this is a good result and another option in the Bruen toolkit.
For more knife law analysis on Bruen and other issues, as well as reliable information on knife laws in all fifty states, check out other sections of our website. The American Knife & Tool Institute (AKTI) is committed to providing accurate information so knife owners can be confident in buying and carrying their knives and edged tools.