Knife Rights’ New York Gravity Knife Law Reform Bill Passes

Knife Rights’ New York Gravity Knife Law Reform Bill passed the Senate by a vote of 61-1. The identical Assembly version, A.5667A, was substituted for S.4769A and was the version passed.

We’d like to express our sincere appreciation to Senator Diane Savino for her extraordinary efforts and perseverance as the Senate sponsor that finally resulted in this bill being brought to the floor for a vote. Our Assembly sponsor, Assemblyman Dan Quart worked very hard to get this done. Thanks also to everyone who called and emailed Leader Flanagan. That was a huge help to Todd Rathner, Knife Rights Director of Legislative Affairs, who spent this week in Albany lobbying to get the vote done before the deadline. Finally a shout out to our good friends at the the Legal Aid Society and the NRA, whose lobbyists also worked very hard on this effort.

The bill previously passed in the Assembly by a vote of 128-1. The bill is now ready to be transmitted to Governor Cuomo. We will advise when the bill is transmitted, which may take some time. Only at that point will it be time to again call and email the Governor.

In response to the Governor’s objections to last year’s bill, this year’s bill removes “centrifugal force” from the definition of a gravity knife and adds “solely” to create a bright-line definition that even overzealous New York City law enforcement and prosecutors can understand, as desired by the Governor. It would preclude the unconstitutionally vague “wrist flick” test that has resulted in over 60,000 arrests and prosecutions in New York City which the Governor himself described as “absurd” in vetoing last year’s bill on New Year’s Eve.

Any true gravity knife, as the term is understood everywhere but in New York City, will still be prohibited by the “released from the handle or sheath thereof solely by the force of gravity” portion of the definition, but common folding knives could no longer be considered gravity knives.