As you all know, we here at the Law Offices love to stay up to date on law passages and interesting laws that are already in place. This week was no exception. We stumbled upon an interesting law here in one of the law journals that we received regarding switchblade usage by those missing arms.  According to the Federal law, “it is illegal to make, sell, distribute, or possess a switchblade under federal law except for soldiers or people with only one arm”.  This law therefore states, that anyone who is missing an arm may in fact legally carry switchblades which are otherwise banned as they are considered dangerous weapons. It is otherwise illegal for any person with two arms (or no arms for that matter) to carry such a weapon unless they are a soldier.

The law stems from the idea that it is difficult for one-armed persons to operate knives that have regular clasps. This law allows persons missing an arm to be able to have protection using a switchblade which only requires one hand to operate.  The law was proposed in Maine after a lawyer missing an arm who lived in the district suggested this law be put in place. The lawyer wanted to have the same rights as other two- armed Americans had regarding possessing knives in order for protection.  Switchblades allow a person with one arm immediate access to the knife where using any other clasped knife would require persons missing arms to use their teeth to operate.  The switchblade also must be three inches or less in length for it to be legal to carry by persons with only one arm.  The current penalty for being in possession of or distributing switchblades by a two-armed person would be a fine of $2,000 or imprisonment of 5 years.

As always, if you have any questions regarding this law or any other don’t hesitate to contact us here at the law offices and one of our skilled attorneys will be happy to assist.