Second Amendment scholar David Kopel, author with Clayton Cramer and Joe Olson of the legal review article Knives and the Second Amendment, just posted his analysis of "The legal history of bans on firearms and Bowie knives before 1900" which can be read in full on The Volokh Conspiracy. By reviewing this history, it is possible to determine if the Bowie knife's legal history should have any impact on Second Amendment cases after Bruen. A companion to that article is, "Bowie knife statutes 1837-1899," which describes and analyzes nineteenth century state statutes on Bowie knives.
Kopel notes, "Whatever 19th century handgun laws teach about permissible limits on the right to arms, the Bowie knife laws go no further. Because Bowie knives are so often in pari materia (of the same matter) with 19th-century handgun regulations that they add little if anything to the very thin base of historical precedents for prohibitions on common arms.
The legal history of Bowie knives reinforces the U.S. Supreme Court's history-based holdings about permissible handgun regulation. Bowie knives were not some extraordinary category for which regulation was more severe than handgun control was typical for handgun control."
Thus, the Maryland AG's argument citing a Bowie Knife ban fails to cut it, big time, but we appreciate his acknowledgment that knives are "arms" under the Second Amendment. And, our sincere thanks to Kopel for his scholarship.
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