This article appeared in Knife Magazine in June 2025
Know Your Knife Laws – Federal Legislative Efforts
By Anthony Sculimbrene, Attorney and Knife Expert
When the new administration was sworn in on January 20, 2025, we had a very rare alignment of political forces–one party controlled the White House, the House of Representatives, and the Senate. This alone is rare. There have been 21 instances in the country’s history of single-party control of the elected branches of government.
What makes this even more unusual is that in addition to this, Republicans currently have a supermajority on the Supreme Court in terms of justices who are ideologically aligned with the Republican agenda. It is very difficult to figure out how many times this has occurred in US history because the Supreme Court used to be quite apolitical, but now it is clearly political and ideologically committed to the Republican agenda. In true infomercial fashion, but wait…there is more.
I have covered Bruen and its progeny here at length, but suffice it to say that the alignment of political forces could not have come at a better time for legal reforms around the Second Amendment and the right to carry. When even Massachusetts, probably the most liberal or second-most liberal state in the US, recognizes the importance of Bruen, the winds of change are definitely blowing.
This is all against a background of pretty unfavorable outcomes in civil cases. Knife Rights v. Garland did absolutely nothing to forward the civil issues. Similarly, Hawaiian litigation resulted in state law changes designed specifically to foil pending civil litigation. Both cases show that forcing changes to laws via the courts is a fraught and difficult path, even with Bruen being the law of the land.
There are two major legislative pushes underway right now, spearheaded by the American Knife & Tool Institute (AKTI). First, there is an effort to pass a federal law that would allow for easier and less risky for knife owners to carry while traveling between states. It will protect individuals from the confusing array of state and local knife laws. This law, known as ITA (Interstate Transport Act), has been floating around for years, but the confluence of political and legal changes gives it a real chance of passing. It has bipartisan support and, in previous years, passed the Senate unanimously. The bill has passed the Senate committee and is waiting for a vote.
Another effort, the most important legal change in knife laws, is also afoot. AKTI is also working on eliminating the FSA (Federal Switchblade Act). These two changes would be seismic shifts in the law that would benefit both knife owners and knife makers.
ITA is based on a similar law that exists for firearms. The idea is simple–if the knife is legal in the starting state and the ending state in a journey AND the knife is inaccessible during the journey, then possession of that knife during transport is lawful, even if you pass through a state where the knife is illegal. For folks from Texas or California, where states are huge, this isn’t much of an issue, but in New England, you can drive 60 miles and pass through three states. My route on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving often involves travel through four states, one very restrictive (Massachusetts) and one as pro-2A as possible (New Hampshire). ITA would eliminate the need to do legal research before going to Thanksgiving. Importantly, as mentioned before, a federal law for firearms works similarly, and there have been no real issues since its passage.
The repeal of the FSA is even more important (and would, in some places, make journeys less onerous). For years, advocates have tried, in vain, to eliminate the FSA via the courts. It hasn’t worked, for obvious reasons–courts don’t make or repeal laws. But, with a combination of favorable political conditions and strong rulings in criminal cases, the FSA’s time should come to an end. Critically, there is a reason for both Republicans (the Second Amendment) and Democrats (pretextual police stops based on knives, like in Freddy Gray’s case) to support the FSA repeal. (Check out our February 2025 article in Knife Magazine, “Why Even Liberals Should Hate the FSA.”)
Given our unprecedented times and court setbacks in civil suits, legislative efforts are needed to give knife owners and knife makers the freedom to carry tools that the Constitution has always protected.
You can learn more about ITA and AKTI’s legislative approach to advocate for reasonable knife laws built on a foundation of consensus. Be sure to read the article “AKTI Continues to Advocate at the Federal Level.”
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