The Supreme Court of Washington has again signaled it will sustain legislation allowing governments to restrict the possession of weapons. This decision came from a case that tested a City of Seattle ban against carrying a concealed weapon. The Supreme Court ruled that since the Constitution does not prohibit government from doing so, the city had the right to enact the ban and a citizen’s Constitutional right to bear arms did not overcome it.
Wayne Anthony Evans was arrested because he was carrying a sheathed kitchen knife in his pocket when a Seattle police officer pulled him over in February 2010. Evans had been speeding and when asked, told the officer he had the knife in his pocket.
The City of Seattle charged Evans under a city ordinance declaring it illegal for anyone to “carry concealed or unconcealed … any dangerous knife.” The ban included any fixed-blade knife and any knife having a blade longer than 3 ½ inches.
Evans was convicted of the misdemeanor following a jury trial. He appealed the conviction, claiming the city ordinance violated his Constitutional rights.
Justice Charles Wiggins wrote the opinion and said neither the State Constitution nor the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution block the city from enacting a law against carrying knives. The majority found that kitchen knives don’t qualify as “arms.” Wiggins said in the opinion that a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling against local government gun restrictions doesn’t extend constitutional protections to small knives. Therefore, there is no constitutional right to carry a knife.
Dissenting from the majority, Justice Fairhurst described Evans as a “law-abiding citizen carrying a fixed-blade knife for self-defense.” In her view, the type of knife wasn’t important because it was clear Evans was carrying to defend himself. “The right to self-defense is central to the Second Amendment,” Fairhurst said.
By framing the problem as to whether or not the Constitution prohibits the city from making such a rule, the court has said that government rights trump citizen’s right. There is no right to carry a knife for self-defense, but there is a right to carry a gun for the same purpose. I guess the message is clear. Take the gun for self-protection. Leave the knives at home.