美国一家联邦上诉法院裁定：一项禁止制造弹簧刀并将其在州际间销售或分销的法律，侵犯了美国宪法第二修正案所赋予的公民持有和携带武器的权利。
A US law that bans the manufacturing of switchblades for sale or distribution across state lines violates the right to keep and bear arms under the US Constitution's Second Amendment, a federal appeals court ruled.
总部位于新奥尔良的第五巡回上诉法院在周三晚间的裁决中表示，2022年美国最高法院作出的那项具有里程碑意义的裁决（该裁决要求现代枪支管制措施必须符合美国关于武器管理的历史与传统）同样适用于《联邦弹簧刀法》所管辖的各类带刃武器。
The New Orleans-based 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals in a ruling late on Wednesday said a landmark 2022 US Supreme Court decision requiring modern gun restrictions to be consistent with the nation's history and tradition of arms regulation also applied to bladed weapons covered by the Federal Switchblade Act.
第五巡回上诉法院的法官詹妮弗·沃克·埃尔罗德在裁决中指出：国会于1958年通过这项法律时，当时社会正笼罩在青少年犯罪问题的恐慌之中，其目的是将这些可以自动弹出的折叠刀置于青少年无法获取的范围内。然而埃尔罗德认为，这项禁令与美国在18世纪建国初期对这类武器使用的管理方式存在矛盾。
US Circuit Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod wrote in the decision that Congress adopted that law in 1958 during a period of "hysteria" surrounding juvenile delinquency, with the goal of keeping such spring-release pocketknives out of the reach of teenagers. But Elrod said the ban was inconsistent with how the nation at its founding in the 18th century had regulated the use of such weapons.
埃尔罗德写道：“纵观人类历史，刀具一直被用于自卫——包括在美国建国时期也是如此。”她进一步指出，弹簧刀也不例外。她还指出，美国司法部在为这项法律辩护时，未能提供任何类似该联邦禁令的历史依据；她认为弹簧刀属于“武器”，而根据宪法第二修正案，公民有权为自卫而持有这类武器。作出该裁决的五名第五巡回上诉法院法官均由共和党总统任命。
"Knives have been used for defense throughout human history, including the American founding," Elrod wrote. Elrod said switchblades were no exception. Elrod said the US Justice Department, in defending the law in the case, had failed to point to any historical statute similar to the federal ban on switchblades, weapons that she said constitute "arms" that people have a right under the Second Amendment to possess for self-defense. The three 5th Circuit judges who issued the ruling all were appointed by Republican presidents.
这一裁决标志着倡导组织“Knife Rights”的胜利。该组织与另外五名个人及两家枪支零售商一起，曾对德克萨斯州一名初审法官驳回他们对该法律提出的法律挑战的裁决提出上诉。
The ruling marked a victory for the advocacy group Knife Rights, which along with five individuals and two firearms retailers had appealed a trial judge's ruling rejecting a legal challenge to the law they brought in Texas. Knife Rights said in a statement that the ruling recognized what it has argued for years.
“Knife Rights”在一份声明中表示：“这一裁决证实了我们多年来一直坚持的观点：宪法第二修正案保护的是所有武器，而不仅仅是枪支；这种保护同样适用于那些被广泛使用的、能够自动打开的刀具。”
"The Second Amendment protects knives, not just firearms, and that protection extends to commonly possessed automatically opening knives," it said.
虽然第五巡回上诉法院推翻了《联邦弹簧刀法》的核心条款，但法院同时认定原告无法对其中另一项限制在美国领土及部落土地上制造、销售和持有弹簧刀的条款提出有效质疑。美国司法部在周四并未立即回应相关评论请求。
While the 5th Circuit struck down the core part of the Federal Switchblade Act, it concluded that the plaintiffs could not mount a challenge to a separate provision that restricts the manufacturing, sale and possession of the knives in US territories and on tribal land. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
在唐纳德·特朗普执政期间，该部门曾多次对那些被认定为违反《美国宪法第二修正案》的枪支法律提出质疑；然而对于《联邦弹簧刀法》，司法部却表示支持，称该法律“符合对危险及特殊类型武器进行监管的传统”。
While the department under Republican President Donald Trump has actively challenged numerous gun laws it says violate the Second Amendment, it defended the switchblade law, saying it "fits within the tradition of regulating dangerous and unusual weapons."