Knifed by the Judiciary
By Dan Gelernter
I was looking around on the internet yesterday, shopping for a new knife. I usually carry a folder on my person – chalk it up to a general interest in pointed objects.
After settling on a knife I wanted to buy, I switched over to perusing the Connecticut knife laws. My question: would this 3.5” blade be illegal? The answer: maybe.
Section 53-206 of General Statute 53a-2 prohibits the carrying of dangerous or deadly weapons, among those enumerated, “any knife the edged portion of the blade of which is four inches or over in length.” And so the legislature has given me a clear answer. My knife is okay.
But wait! In 1987, in the case of STATE v. HOLLOWAY, 11 Conn. App. 665, a man was prosecuted by the state for using a 3.5” blade in self defense. Cassius Holloway moved to dismiss the charge of carrying a dangerous weapon brought against him by the state, pointing out that his 3.5” knife was below the 4” limit. A trial court denied this motion; part of the decision reads, “The blade of the knife in question does not make it per se a dangerous instrument; it all depends on the use or attempted use of the knife in question.” The court decided that any knife of any length can become a “dangerous” weapon if it happens to be used to stab someone, even in self-defense.
And so once again the judiciary was legislating while nobody was watching: following the precedent of the case above, I can’t carry a knife of any length if I intend to use it protect myself. If I use it in self-defense, it becomes a dangerous weapon and I can be prosecuted. Until now, the only prosecutions appear to have been against possessors of 3.5” blades. But what about the 3” blade I carry? The judiciary has decided that when the legislature said ‘no longer than four inches’ the lawmakers didn’t mean anything, and so there’s nothing to keep me safe.
You might well say, “You don’t need a 3.5” knife anyway. And three-inchers appear to be ok, so don’t worry about it.” Of course I don’t need a 3.5” inch knife. I don’t need an SUV either. I don’t even need a computer in my room. But the purpose of the legislature in a free country is not to tell the people what they need. And the purpose of the judiciary in a free country is not to tell the people anything.
And so for now I have my 3-inch knife. If someone attacks me at midnight on some street corner, I can protect myself from him. But what is there to protect me from the state?
Nothing.
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Reader Comments (4)
From what you've said, you can carry any knife whose blade is 3.5in or less. But once you use the knife to stab someone (read: defend yourself), it becomes a dangerous weapon and is henceforth illegal. The judiciary's interpreation, then, seems not to outlaw dangerous weapons, but self-defense.
This is why I live in the midwest.