Switchblade; selling or possessing. (SB758)

Introduced By

Sen. Todd E. Pillion (R-Abingdon) with support from co-patron Sen. Bryce Reeves (R-Spotsylvania)

Progress

Introduced
Passed Committee
Passed House
Passed Senate
Signed by Governor
Became Law

Description

Selling or possessing switchblade. Eliminates the prohibition for selling, bartering, giving, furnishing, or possessing with the intent of selling, bartering, giving, or furnishing a switchblade. Read the Bill »

Outcome

Bill Has Passed

History

DateAction
01/21/2022Presented and ordered printed 22103908D
01/21/2022Referred to Committee on the Judiciary
02/07/2022Impact statement from DPB (SB758)
02/09/2022Reported from Judiciary (13-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
02/10/2022Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
02/11/2022Read second time and engrossed
02/11/2022Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
02/11/2022Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
02/22/2022Placed on Calendar
02/22/2022Read first time
02/22/2022Referred to Committee on Public Safety
02/25/2022Reported from Public Safety (21-Y 1-N) (see vote tally)
03/01/2022Read second time
03/02/2022Read third time
03/02/2022Passed House (96-Y 3-N)
03/02/2022VOTE: Passage (96-Y 3-N) (see vote tally)
03/03/2022Enrolled
03/03/2022Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB758ER)
03/03/2022Signed by President
03/03/2022Signed by Speaker
03/04/2022G Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 10, 2022
03/04/2022Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 4, 2022
03/04/2022G Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 11, 2022
03/04/2022Impact statement from DPB (SB758ER)
03/11/2022G Approved by Governor-Chapter 27 (effective 7/1/22)
03/11/2022G Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0027)

Comments

Kevin Matthews writes:

This bill should be passed as I am a collector and cannot even order an automatic knife from Smokey Mountain Knife Works in Pigeon Forge,TN. Custom automatic knives are works of art sometimes using mammoth molar handles from the Woolly Mammoth from 10’s of thousands of years ago which go for thousands of dollars. Virginia is only 1 of 6 states still prohibiting the manufacture, sale and possession of automatic knives aka slang term of Switchblade.

We need to stop letting Hollywood and Gangs frighten us concerning automatic knives. One can open either a spring assist or a blade with a thumb stud just as fast. You can own a sword or boot knife but cannot own the scary switchblade. Where is the logic.

I would also like to point out current law infringes on our second amendment rights. The rights in the constitution come from God and have no limitations. If you can find footnotes in the 2nd Amendment limiting rights please show me. There are none listed.

Waldo Jaquith writes:

The rights in the constitution come from God and have no limitations. If you can find footnotes in the 2nd Amendment limiting rights please show me.

Oh, boy. I admire your interest in the constitution, but this isn't even a little bit true. Every right granted by the constitution has limitations.

For example, the First Amendment does not give people the right to slander others. Famously, it does not give people the right to falsely yell "fire" in a crowded theater. There are "time, place, and manner" restrictions. Those have all emerged from centuries of Supreme Court rulings. The Second Amendment likewise has many restrictions. You may not carry a grenade. You may not own a rocket launcher. You may not own a nuclear bomb. The Second Amendment has no exception for nuclear bombs, but we have carved out exceptions to it over the years, because that is how the United States was designed to work by the founders.

Kevin Matthews writes:

I love it when a Woke-A-Riesta respond to me. What part of shall not be infringed out of the 2nd Amendment do you not understand? I cannot help the Supreme Court thought they were smarter than the people that wrote the Constitution and passed unconstitutional “laws”. The NFA classifies grenades as “Any Other Weapon” Google it and if a civilian wants to own a grenade as long as they acquire the necessary permit and license they pay the $200 tax stamp per grenade and they are perfectly legal if you pass the ATF background check. You can own machine guns, grenade launchers, and even a Dillion or GE model 134 mini gun if you have the money ( approx $250k) and they were registered with BATF in 1986 or before. You simply pay BATF $200 for the tax stamp which is processed in 3 to 6 months. Once your stamp is approved you receive it back in the mail, go to the gun store and pick up your fully automatic machine gun or whatever you purchased. There are some non free states that still prohibit machine guns even though Federally there is a conduit to Civilian ownership legally. Did you know there were 30,200 registered machine guns in VA as of March of 2012. VA is the #1 state in machine gun ownership. A decent M16 from the Vietnam era will run you north of $30k. It is all about supply and demand since no more civilian machine guns could be produced after 1986 per the National Firearms Act (also Unconstitutional). If you can pass a background check to buy a semi-auto rifle you can own a machine gun. You just have to think of NFA items as Antiques because they are not made for civilians any longer but there are plenty out there you can have if you can afford them.

As far as I know you cannot stop anyone from yelling fire in a theater. They might get beaten up or hauled into jail. Again there’s no footnote in the first amendment specifying what language hurts other people’s feelings or list of acceptable pronouns. If you do not like the way the Constitution reads, there is a way the founders gave us a way to change it. So stop telling me my rights are not absolute. In reality it is just not true if everyone followed the Constitution as written. I do not want a grenade but if I did there is a legal path to get there. Google it if you doubt me. You can get your RPG-7 Rocket Launcher at www.autoweapons.com.

Waldo Jaquith writes:

The question of falsely yelling "fire" in a crowded theater is straight from Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes' opinion in Schenck v. United States. Getting "hauled to jail" for doing so is, in fact, a limitation on the the First Amendment right to free expression. I'm not sure what you think it means to be arrested for saying something, but that's exactly what it means to limit somebody's right.

Your rights are not, in fact, absolute, and you've said as much yourself: the Second Amendment doesn't say a word about paying a federal agency a fee and pass a background check in order to own a machine gun, and yet you acknowledge that's required. If your rights were "absolute," then no such fee or background check would be permissible. If you think your right to bear firearms is absolute, go out and get yourself rocket launcher and then carry it into a police station. Let me know how that goes.

The constitution is intentionally vague, because it's left to Congress and the Supreme Court to fill in the specifics. It is impossible to make a constitution that's specific enough—that's what all of our laws and court rulings are for. This was the system that the founders established, entirely intentionally. If you don't like that system, the thing that you're objecting to is the United States. Take that up with James Madison, not me.

Joseph Lentini writes:

I have been collecting knives for about 40 years. Automatic knives/switchblades are a tool and they can be a work of art. I believe the majority of us realize that they are not anything more than that…. tools. They should be legalized in Virginia, just like they are in many other states.

Kevin Matthews writes:

I just checked the Virginia 2022 status for the Automatic Knife / Switchblade Ban Repeal SB 758 and the Governor has now SIGNED it into law effective July 1, 2022. So, chalk up one for freedom as this is part of or 2nd Amendment rights which no mortal man had the authority to take away to begin with. It is refreshing to have someone in Richmond that respects what the Constitution says as written and this one, Governor Glenn Youngkin, happens to be a Conservative. Ralph Northam was too busy dealing with his blackface clean up and his Woke Agenda to respect anyone's freedoms so he could not get this done. It's truly a lesson in defeat for those that voted on the Democrat ticket or Democrats who "helped" count the 2020 vote.

This bill dwarfs all the ones that came before it. We can not only make automatic knives of any variety in Virginia but can purchase, sell, order online, trade, carry, etc... I do not see any limitations previous bills had because the Constitution does not have any footnotes with limitations. This will open up a new chapter for gun and Knife show size and quality. Brandon Biden was so wrong and unamerican when he said no right is absolute. Can you imagine a "sElected Leader" saying that?

Thanks Governor Youngkin! You can feel the freedom movement rising since we the people will only allow dictators to try and push us around and intimidate us for so long. When we get enough, there is no turning back. You can see the same spirit in Ukraine right now.