State lawmakers and a coalition of advocates on Thursday urged Gov. Andrew Cuomo to approve a bill that would legalize gravity knives.
Cuomo has vetoed similar measures in the past over safety concerns and issues raised by police and prosecutors. But proponents of the bill have long argued gravity knives are necessary tools for tradesmen who have faced legal trouble for carrying them, primarily in New York City.
“Today, the Governor has a chance to end the arbitrary arrests and prosecutions of thousands of working class New Yorkers and New Yorkers of color,” said Assemblyman Dan Quart, the bill’s main sponsor in the Assembly. “For the many individuals arrested for owning nothing more than a simple work tool, he is the only person that stands between freedom and fairness, and a prison sentence. Enough is enough, Mr. Governor.”
Criminal justice reform advocates argue the ban on gravity knives is an outdated statute from the 1950s.
“For years, the NYPD and city prosecutors have exploited New York’s broadly worded 1958 gravity knife statute to arrest and prosecute thousands of New Yorkers – the overwhelming majority from communities of color – who possess common folding knives that are designed, marketed and sold as work tools, not weapons,” said Tina Luongo, Attorney-In-Charge of the Criminal Defense Practice at The Legal Aid Society.