Opinion ID: 3166803
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Survey of the term arms

Text: The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution reads, A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. As with article I, section 24, this guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms. Heller, 554 U.S. at 592-94. This right is incorporated against the States. McDonald v. City of Chicago, 561 U.S. 742, 791, 130 S. Ct. 3020, 177 L. Ed. 2d 894 (201 0); see also Sieyes, 168 Wn.2d at 291. The United States Supreme Court discussed the parameters of the right protected by the Second Amendment in Heller. Though Heller specifically held that the right to bear arms extended to handguns, the Supreme Court defined the term arms to encompass all bearable arms that were common at the time of the founding and that could be used for self-defense. 554 U.S. at 581, 627. The court continued: The term [arms] was applied, then as now, to weapons that were not specifically designed for military use and were not employed in a military capacity. For instance, Cunningham's legal dictionary gave as an 8 City of Seattle v. Evans, No. 90608-4 example of usage: Servants and labourers shall use bows and arrows on Sundays, &c. and not bear other arms. /d. at 581 (quoting 1A NEW AND COMPLETE DICTIONARY (1771 )). This definition is designed to protect an individual's right to carry a weapon for the particular purpose of confrontation. /d. at 592. However, this definition of arms still contemplates that an arm is a weapon. /d. at 581 (the term [arms] was applied, then as now, to weapons ... ); see a/so id. (noting that Samuel Johnson's 1773 dictionary defined arms as '[w]eapons of offense, or armour of defence.' (alteration in original) (quoting 1 DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 106 (4th ed. 1978))). This definition of arms under the federal constitution is not unlimited: the Second Amendment right, whatever its nature, extends only to certain types of weapons. /d. at 623 (citing United States v. Miller, 307 U.S. 174, 59 S. Ct. 816, 83 L. Ed. 1206 (1939)). Specifically, the Second Amendment does not protect those weapons not typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes, such as short-barreled shotguns. /d. at 625. The Court then stated that the District of Columbia's handgun ban at issue in the case amounts to a prohibition of an entire class of 'arms' that is overwhelmingly chosen by American society for that lawful purpose. /d. at 628. Evans's reliance on Heller is misplaced-an analysis of the term arms under the Second Amendment does not require a different result than noted above. Heller addressed a local ordinance that completely banned handguns in the home and is simply too different to provide useful guidance here. See 554 U.S. at 636 (Second Amendment bars the absolute prohibition of handguns held and used for self-defense 9 City of Seattle v. Evans, No. 90608-4 in the home). Heller does not address the use of knives carried for self-defense. See Wooden v. United States, 6 A. 3d 833, 839 (D.C. 201 0) (Heller is focused exclusively on 'arms' or 'weapons,' meaning firearms when read in context.). To the extent Heller might be applied here, it supports the notion that the small fixed-blade knife found in Evans's front pocket does not qualify as an arm under the Second Amendment. As noted above, Heller unremarkably observes that firearms constitute[] arms, but further defines arms in part as '[w]eapons of offence.' Heller, 554 U.S. at 581 (first alteration in original) (quoting 1A DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, supra, at 106). As the Heller Court observed, the most natural reading of 'keep Arms' in the Second Amendment is to 'have weapons.' /d. at 582. Several state courts have applied Heifers analysis of handguns as arms in considering whether the right to bear arms extends to other objects ostensibly used for self-defense. 7 Relevant here, the Connecticut Supreme Court used the Heller analysis to determine whether a dirk knife-a long, straight-bladed dagger-was a bearable arm protected under the federal constitution. State v. DeCiccio, 315 Conn. 79, 117, 105A.3d 165 (2014). Specifically, the court considered the military origins, history, and purpose of the dirk knife, comparing the dirk knife at times to a bayonet 7 We are aware of four States that have considered the parameters of the term arms following Heller. See Commonwealth v. Caetano, 470 Mass. 774, 26 N.E.3d 688, 693-94 (2015) (stun guns are not protected arms under the Second Amendment because they were not in common use at the enactment of the amendment and are considered per se dangerous at common law); State v. DeCiccio, 315 Conn. 79, 117, 105 A.3d 165 (2014) (police baton and dirk knife are constitutionally protected arms); Lacy v. State, 903 N.E.2d 486 (Ind. Ct. App. 2009) (switchblade is not a weapon typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for selfdefense purposes); People v. Davis, 214 Cal. App. 4th 1322, 1331, 155 Cal. Rptr. 3d 128 (2013) (defendant failed to establish that billy club is a weapon typically possessed by lawful citizens for a lawful purpose). 10 City of Seattle v. Evans, No. 90608-4 or short sword. 8 /d. at 119-24. The court noted that the history of dirk knives is consistent with the American military usage of knives in general, tracing the dagger from its 18th century Scottish origins through to the United States Marine Corps Ka-Bar fighting knife issued in World War II to the weapon in the case before them. . . /d. at 121-22. The court further concluded that dirk knives are not dangerous and unusual weapons and that DeCiccio's dirk knife fell within the term arms under the Second Amendment. /d. at 128. Oregon considered the text and history of its own state constitution's article I, section 27 in order to determine the meaning of the term arms. See State v. Kessler, 289 Or. 359, 361-70,614 P.2d 94 (1980). Washington's article I, section 24 was drawn from Oregon's article I, section 27 and the constitution proposed by W. Lair Hill. ROBERT F. UTTER & HUGH SPITZER, THE WASHINGTON STATE CONSTITUTION: A REFERENCE GUIDE 39 (2002). Indeed, though we frequently decline to decide the parameters of the right guaranteed by our own article I, section 24, we have cited with approval. to the Oregon Suprem.e Court's interpretation of its analogous provision. See, e.g., State v. Rupe, 101 Wn.2d 664, 707, 683 P.2d 671 (1984) (citing Kessler, 289 Or. 359 with approval); Montana, 129 Wn.2d at 601 n.9 (citing State v. Delgado, 298 Or. 395,400-01,692 P.2d 610 (1984)). The Oregon Supreme Court has interpreted article I, section 27 of the Oregon Constitution to protect objects as arms when the object is ''a kind of weapon, as 8 DeCiccio also considered the history, traditional use, and function of a police baton in holding that it is the kind of weapon traditionally used by the state for public safety purposes and therefore protected under the Second Amendment. 315 Conn. at 129-34. 11 City of Seattle v. Evans, No. 90608~4. modified by its modern design and function, [which] is of the sort commonly used by individuals for personal defense during either the revolutionary and post-revolutionary era, or in 1859 when Oregon's constitution was adopted. Delgado, 298 Or. at 400-01 (emphasis added) (footnote omitted); State v. Christian, 354 Or. 22, 30, 307 P.3d 429 (2013) (citing Kessler, 289 Or. 359). The Oregon Supreme Court has applied this definition in considering whether a billy club, a switchblade knife, and a loaded firearm are constitutionally protected arms. Kessler, 289 Or. 359 (billy club); Delgado, 298 Or. 395 (switchblade knife); Christian, 354 Or. 22 (loaded firearm). In Delgado, Oregon specifically applied the definition of arms discussed above in considering whether switchblade knives-a type of jackknife with a blade between four and seven inches that folds into the handle and is released by a spring mechanism-are arms under article I, section 27. 298 Or. at 402-03. In answering this question, the court conducted a thorough historical analysis of the use of fighting knives in America and concluded that certain knives, including switchblade knives, have been commonly used for self-defense. /d. at 400-03. The court then held that switchblades were arms under article I, section 27. /d. at 403.