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Rest easy: New York’s ban on nunchuks has been deemed unconstitutional

You can all rest easy tonight knowing that New York City’s ban on nunchuks has been deemed unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.

The plaintiff James Maloney has been fighting his charge of possessing nunchuks since 2003, after they were found in his home in 2000. The case then made it to the Supreme Court in 2010 where it was remanded.

A Federal Judge in Brooklyn has ruled that a complete ban on the personal possession of nunchuks is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.

Maloney, who is a lawyer and professor at the State University of New York’s Maritime College, based his argument on the history and significance of the weapon.

“How could a state simply ban any and all possession of a weapon that had a long and proud history as a martial-arts weapon, with recreational, therapeutic and self-defence utility”, he said.

New York penal law determines that a person is committing a criminal offence if they are in possession of an “electronic dart gun, electronic stun gun, gravity knife, switchblade knife, pilum ballistic knife, metal knuckle knife, cane sword, billy, blackjack, bludgeon, metal knuckles, chuka stick, sand bag, sandclub, wrist-brace type slingshot or slungshot, shirken or ‘Kung Fu star”. 

The object delightfully listed as the ‘chucka stick’ is is known in some circles as the nunchuk.

Maloney’s main reason for rebuking such a possession charge was so that he could teach his son the art of Shafan Ha Lavan.

The ban came into play in 1974 when a series of Kung-Fu movies, featuring Bruce Lee and his contemporaries, made nunchuks a popular weapon of choice for street gangs and criminals.

Via Pedestrian.TV.