A Sharp Divide on the Ninth Circuit

The Ninth Circuit recently denied rehearing en banc in Knife Rights, Inc. v. Bonta, No. 24-5536, __ F.4th ___, 2026 WL 2054987 (9th Cir. July 16, 2026), a case upholding California’s ban on the carrying of switchblade knives. Eight of the court’s active judges dissented from that denial—more than a third of the bench. That sharp divide had less to do with switchblades specifically than with how courts should address facial challenges to weapons restrictions generally.

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