How to Obtain Info ?

T

tom19176

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As I have stated several times ( an many others too), NYC and some parts of NYS have taken the wording of the defintion of Gravity Knife to include more knives then was ever intended. R W CLark had wrote the following in another thread here: "Courts will also reference the legislative intent of a law. This is the record of all the writings and speeches that are given when the law is still a bill and is being discussed and having its wording amended. They do this because the US Supreme Court ruled that a court can not make a law stricter than the legislature intended. So they need to know what that intent was"
I was un aware of a Supreme Court ruling that said this, and it could be useful in finally clearing up the mis use of the gravity knife law in NY. My question is how would one obtain the minutes of the NY Assembly and NY Senate talks on the law passed in the late 1950s? My understanding is that the people pushing for the law to be passed brought in real switchblades and gravity knives to show what they wanted banned. The wording for the gravity knife part was crafted to explain how simple blade weigh ( gravity) or a mild movement by ones hand would allow the blade to open after it was RELEASED from the handle of the knife. The word released implied a lever or button being pressed to RELEASE the blade, and that was an fair decription of how a REAL gravity knife works.

So does any one know if this information is out there to be found?
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_Intent

I've never heard of any case even resembling what is being referred to. That in no way means it dosn't exist...but just the fundamental idea behind what this ruling supposedly did (as described) makes me really doubt if it happened it all as suggested.

That being said, it is very much true that a NY judge could use originalism (unlikely however!) to find that expansion of the statute was illegal. But I really do not think they have any legal obligation to do so.
 
Reffy, I agree one would be hard pressed to find a NY judge ( at least a NYC one) to agree to this method and even more so since they have allowed the wrong interpertation of the law to be carried out for so very long now. That all said I would love to see it played out in court, as there was a recent Federal case based upon illegal knife possession that lead to the judge entertaining the true meaning of what a gravity knife is in NY. He was heplful, but it did not clear up the issue.

If you do see the Supreme Court ruling referenced about and or know of a way to find out what was actually discussed in the preparation for the passage of the NY law, then please share what you find !!
 
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