Lawmakers: Louisiana ban on switchblades should disappear
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Louisiana lawmakers have agreed to lift the state's little-known ban on switchblade knives.
Senators voted 21-11 Wednesday for the proposal by Rep. Mark Wright, a Covington Republican, sending it to the governor's desk.
That was one vote more than was needed for final legislative passage.
House lawmakers earlier backed the measure in an 83-0 vote. Current law prohibits the ownership, possession or use of a switchblade in Louisiana or a similar spring-loaded knife, except for law enforcement officers.
Wright says Louisiana is one of only a handful of states that has such a 1950s-era ban on switchblades still in law. He says most states that once had the bans have scrapped their similar laws.
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Gov. John Bel Edwards hasn't taken a position on the bill.