Late last year, the New York City district attorney tried to throw out a knife-related civil rights suit against him and the city on the basis that there is no standing. Well, a judge has just announced that Knife Rights, which brought up the lawsuit, does in fact have a valid case and the suit will proceed.

As a refresher for anyone who’s late coming to this story, DA Cyrus Vance Jr. cracked down on knives in New York City by doing two things that Knife Rights claims is illegal. First, they prohibited retail stores from selling certain types of knives that aren’t usually considered gravity knives (which are illegal in NYC). Second, police arrested people carrying these same pocket knives, which, again, these should be considered legal.

Gravity knives, which is a legal term, are defined by being able to be opened with only the use of gravity. Unfortunately, the DA has broadened that definition to also mean knives that can be opened by the flick of a wrist.

So, Knife Rights teamed up with companies and citizens affected by this broad use of force. But the courts aren’t letting the DA get out of this one so easily. Here’s more from Knife Rights:

“Despite their attempts to make this case go away, NYC and DA Vance will now be held fully accountable in federal court by Knife Rights for their disgraceful attempts to demonize the most widely-owned pocket knives in America as contraband, and to intimidate honest knife retailers into making six-figure forced ‘contributions’ to the City, under threat of criminal penalty, in order to avoid prosecution,” said Knife Rights Chairman Doug Ritter.

A few days before this ruling, the courts also allowed another retailer, Native Leather, and the Knife Rights Foundation to be added as plaintiffs against the city. This means the case is even stronger than before.

We’ll continue to bring you updates as they come in.