Hi, I'm Michael Kosta.
You know, all my life, I've loved numchucks.
(grunting)
But, up until this year, I could have been arrested
for even carrying my chucks down the streets of New York City.
I sat down with the hero who changed that law.
And you?
You can thank me later.
Ow.
I'm Jim Maloney.
I'm the lawyer who recently was able
to get the nunchuck prohibition in New York overturned
on constitutional grounds.
You made numchucks legal in New York?
Well, actually, it's pronounced "nunchucks."
Right. Numchucks.
Why are you so obsessed with numchucks?
They were a big part of my life for many years,
so, yeah, I'm passionate about my right to have 'em.
How did this all start?
Um, shortly after the martial arts movies
featuring Bruce Lee became real popular,
a lot of kids, including myself,
uh, started playing around with nunchucks.
And, uh, the legislature got fearful
that they were gonna be used by gangs to terrorize people,
you know, mugging them.
And so the legislature just decided to ban them completely.
The law went into effect September 1, 1974.
In the years since then,
there have been sporadic prosecutions,
um, against people who have them in their home.
I had a similar experience.
Um, police searched my home.
They found nunchucks under the couch.
Police found numchucks under your couch?
-Nunchucks. Nun-Nun... -Numchucks. Got it.
So, based on that, I was charged with possession
of chuckle sticks, as they're called under the, uh, statute.
So, as soon as the criminal case...
As James droned on about his decades-long legal battle,
I thought of a much more exciting way
to tell his kung fu story.
♪ ♪
MALONEY: Uh, within less than a month,
I brought this constitutional challenge.
♪ ♪
Hey, is it a little weird that I'm playing this guy?
He's, like, super white.
Ronny, if a white guy does it, it's problematic.
It's cultural appropriation.
If you do it, it's fine.
Is it?
(stammers) I-- Honestly, I don't know.
Okay, whatever. Let's fight.
♪ ♪
(squawks)
MALONEY: I have to serve them with a summons of complaint.
And, in 2007, my Second Amendment claim
was not really established yet as applying against the states.
So it was dismissed, and I had to appeal to dismiss it.
Oh...
But the Second Amendment, that's about guns.
Well, the Second Amendment says...
I understand the Second Amendment.
I'm an expert, to be honest with you.
Go ahead. Tell us about the Second Amendment.
"A well regulated Militia,
being necessary to the security of a free State..."
Free State. Right.
"...the right of the people to keep and bear Arms,
shall not be infringed."
Not firearms.
And (bleep) numchucks falls under that?
It does.
-So this became a Second Amendment issue. -Right.
I appealed to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
♪ ♪
I have three judges on the panel:
Judge Pooler, Judge Katzmann, and Judge Sotomayor.
KOSTA: Sotomayor?
-Supreme Court Justice today? -Correct.
That's right. Sotomayor even mentioned Jim
in her Senate confirmation hearing.
Sir, um, in Maloney,
we were talking about numchuck sticks.
Told you it was "numchucks."
♪ ♪
-(shouting) -MALONEY: They, um,
did not give me the relief I asked for
on the basis that the Second Amendment
did not guarantee that right as against state laws...
(grunting)
...and said, "If you want that,
you have to go to the Supreme Court."
And that is where I was feeling down and out.
Where are your numchucks in all of this?
I basically unstrung the nunchucks. I cut the cord.
You took your sacred numchucks
and you cut 'em?
No big deal.
You just put 'em back together when you're ready.
(sighs)
What the Supreme Court did, um,
was toss out the decision that killed the case
and sent it back down.
So then I was back down in the trenches again.
You're alive, baby.
Oh, I...
Right?
Anyway, sure. So, um,
I'm back down in the trenches,
and, uh, I get a new judge.
And she wanted me to show expert testimony
-and statistics. And so I... -(shouts)
I flew in a couple of people who were knowledgeable
-about nunchucks. -You flew in numchuck experts.
Both white guys, I presume?
-MALONEY: They are. -Yep.
MALONEY: It was kind of a funny trial,
because I was wearing a lot of hats.
I was the plaintiff, obviously.
I'm the lawyer. And I was also the first witness.
I said, "Your Honor, I'll now call my first witness,
which is myself."
♪ ♪
(grunting)
It was three days of trial.
(shouting)
And, on December 14,
the judge struck down the entire statute.
And did you feel, like, "Oh, my God, this is over.
I get to just nunchuck the shit out of everything now"?
♪ ♪
(laughing)
Everybody in New York is numchucking--
kids, pets, adults,
grandparents, nannies-- because of you.
Did you receive an award from the Numchuck Association
or from chuckers all around the world?
-No. -What'd you get?
The decision.
I figured you'd say something like that.
I'm presenting you with a Numchuck Award.
Read it out loud. What does it say?
-"To James Maloney, for striking down the ban on numchucks. -Yep.
From your chuck buddy Michael Kosta."
I also made this commemorative shirt.
On the front, it says, "I live for three things."
And on the back, it says, "Suckin',
(bleep), and chuckin'."
(cheering and applause)