A suture needle driving instrument comprises a shaft, an end effector, and a handle assembly. The end effector is located at the distal end of the shaft and includes a pair of grasping arms having a respective pair of jaws driven by a respective drive shaft. Each pair of jaws is operable to cooperate to grasp and release a suture needle. The handle assembly includes a control assembly that is operable to rotate the drive shafts to transfer the suture needle between the grasping arms. In some versions, the control assembly may include an actuatable rack. The rack may include one or more control features that selectively rotate the drive shafts as the rack is actuated. The rack may further include cam surfaces to selectively restrict the motion of the drive shafts as the rack is actuated. In some versions the rack may actuate vertically.
