What do you think of the KNIFE laws in your area?

33 comments

1. All my chef buddies are breaking the law every time they commute by public transit.

2. I have no thoughts on them, they don’t effect me in any way.

3. Knife laws have gotten much more lax in recent years. For several years in Texas you could carry a loaded gun, but some cities didn’t permit a lock-blade folding pocket knife. It was wild. Now they’ve relaxed the laws considerably. You can carry almost any knife now.

4. As long as they don’t interfere with my favorite game, Knifey-Spoony.

5. I don’t know what they are.

6. I don’t even know what they are, but I do carry a knife every day so I probably should lol

7. I’m good with them. They allow my EDC.

8. I live in Texas. We are allowed to carry any sized blade we wish. It is intended for machete for yard work but applies swords and seems cool to me. I think switchblades are still restricted due to their concealed nature but I am not sure.

9. I wish people could carry decorative but functional side swords in public and it not be weird

10. I live in Arizona, the best state for both knife owners and gun owners. There is basically no restrictions on owning and carrying bladed weapons in the state and state law doesn’t allow municipalities to make their own. This is all thanks to the state’s independent 2A advocacy group, Arizona Citizens Defense League who also got the state ban on nunchucks repealed.

    There shouldn’t be any laws about blades because there’s very little crime committed by them, massive utility to their use and carry, and possession and carry is protected by both the federal constitution and our state constitution.

11. Pennsylvania has no state laws restricting knife ownership or restricting certain types of knives from being carried in public (the old law banning public carry of switchblades was removed earlier this year). There are laws restricting knives from specific places, like public schools. I think this is fine.

    Philadelphia bans carrying any type of blade whatsoever, but enforcement of that is notoriously inconsistent – it seems to be applied mostly when someone is caught committing some other crime as well. I am not a fan of laws that are purposefully strict to give police officers discretion to mess with people.

12. Knife laws here could do with some clarification. I’ve read the statute, I’ve read some of the case law, and I’m still not clear on whether my Leatherman is a weapon or not, or if I’m allowed to carry the tiny Swiss Army knife on my keychain into a location with a “no weapons” sign posted.

    And they’re a little bit stupid. I can open carry a **sword**, and I can get a permit and conceal carry a firearm, but I can’t conceal carry “any bowie knife, dirk, dagger, slung shot, loaded cane, metallic knuckles, razor, shuriken, stun gun, or other deadly weapon of like kind” except on my own private property, with an exception for “ordinary folding knives.” No legal definitions given for any of those things, though there is case law. Unclear if a box cutter for a job- *supplied by the job*- is concealable or not.

13. Georgia laws are very relaxed. There aren’t any restrictions on what you can own as far as I know, and you can carry anything up to like 12″ I think.

    It doesn’t really affect me too much. I carry a folding knife as a tool but I hardly ever think about it.

14. I dont understand how some knives are weapons and others are tools.

15. NYC is strict. No blades over 4 inches, no brandishing at all (including clips), no autos, no butterfly’s, assisted open is a grey area, and if you break any law over a certain level while carrying ANY knife it can get added to your charges.

    Unless you are a tradesperson in gear the NYPD wont look kindly on you.

    But boss, like the other posters are saying. We aren’t really affected by knife laws…we got guns son.

16. I don’t know them but I also don’t carry a knife around. If I had to though I just wouldn’t care about the laws as long as I’m not going into somewhere like a stadium, airport, or government building.

17. I always have a knife on me when camping as it’s a tool. After a week in the Grand Canyon we headed for Vegas for a bed and someone else to do the cooking. In Clark county they have a rule that you can’t conceal carry a knife longer than 3 inches. Since my normal knife has a blade of 4 inches by law it must be in a visible case(like a hand gun case). I wore mine in a case on my belt making it legal. Carrying it in my pocket or in something like a purse is illegal

18. I’ve carried a knife of some kind on me basically every day since I was like 14.

    I have no idea what my local laws are. I don’t think carrying a pocketknife bears the same responsibility as a firearm so I don’t think it’s super important to be aware of KNIFE LAW.

    > I remember being told switchblades and butterfly knives were illegal as a kid

    Why were these such a big deal to kids in the 80s? The Warriors and other movies?

19. I don’t care about knives because there’s a lot bigger issues here.
    You aren’t killing 20 strangers in a Wendy’s with a knife.

20. No idea what the knife laws are.

21. I’m pretty sure I break them regularly with the stuff that’s in my car and truck.

    I carry a nice folder almost everywhere. Probably illegal in some places I go. Nobody cares. Its tack-on law nonsense which is super shady.

22. Ohio’s knife laws were relaxed quite a bit in 2021, which is great. You can now carry a knife open or concealed knives except in places like schools or government buildings. Also, automatic knives are no longer restricted like they used to be. As someone who likes to have a pocket knife on my person and has a small collection of custom knives, this is a welcome change.

23. I can’t say I have thought about knife laws much at all. I’ve never had a desire to carry a defensive knife, I don’t have combat skills with a knife or anything like that so I never bothered looking it up.

24. It makes no sense whatsoever that I can legally carry a concealed handgun but can’t carry [“dirk knives, switch knives, stilettos, any knife that has an automatic spring release device that releases a blade from the handle longer than one and one-half inches, and any knife that has a blade with an edged portion four inches or longer.”](https://www.cga.ct.gov/2007/rpt/2007-R-0346.htm)

    Knives are definitely protected under the second amendment, but stuff like that will stay on the books until it gets challenged.

25. I’m not even are of any here. I’m sure there probably are some but they’ve never been relevant to me.

26. I literally never think about them.

27. I have no idea what knife laws are in my area tbh.

    I keep a swiss army knife in the center console of my truck and a leatherman at home. I don’t really walk around carrying a knife usually.

28. There was a push around 2015 and several states legalized switchblades. Watch 12 Angry Men for an exploration of the sort of attitudes that led to ban them half a century ago.

    The strictest places I know of are NYC and Philadelphia. Other places like CA still ban automatic knifes but you can easily get around it with stuff like Kershaw Speed Safe.

29. Where I live, switchblades and butterfly knives are fine, but for some reason throwing stars (any knife with more than two edges or points) are not. That makes no sense at all. I can legally walk down the street with a pistol on my hip, but I can’t have a throwing star *at home?*

    That said, I’m pretty sure that one’s not really enforced unless you do something stupid, so it really doesn’t make any difference to me. It’s still stupid, though.

    Oh, and ballistic knives (ones that throw the blade with a spring or compressed gas) are illegal, too. I can understand that, because I was a young boy once, and if I’d had one of those, I probably wouldn’t have made it to adulthood. Or my brother wouldn’t have. One of us anyway.

30. We have knife laws?

31. Every knife law is stupid. Mostly they revolve around the type of knife. “Automatic” knives are largely illegal to carry in many states, because stupid politicians watch movies with switchblades in them. As if being able to deploy a knife with a push of a button instead of flicking your wrist matters to the odds of being stabbed. Blade length requirements are similarly asinine, because the cutoff makes no sense. Some places even have totally arbitrary measurements like “the width of your palm”. They are basically an excuse to arrest or search people. Regulating someone that a more dangerous version of can be found in most kitchens is absurd. You can find much more dangerous things in general. Would you rather have someone attack you with a 3 inch switchblade or a metal baseball bat?

32. There are no restrictions on carrying any type of knife or blade in Kansas concealed or unconcealed. Blade length does not matter.

    I am ok with this.

33. Sometimes I forget about my pocket knives when I enter a government building. Other than that, I don’t think about KNIFE laws in my area.