Legal to own, but illegal to conceal in public without a CCW (same as a firearm) because they have a blade length greater than 3" and arguably are not an “ordinary folding pocket knife,” although I don’t know if anyone has thoroughly tested the definition of “ordinary” in court yet. That’s how the law is written.
I thought this reply posted earlier but it looks like it didn’t…
At least in my state the CCW permit is the same for all weapons. The process is very gun-centric; I suspect the various knives and knuckles and so forth were tossed into the law later. Part of the process requires to you take a mandatory pistol safety course which feels extremely silly if you’re only getting the permit in order to legally carry your knife around. But as we all know, gun and knife laws rarely actually start with the intention of making a lick of damn sense, and it’s all downhill from the start anyway.
It is theoretically legal to open carry legally classified “deadly weapons” in my state, although your risk of being hassled increases proportionally with the size and audacity of your openly carried item. All in all, I’ve never actually seen a cop care about anyone carrying any kind of knife here, and I’ve even had automatics (also on the “naughty list” in this state) given right back to me by cops without comment.
It sucks that switchblades are still bad in your state. I laughed when people would talk about how bad they are. Like, have you seen how many people carry guns illegally and shootings we have perpetrated by those who are already limited from owning them?? Why would they even bother with a switchblade?
The switchblade ban craze was a result of racism, as usual, since in the 1960’s there was some kind of hysteria that “inner city” (black) toughs were committing crimes with switchblades. Similarly, the “dirk or dagger” bans and phrasing in many state laws are the result of anti-German sentiment from around WW1 when it was believed that agitators with Germanic sympathies would be lurking around intending to stab people in the back with them.
But these asinine laws are still on the books despite being demonstrably silly, probably because it’s good political theater to appear “tough on crime.”
Are these knives legal where you live? They’re illegal here for some reason. I think it’s more of that “they look scary” nonsense logic.
Legal to own, but illegal to conceal in public without a CCW (same as a firearm) because they have a blade length greater than 3" and arguably are not an “ordinary folding pocket knife,” although I don’t know if anyone has thoroughly tested the definition of “ordinary” in court yet. That’s how the law is written.
At least you can own them. Do you get a special knife CCW to carry them, or does the pistol one cover it?
I thought this reply posted earlier but it looks like it didn’t…
At least in my state the CCW permit is the same for all weapons. The process is very gun-centric; I suspect the various knives and knuckles and so forth were tossed into the law later. Part of the process requires to you take a mandatory pistol safety course which feels extremely silly if you’re only getting the permit in order to legally carry your knife around. But as we all know, gun and knife laws rarely actually start with the intention of making a lick of damn sense, and it’s all downhill from the start anyway.
It is theoretically legal to open carry legally classified “deadly weapons” in my state, although your risk of being hassled increases proportionally with the size and audacity of your openly carried item. All in all, I’ve never actually seen a cop care about anyone carrying any kind of knife here, and I’ve even had automatics (also on the “naughty list” in this state) given right back to me by cops without comment.
(Because I am a dunce, I attached this reply to the wrong comment. I moved it to the correct one, which is here.)
It sucks that switchblades are still bad in your state. I laughed when people would talk about how bad they are. Like, have you seen how many people carry guns illegally and shootings we have perpetrated by those who are already limited from owning them?? Why would they even bother with a switchblade?
The switchblade ban craze was a result of racism, as usual, since in the 1960’s there was some kind of hysteria that “inner city” (black) toughs were committing crimes with switchblades. Similarly, the “dirk or dagger” bans and phrasing in many state laws are the result of anti-German sentiment from around WW1 when it was believed that agitators with Germanic sympathies would be lurking around intending to stab people in the back with them.
But these asinine laws are still on the books despite being demonstrably silly, probably because it’s good political theater to appear “tough on crime.”