I saw the knife laws in Australia, like those of several countries in Europe, prohibit you from carrying a knife or multitool without a justified reason, with edc or convenience not being lawful excuses. Do people not carry knives there, or do they find ways around these limitations in order to do so, or are the restrictions not that big of a deal in practicality?
Australian knife owners: do you carry a pocket knife or multi tool on you for edc?
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Depends all on where you are and when, and what you are carrying. For example, carrying anything knife-like when hitting the pubs late at night is a big no-no in any urban center, but belt carry of a multi-tool during work is fine in most situations. For daily carry I go with the QLD ruling that "Swiss army type knives and pen knives need no additional reason due to their obvious utility nature" So if I'm fishing or out in the bush, I'll carry whatever is appropriate, and I have a food prep knife in my lunch cooler, so the justified reason is pretty easy to come by. If I'm around the city on a normal day off, I carry any of my SAKs or slippies, because that's going to get me by in almost any situation. For what it's worth, I also carry a first aid kit, keep my cert current and have a general look that most cops ignore. Aussies are an odd bunch, the average person is pretty easy going, and the regulators are very uptight. The only time I'm without some form of tool is at the airport. Brisbane is not the same as Syndey, but then again Brisbane is adding areas to the "no carry at any time" list, but you know, some guys can't handle their drinks and spoil the fun for everyone.
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Oh, and as for NT, there are plenty of other things for them to worry about, so if you do find that one cop who takes interest, odds are good he's actually worried about something else. People don't go out there without a reason.
I live in Melbourne Victoria, I have carried a one hand folder everywhere, everyday for 30 years.
I know the law frowns on it, and "legitimate reason" can swing anyway a cop wants it to, it hasnt been noticed or mentioned in over 20 years. Even back when I was young, dressed like punk and got pocket and bag searched a few times, a calm reasonable attitude, and an explanation that its a simple cutting tool, always resulted in being handed back to me with no drama's.
Bogans get 'em selves in strife when they start bleatin' about self defense and protection! Any hint you realise or think you have a weapon on you , will just get everyones ego flappin around, the law doesn't like weapons.
These days I still carry everywhere a one hander clipped to my right front pocket, and a Wave multi openly on my belt, there is usually a large Opinel or small fixed blade in my bag or car somewhere, never been called on it and never had any really negative reactions. Usually the only people that even notice are the people have just used it to their benifit and are handing it back to me.
I know the law frowns on it, and "legitimate reason" can swing anyway a cop wants it to, it hasnt been noticed or mentioned in over 20 years. Even back when I was young, dressed like punk and got pocket and bag searched a few times, a calm reasonable attitude, and an explanation that its a simple cutting tool, always resulted in being handed back to me with no drama's.
Bogans get 'em selves in strife when they start bleatin' about self defense and protection! Any hint you realise or think you have a weapon on you , will just get everyones ego flappin around, the law doesn't like weapons.
These days I still carry everywhere a one hander clipped to my right front pocket, and a Wave multi openly on my belt, there is usually a large Opinel or small fixed blade in my bag or car somewhere, never been called on it and never had any really negative reactions. Usually the only people that even notice are the people have just used it to their benifit and are handing it back to me.
Good to know you can edc sak’s in QL, that’s where I’ll probably go anyways. Also what do you mean they have “other things to worry about” in the NT? What’s the deal with that?
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The NT is essentially unpopulated and has a lot of very regional laws (basically dry counties in the US but even more specific) and so anyone going through who seems to not belong is either up to no good, or needing rescue, and since the NT has very few areas that would count as urban, you won't really ever be somewhere without lawful excuse. As long as you do your research before you go to specific locations in NT, you'll be fine, it's mostly just that there are areas run by mining companies and areas that require local permission to enter, but there are some pretty famous cross country (offroad) drives that do attract some people. The reality is that a knife is low on their list of things to look for, alcohol runners into the dry towns, drug runners into the mining camps, growers and chemists, and the few deranged white nationalists are mostly who they are looking for. When I say unpopulated, I'm not kidding, most of it is very adverse to human life, but people head out there anyways.
I hope you have a good time, if you are looking for more specific info on some areas there is an Australian forum of blades (Australianbladeforums.info) that while it's kinda quiet, there are some good guys there who are willing to share what they know, they just have kinda run out of things to talk about.
I hope you have a good time, if you are looking for more specific info on some areas there is an Australian forum of blades (Australianbladeforums.info) that while it's kinda quiet, there are some good guys there who are willing to share what they know, they just have kinda run out of things to talk about.
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Can you name these countries where carrying a knife or multitool is prohibited? I think there are restrictions, as in many countries, including the US, but I was not aware of them being prohibited.
I'll save us both time and name you the ones where you can carry knives/multitools without a lawful excuse required nor any kind of restriction whatsoever: Poland, Bulgaria, Austria, Czech Republic (these countries have no restrictions at all, meaning you can carry anything from a butter knife to sharpened katana, including autos, gravity knives, bali's and anything that comes to mind; of course, common sense applies so don't go around carrying a Scottish Claymore in the middle of a town unless you're doing historical reenactment or something like that; not because you legally can't, but just because it's weird/rightfully may get people worried; anything else goes though). The remaining countries have either "lawful excuse" in place, which is of course decided/judged on a whim by the officer at hand's mood and then by the judge's temperament/disposition (all you can do is cross fingers and hope when the laws are so vague and arbitrary), and such lawful excuse doesn't include "edc", as the concept is not even a thing in EU, nor self defense (cause you know, self defense bad), or they have dumb limitations in place, such as the knife being non lockable/not openable with one hand. The strictest countries in the European Union are France (reasonable excuse+fine up to $15k), Italy (reasonable excuse+2k-10k fine+6 months to 2 years imprisonment), Greece, Romania, Luxembourg, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Latvia, Estonia (I won't enumerate the eventual punishments of all of these other countries, but they all fall under the "lawful excuse" principle, making you pretty much a possible target for fine/imprisonment because of somebody else's whim). The remaining countries have some form of restriction in regards to the blade length/the locking/opening mechanism, most notably Germany, Spain and Portugal. When it comes to the general European area, and I won't mention all the non EU Balkan countries as I do not know how they operate, Switzerland has decent knife laws but they might have some sort of restriction when it comes to the blade length/mechanism. UK has strict knife laws, and it's just another "lawful reason" country (while at the same time having high rates of knife crimes, how strange am I right?). Not to mention, but it goes without saying, autos/assisted/balis are 100% banned in lawful excuse countries and are often even illegal to own without a permit. Overall EU is pretty strict except for the 4 countries mentioned at the beginning. By most sheeple, carrying a knife is seen as carrying a weapon, which means you either mean to harm someone or to defend yourself, with the latter being especially frowned upon (?). Hope to move to the US at some point tbh, both for the freedom when it comes to self defense/guns and just carrying knives as whole, seems like a way more chill and less invasive country at least when it comes to personal freedom and preservation of material and personal integrity.
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Thanks for the response, I'll check out the Aus forum. You got me interested about the NT, seems like an even stranger place than anticipated lol, will probably go to QL tho if anything
I’m in Italy. If you didn’t get searched you simply got lucky.
Lol, you wish, they aren’t even legal to own without a permit, and never legal to take out. Ironic how you’d be able to carry one in Texas but not in Italy.Stiletto country
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I'll actually be in Italy in a couple weeks, I figure if I stick to a SAK and my lunch-kit opinel, I should be fine.
Do it at your own risk. There’s no “sak/pen knife exception” here like there is in QL. A scout guide got fined €23k a few years ago because he was found with a sak in his fanny pack (https://amp.trevisotoday.it/cronaca/silea-scout-coltello-svizzero-10-novembre-2017.html). If you really wanna carry one at all cost and you’re not camping (in which case it would be justified), carry it in your backpack along with some apples/bread/salame/anything that would justify you carrying it with practical, instantaneous evidence. If you’re camping/fishing you can carry whatever though, even a machete in the right context, just use common sense.
Enjoy your stay!
Also another question, about QL, would you know if it’d be fine to carry one of the bigger sak’s with one hand opening and locking mechanism like the Victorinox Locksmith? Or is the sak label limited to the basic non locking/two hand opening models?
Locksmith:
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I'm not quite as sure on that one, I believe they consider "penknives" to be non-locking. If you were in a rural area (outside of say Brisbane or Gold Coast) you would probably be alright in QLD, again as long as you have a reasonable excuse. But that said you would be safer with the smaller non-locking SAKs in more areas.Also another question, about QL, would you know if it’d be fine to carry one of the bigger sak’s with one hand opening and locking mechanism like the Victorinox Locksmith? Or is the sak label limited to the basic non locking/two hand opening models?
Locksmith:
I have dietary needs, so I'd hope that any officer would understand I cannot simply stop at any restaurant when traveling. But sometimes you will run across that officer who feels the need to prove a point.
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Wow that's crazy. Here in France I don't think this would happen, unless the guy is actually aggressively threatening the police with his Sak!