Can I Carry a Lock Back Knife In NY? (I'm Confused)

K

knivesngear

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Nov 23, 2010
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I was reading some knife laws and it seems like I can't carry a locking knife in NY. If this is true i'm going to be pretty annoyed :grumpy:. I think that the law only applies in NY City not other parts of NY (hopefully). I am just pretty confused because the Hunting Stores In NY (I don't know about NY City) sell locking knives. I also read that it is illegal to carry a knife that than has a blade longer than 4in. thanks guys. I want to carry my Buck 110 and just wanted to do it legally :rolleyes:.

-Stephen
 
The 4 inch law is only in NYC. You can not carry a locking knife that can be flicked open anywhere in NYS, but the city is where this is mostly enforced. You can tighten a Bucck 110 by peening the top bloster until you can not flick it open.
 
tom19176 said:
The 4 inch law is only in NYC. You can not carry a locking knife that can be flicked open anywhere in NYS, but the city is where this is mostly enforced. You can tighten a Bucck 110 by peening the top bloster until you can not flick it open.
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But I can't flick it open as it is. Is the Buck 110 considered a knife that you can flick open in NYS/NYC?
 
Grab it by its blade (yes that is their dirty trick) and see if you can snap it open by holding onto the blade. If it's not possible or ridiculously hard to do, you would maybe be o.k.

This whole sham is being fought by kniferights.org but they have so far only dropped charges against people rather than clarifying the law or setting precedent, last I knew.
 
kingsqueak said:
Grab it by its blade (yes that is their dirty trick) and see if you can snap it open by holding onto the blade. If it's not possible or ridiculously hard to do, you would maybe be o.k.

This whole sham is being fought by kniferights.org but they have so far only dropped charges against people rather than clarifying the law or setting precedent, last I knew.
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Wow, that is one of the dumbest things I have heard. that's not even flicking the knife open, I could have a fixed blade out just as fast. It's bewildering how people can even consider that flicking a blade out. they might as well outlaw all folding knives that can be held by the blade when closed then!! Really stupid stuff..... :barf:
 
The "hold the blade flick" is honored by some but not many officers and judges. There are few if any Buck 110s that I could NOT flick open out of the box. Just because you can't flick it open does mean the officer can't, and wheter or not he can is what matters for an arrest.
 
I've moved to carrying my Mnandi in the office and my Professional Soldier everywhere else. No restrictions on fixed blades. :D
 
tom19176 said:
The "hold the blade flick" is honored by some but not many officers and judges. There are few if any Buck 110s that I could NOT flick open out of the box. Just because you can't flick it open does mean the officer can't, and wheter or not he can is what matters for an arrest.
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Wow, that makes no sense. Say you have an old man carrying his buck 110 and you really can't blade flick it open but the cop can. How does that represent what that you can or want to do with the knife. to be honest I don't think that most people open their 110's by blade flicking anyway.
 
"Wow, that makes no sense. Say you have an old man carrying his buck 110 and you really can't blade flick it open but the cop can. How does that represent what that you can or want to do with the knife. to be honest I don't think that most people open their 110's by blade flicking anyway. "

As to your quote, while I do not agree with the law in this case, it does make total sense that if they officer can do it then it is possible to be done with this knife. Can you imagine what the laws would be like if the test was what the defendant can do only? Would any defendant flick open a knife in front of the judge? Once again, I am like the rest of the collectors/users here and agree this is not a valid defintion of a gravity knife, but if the officer can demonstrate the knife can be flicked open, then he is correct as per the normal every day court room protocol.
 
tom19176 said:
"Wow, that makes no sense. Say you have an old man carrying his buck 110 and you really can't blade flick it open but the cop can. How does that represent what that you can or want to do with the knife. to be honest I don't think that most people open their 110's by blade flicking anyway. "

As to your quote, while I do not agree with the law in this case, it does make total sense that if they officer can do it then it is possible to be done with this knife. Can you imagine what the laws would be like if the test was what the defendant can do only? Would any defendant flick open a knife in front of the judge? Once again, I am like the rest of the collectors/users here and agree this is not a valid defintion of a gravity knife, but if the officer can demonstrate the knife can be flicked open, then he is correct as per the normal every day court room protocol.
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true. I was thinking what if someone stole the knife from the old man after I posted the response but decided to leave it up. Good Point. It kinda sucks though.
 
tom19176 said:
"Wow, that makes no sense. Say you have an old man carrying his buck 110 and you really can't blade flick it open but the cop can. How does that represent what that you can or want to do with the knife. to be honest I don't think that most people open their 110's by blade flicking anyway. "

As to your quote, while I do not agree with the law in this case, it does make total sense that if they officer can do it then it is possible to be done with this knife. Can you imagine what the laws would be like if the test was what the defendant can do only? Would any defendant flick open a knife in front of the judge? Once again, I am like the rest of the collectors/users here and agree this is not a valid defintion of a gravity knife, but if the officer can demonstrate the knife can be flicked open, then he is correct as per the normal every day court room protocol.
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If the officer is proficient in the martial arts, you bet he could do some amazing tricks with a knife (especially if the martial art is one of the Filipino styles). That doesn't mean that the average person could do it. My .308 rifle is capable of a lot more than I am capable of. Put my rifle in the hands of a highly-trained Army or Marine sniper and see what it can do. That is why these laws make no sense. Grabbing a folding knife by the blade and attempting to flick it open is a good way to end up in the E.R. getting stitches for a serious cut. I still can't believe that judges allow such foolish activity to occur in their courtrooms. One hell of a risk to the officer and bystanders just to prove a point.
 
TOM1960 said:
One hell of a risk to the officer and bystanders just to prove a point.
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Not to mention it twists the wording completely. I'm sure the author of that description would be astounded to find out how its being applied. There's a huge difference between a buck 110 and a true gravity knife. The judge would have to be clueless, corrupt, or indifferent to allow that standard in their court room. Using that standard, a folding pruning saw would qualify as a gravity knife.

HH
 
Let me start by saying that this is NOT LEGAL ADVICE. As others have posted, the blade flick test is being applied to the NYS gravity knife prohibition in some places, mostly the five boroughs of NYC. I have been a LEO in upstate NY for 12 years and come from a family of cops. I have NEVER ONCE personally seen or heard of a defendant being charged with a gravity knife offense using this definition. It is far easier (and carries a greater likliehood of a stiffer sentence) to articulate a defendant was is possession of a "dangerous or deadly instrument or weapon" and intent. Every officer I know would rather convict a skel with a screwdriver than your average person with a Spyderco, Kershaw, etc.

Yes, NYS is not ideal, but we also aren't England, yet:confused:
 
That is one very welcome response. I have little fear that any of the local PDs or Sheriff's offices would make an arrest solely on some baked-up definition of a gravity knife. Outside of NYC it's the State Police that concern me. Also, didn't Vance offer to share "recovery" revenue with other DA's offices that adopt his interpretation.

Times are tough all over...

HH
 
Eyegor, I agree with your statement about how thing are done upstate, and I served in NYC, so I have a tainted opinion for sure. In Nasaau and Suffork there are alot of former city officers who are now expanding the NYC feelings out east. The main issue is that the NYS PL is being enforced, so although you and you co workers are stand up guys enforcing the law correctly, the case law exist for a valid arrest for CPW 4 to be made ( CPW 3 if any prior convictions). NYC is number driven, and these are easy arrests.....I sat with three officers today who are looking to transfer to OCCB, and they were reviewing how many arrests they had ( which is an important part of their chance to get in). They all discussed how many A Misd and Felonies they had, and how to make a few more. Anyone think they would not enforce the knife law when a violation is observed?
 
Josh K said:
I've moved to carrying my Mnandi in the office and my Professional Soldier everywhere else. No restrictions on fixed blades. :D
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Yup - I carry an Izula now in NYC just because there are too many issues with folders here.
 
NYC is where it is illegal to carry a locking knife, or a knife with a blade longer than 4 inches. The rest of NY does not care of locking, or blade length
 
Not to be contrary, but there have been arrests outside of NYC. I read about one in 'Blade Magazine' described as occurring in a small town 90 miles N of NYC. Sad fact is that the NY county DAs office is charging folks under the state laws, not NYC specific. Maybe they'll become more common elsewhere, probably not. The worst part is that unless the penal code wording is changed, every arrest will have to be dealt with case by case. In the meantime more and more online retailers are blackballing the entire state, and not just for folding knives. Spyderco, Blade HQ, Knifecenter, Emerson to name a few. When local retailers start culling their stock as well, the whole rest of the state is going to have to face the ugly facts.

HH
 
This is all so stupid. I am a police officer in upstate ny and have never heard of such petty non-sense. I take folding knives off of people on a daily basis and have never even had the thought of trying to charge someone with a section of the penal law that is purely open to interpretation. In fact, I give them back to the person after the investigation is over, granted I didn't place them under arrest for whatever reason. Assisted-openers are perfectly legal to have, possess and sell in nys, so a buck folder will be no issue. Any officer that would try to make it so is rediculous and should try and find some real police work to do for a change instead of making up petty arrests. If these folders were illegal, then how can stores like Dicks sporting goods and Walmart sell them?
 
Dutch, I agree with you in spirit for sure, but down in NYC and some parts near by, the law is enforced differently. The big issue is this is NYS PL 265.01 that they are enforcing and the courts are upholding, so it makes it a state issue wheter or not it is actively enforced everywhere...
 
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