Carrying a Fixed Blade in California...

sirrazzal said:
I had a friend get hassled by some UC Berkeley police officers for a CRKT sting he was carrying strapped to his leg within the city of Berkeley, and ended up getting of after a night in a holding cell with time served. That's pretty good considering that was wholly illegal in Berkeley and the state of California. I just started carrying a mini Fox river and haven't gotten any problems for it. But then it's only been one night.. But all in all I feel pretty comfortable carrying a fixed blade openly in California. We're pretty lucky.
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As long as it is carried openly, there is nothing about the CRKT Sting that would make it illegal under California state law. I'm not familiar with Berkeley law.
 
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killgar said:
As long as it is carried openly, there is nothing about the CRKT Sting that would make it illegal under California state law. I'm not familiar with Berkeley law.
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Berkley city has a 3 inch limit with the usual exception for work or hobby related knives (municiple codes 13.68.010 and 13.68.020). Berkley campus has a general "no guns or other weapons" policy. The CRKT sting is too long at 3 3/16 inches, and because it's completely black and has a prototypical dagger pattern blade, it looks more like a weapon than a tool.

Getting back to the OP's question: I usually have positive experiences with NKP, but it's more about personal demeanor then the knife itself. Smile, and the world smiles with you, even if you're carrying a Kabar.


EDIT: That Mini Fox is a nice knife, and IMHO a good choice for a FB EDC.
 
killgar said:
As long as it is carried openly, there is nothing about the CRKT Sting that would make it illegal under California state law. I'm not familiar with Berkeley law.
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As I understand it, California isn't keen on double edged knives. Berkeley has a three inch limit as well as an outright ban on fixed blades.

EDIT: as well I think they tried to get him on the "waist area" requirement in the state law. He had it down on his calf.
 
sirrazzal said:
As I understand it, California isn't keen on double edged knives. Berkeley has a three inch limit as well as an outright ban on fixed blades.

EDIT: as well I think they tried to get him on the "waist area" requirement in the state law. He had it down on his calf.
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There is nothing in the California penal code that prohibits the sale, purchase, possession, or open carry of double-edged fixed-blades, or the carry of double-edged folding knives, either openly or concealed. In fact, there is no mention of "double-edged knives" or "knives with two edges", etc, anywhere in the CA penal code.

If Clang is correct (and I will assume that he is) I can understand why your friend was arrested. Even if a knife is a fraction of an inch longer than the specified legal limit, that is an arrestable and prosecutable offense. I'd say your friend was very lucky to get away with just a night in jail.

As far as where a fixed-blade is openly carried on ones person, I don't know what Berkeley law says about it, but CA law does not require that an openly carried fixed-blade be carried on the waist. California penal code 20200 mentions that a fixed-blade worn openly in a sheath hanging from the waist is not considered "concealed" under the law, but that doesn't mean a fixed-blade must be carried in such a manner in order to be legal (so says my attorney). Many people (including myself in the past) carry fixed-blades in pocket sheaths, and some carry fixed-blades attached to backpacks or sticking out of the pockets of backpacks, all perfectly legal. In my first post in this thread I told the story of a cop who saw me carrying a fixed-blade in a back pocket, no arrest was made, and no warning was given about how I was carrying it.

Of course it's always possible for a cop to misinterpret CA pc 20200 and assume that a fixed-blade MUST be carried on the waist. Even cops make mistakes.
 
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Carrying in Turlock is better than in Waterford from what I've experienced. I go there pretty regularly and never have any kind of issues with carrying fixed. I just hate when people try to interrogate me on why I don't just carry a pocket knife (which I do along with my standard fixed-blade) even though it's not even illegal. I don't get any of that in Turlock. Not very often at least.
 
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