College Campus Knife carry/concealment

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BugsBunny

Joined
Jun 14, 2009
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Hello everyone, I am a student at college and I was wondering if anyone has any general idea of the rules to carrying a folding knife on a college campus. Spyderco Adventura is my EDC. Thanks in advance for any help.
 
Depends on your state and local law, as well as whatever rules your university imposes.

You would be well-served to become intimately familiar with these laws and rules, and to strictly comply with them.

:thumbup:
 
I know my state/local law and the only law is that the knife cant be a automatic/assisted opening knife, which mine isnt, i just want to know if Universities can impose different laws when on their campus.
 
Like the others I would advise against it until you have not only checked up on the written rules asked the opinion of someone who is in a position of enforcing them. Even if they are allowed I wouldn't advise carrying anything more than an SAK. College is too much fun to risk getting bogged down with being disciplined for carrying a knife.

I carried a swiss army climber on my campus and would take it out to open bottles and packages: no one ever had a problem with it. But I tried to stay as discreet as possible with it.
 
BugsBunny said:
Hello everyone, I am a student at college and I was wondering if anyone has any general idea of the rules to carrying a folding knife on a college campus. Spyderco Adventura is my EDC. Thanks in advance for any help.
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During my college career (1978-1982), I EDC'd a Gerber FS II rocker-locked folder with a 3 3/4" blade. Back in those ancient times, there was no such thing as a pocket clip or thumb stud, or disk. Each morning, I dropped the FS II into the right front pocket of my jeans, pivot down, grabbed my textbooks and drove to school. I carried the blade through all four years of college without incident, using it at my part-time job in a supermarket as well.

The key here is concealability and discretion. Sure, the FS II was light and compact for its day but the frame was brass, which is much heavier than today's aluminum alloys and polymer. Still, my method of concealment was effective and no one ever was the wiser. Asking campus security/police about knives or other weapons will only get you a lot of trouble and unwanted questions about your intentions. While on campus, do not reveal the fact that you are carrying a knife. Sheeple are much more skittish now than they were when I was in college 30 years ago. Use your head, be discrete, dress well and you should not have any troubles.
 
TOM1960 said:
Asking campus security/police about knives or other weapons will only get you a lot of trouble and unwanted questions about your intentions.
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It could also save you from expulsion or imprisonment. While I certainly don't agree with it, in the current social climate many colleges and university's have enacted draconian "no weapons" policies. Likewise some states have specific "no weapons" laws that apply to any school which recieves state funding, including colleges and universities. Such policies and laws may exempt small folders, but the also may not.

Better safe than sorry, especially when that "sorry" may impact your life in a profound manner. ;)
 
Ask your college. I am about to attend one in the fall and they only allow knives with a blade of 3" or under. Nothing on fixed or folding, just the length. So no more ZT 0300 just a mini griptilian in my future :D
 
Everyone on my campus carries a knife and I've never heard of anyone getting in trouble. The college is in a farming community which could make a big difference
 
Most colleges have major rules and asinine penalties against carrying or even implying that you will carry knives or a "concealed weapon". It really depends where you go, there's A LOT of major hippies in colleges and you'll learn this soon enough and they'll hate anything but pot and holding hands and singing, just don't announce that you have one to the whole world and keep it reasonable non locking would be best but they'll go after you for ANYTHING. For example, at Fairleigh Dickinson (horrible place by the way, would never, ever recomend that hell hole, I lasted one semester, barely, before I transfered) I almost got in serious trouble for a Swiss Army Knife when some stupid hippie caught a glimpse of it and went for campus security. Needless to say, I went very quickly back to my room and hid it inside the case of my desktop computer, along with my full size KaBar, Buck 110, S&W Boot Knife, and Case folder. So yeah, just be descrete with your knife/knives and watch your back for those filthy hippies and come up with a neat hiding place in case of emergencis. Bottom line, if, like me, you can't live a day without a knife, you're in for a tough few years, whether you decide to carry one or not.
 
mynameisgeorgel said:
Everyone on my campus carries a knife and I've never heard of anyone getting in trouble. The college is in a farming community which could make a big difference
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There are also a lot of farmers around my college

Also my college isnt hippy-sh, its an engineering school, and Ive witnessed plenty of knife clips on peoples jeans, but if i carry it will be concealed in my FR pocket.

Thanks for all the info people.
 
BugsBunny said:
There are also a lot of farmers around my college

Also my college isnt hippy-sh, its an engineering school, and Ive witnessed plenty of knife clips on peoples jeans, but if i carry it will be concealed in my FR pocket.

Thanks for all the info people.
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If everyone's carrying a knife what are you worried about? If you're not going to a hippie school then you shouldn't have that many problems.
 
I wouldn't ask anyone on the campus - they'll probably just say "no" to any kind of knife. On another forum, one guy asked campus security if he could keep a straight razor in his room to shave with. They said "no, it's a weapon" :jerkit:

I would read all the rules regarding this kind of thing - which should be printed and available to you and carry within a reasonable interpretation of those rules.

Jordan
 
I went to a private college and we could carry anything under three inches... But for people in the same county who went to public colleges they had to carry under two inches.

The shitty part about it was that the dorm I stayed in had a pissy bitch fuc@#$% residential advisor, who confiscated a really nice kershaw I owned. It was exactly three inches of bladed edge, but they included the un-edged part of the blade in their measurement. And guess what, when I went to get the knife back after fighting my right to have it -the bastard P-safes had GIVEN IT AWAY!!! at least that is what they told me, one of them probably still has it. Stupid Liberal Arts Colleges think knives are the enemy of peace. Argh!

The only college that I have ever heard of that does not have bullsh@#$ rules is Utah State - you can carry a gun there. I wish all colleges were this liberal- by the true meaning of the word
 
GWashington1732 said:
That's the hidden price for going to college. You have to deal with hippies at all times.
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God am I glad I go to university in Canada.
I couldn't deal with the tripe you guys seem to have to endure.
My university knife these days is the Emerson CQC-12.:thumbup:
 
I'm about to start college in the fall. In my college it is against the rules (and you will be expelled) to possess any knife. That is unless you use it for cooking. And they never specify what constitutes a cooking knife. So my plan is to bring all of my knives up. And use them all for cooking. It's actually better that way so I don't have buy a whole bunch of cooking knives.
 
tambrico said:
I'm about to start college in the fall. In my college it is against the rules (and you will be expelled) to possess any knife. That is unless you use it for cooking. And they never specify what constitutes a cooking knife. So my plan is to bring all of my knives up. And use them all for cooking. It's actually better that way so I don't have buy a whole bunch of cooking knives.
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I never lived on campus while attending college. I resided with my family in Lawrence, MA and attended Merrimack College in North Andover, MA as a commuter. I didn't have to worry about nosy dorm mates or RA's snooping around and "accidentally finding" my knife in a shared room. As a commuter, I had a lot less to worry about and could easily explain the Gerber FS II that I EDC'd as a necessary tool for the part-time job that I had in a supermarket (opening boxes, etc.). Check to see if you are allowed to prepare meals in your dorm room or common area. Some colleges don't allow it because of the danger of fire. If your school doesn't allow it, then your "cooking knife" argument will not have much merit if you are accused of possessing weapons on campus.
 
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