Concealed or not?

[Tyrkon Lawson]

So I am at my local Home Depot last week. I had one of my 5" blade knives straped to my side in a leather sheath. Since it was raining I had a jacket on which covered about 1/2 of the knife but most of the sheath was visible below the bottom of my jacket. While checking out a worker comented to me tht I better be careful because my knife was concealed unless the entire knife was visible. Is this true? BTW - I live in Southern California.

 

[ckj]

if a part of the knife or sheath is revealed, it is not considered concealed iirc.

 

[R.W.Clark]

That is referred to as "inadvertant concealment" and it is a borderline issue. In the police acad they taught us that if the average person would be able to see and identify the item then it is not concealed.

It would really be up to the officer to make the call as to whether to hook you or not.

Your best bet would be to tuck your jacket to the inside of the handle so that the entire thing is visible. It is better to be on the safe side than to give the officer an excuse to run you in.