I once confiscated a large kukri from a mugger. I was only a civilian back then going through training for possible employment at the California Department of Corrections were some other LEA. I was also a bit of a wiseguy. An incident was reported to the Oakland Police Department. Someone, that someone being me, was being attacked by a knife wielding assailant and a couple of other people. The cops came quickly to the scene and the officer, a female plainclothes officer, was very surprised with the action I had taken. There was blood on the ground, but no assailants anywhere, only me. I explained to her that I did not use the knife on my assailant, just punched him in the nose and disarmed him, and then smacked him and his friends a few side with the dull edge of the blade to scare them. I was planning to take the knife home. I wanted to add it to my collection. She said she would have to take it in as evidence, and that she knew who the assailant was - she was going to arrest him. Until the incident with me the assailant and his friends were known boosters but I've never resorted to armed robbery as far as anyone knew. Then again, I guess their drug habit was getting more expensive. I said to the officer that I would be happy to help with the prosecution, so long as I could pick up my knife from the property room after all is said and done. This is downtown Oakland, right near 14th St. & Madison, and there are not too many people who like to come forward as witnesses. I said what was probably going to happen is the perpetrator's lawyer is going to plead it down anyway, so the knife will not be needed in evidence - if this happens, can I please pick it up? We talked for a while, the details of which I will not bore you. Two weeks later I walked down to the property room, which is in the same building as the Alameda County Courthouse, and I picked up my knife - a large old-school Cold Steel kukri with a rubber handle. I even took the sheath that was in my assailants waistband. Walking home from the courthouse with my new knife, a couple of Oakland police officers stopped me, they saw the impression of the weapon in the plastic bag I was carrying and decided to detain me for a "routine stop." They wanted to confiscate the knife, and I wanted to keep my prize. They did not believe my story, and when I insisted they call the property room, which by the way is not an easy thing to insist upon since Oakland cops or a very tough heartened lot, but the officer obliged, he also said that he was personally going to pick my jail cell when he finds out that I am lying. He told me all he was going to do was confiscate the weapon but now I had raised the bar. So now I am now sitting on my knees facing a wall, my hands cupped behind my head, with the officer's partner's nightstick gently resting on my C6 vertebrae. The officer soon exited his car, and while doing so said "let the kids stand up," which I did. He walked over, shook my hand and said, "the LT himself said to let you go (pronouncing it el tee). I was very grateful I been allowed to keep my knife, I felt I had earned it.
I did various functions in law enforcement for the next seven years. My advice, always give up the weapon. Get a chain of custody receipt. Make sure that, if you're being insistent, that you are around people who can act as witnesses for you. Quite often officers do not want to take the time to give you a receipt, and will just keep the weapon in their collection or added to property. They're not trying to steal your knife, they just figure that a lot of people carry these weapons illegally because they are afraid, and all too often will either use it or eventually have it used on them. Anyway be careful, many municipalities allow cops discretion on whether they considere a weapon to be deadly, and whether or not you're carrying it legally or not. For example, where I grew up in the Bronx, most deadly attacks with a knife were done by kitchen or household utility knives. If you were carrying a nice knife to show to friends, keep it in a bag or somewhere where you cannot quickly access it. I used to carry martial arts weapons all over New York City in a gym bag wrapped in a towel. Stop n frisk was nothing new in the outer boroughs at the time, especially the Bronx, parts of Queens and Brooklyn. The point I am making though, is that I had any weapon or potential weapon wrapped up in such a way so as not to be something that could be immediately employed. Where I live in Arizona, so long as one has a clean record and arenot currently on probation or on parole, that person can carry just about any weapon. The Constitution is our gun permit for example. For those of you living in large cities, say on the coasts where the Midwest, just make it seem like you're not trying to carry a concealed weapon, but are simply transporting a knife legally. If you are driving to baseball practice and you have the bat in the trunk of your car rather than on the passenger seat that will go over better too. In other words, familiarize yourself with your local laws and use common sense. If you are going to assert your right to carry any weapon against a cop's discretion in confiscating it, the benefit of the doubt will usually be given to the cop. The courts will back up the cop until you get to a higher appellate level and that will be expensive.