FL knife laws

[tcacarter]

I am going to be purchasing my first good quality knife. A spyderco, i am wanting the resilience because of the blade style, liner lock and g-10 handles. Would their be any legal problem with this knife, or should i just get an endura.

 

[ThePerpetualNovice]

Like most legal questions, the answer is "It depends." First and foremost, the knife preemption bill sponsored by knife rights failed last year, unfortunatelu, so there is still a patchwork of local ordinances regarding knives. You would have to double-check where you are (and where you are likely to be when you have the knife). At the state level, there is no prohibition against purchasing or owning such a knife. See Fla Stat Chapter 790 (http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes...ml&StatuteYear=2012&Title=->2012->Chapter 790). But if you want to carry the knife, the question arises whether it is a weapon under Florida's concealed weapons law. (Fla Stat 790.01). A "common pocketknife" is excluded from the definition of weapon, but "common pocketknife" is not further described. (Fla Stat. 790.01(13)). There is case law that suggests that any non-automatic folding knife 4" or less is presumptively a "common pocketknife." See Bunkley v. Florida, 538 US 835 - (available http://scholar.google.com/scholar_c...8+U.S.+835+(2003)&hl=en&as_sdt=2,10&as_vis=1).

With a blade length of 5.25 inches and a cutting edge of 4.25 inches, the Spyderco Resilience falls outside the relatively safe harbor of existing case law. The burden would be on the state to prove it was not a common pocketknife and I doubt it would lead to any meaningful prosecution in the absence of another charge, but you could still get hassled by an overzealous police officer, assuming he was in the mood. You could avoid this issue if you were to get a concealed weapons license, but that can be a substantial hassle (and expense) just to carry a knife.

 

[tcacarter]

You helped clear this up a little, I think.