Guys help me out please

J

jacebeleren10101

Joined
May 10, 2014
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hi im new to this forum and i had a question for you. i cant seem to be able to find the answer on the web so im going to ask you guys. im 17 years old and i live in mass. i recently bought a coleman 4 1/2 inch fixed blade knife from walmart. 15 bucks and its a really good knife. and i was also surprised that they sold it to me but thats beside the point. the question i have is it ok for me to own it and carry it. i called the police station in my town and told them i had this and asked if i could carry it and they said i could. but i want to be extra carfull and make sure i can legally own this knife without getting into trouble with the law. if anyone could answer this that would be great. thanks
 
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To my knowledge there is not a single place anywhere in the United States where mere ownership of knives is restricted unless you are talking about switchblades or ballistic knives. Certainly none have such a rule on a normal fixed blade knife. The knives in your kitchen are fixed blades, after all, and those are fine.

On examining the laws of Massachusetts, they have no special laws about knives that apply only to minors. That is to say, everyone is subject to the same laws regardless of age. The language of the statute states that it is illegal to carry a "stiletto" "dagger" "dirk knife" or "any knife having a double-edged blade." I'm not familiar with the knife model you have, but as long as it's single edged is probably alright. Also keep in mind that Mass law does not care if a knife is openly carried or not, so it's probably better to keep it concealed since this will avoid attracting attention to yourself. However, Mass has lots of local city laws that limit knives carried to 2.5" in length, so be careful where you go with it and be sure to find your city code online. They are free and publically accessible, and usually have a search function.

You can read the state law here for yourself on the official government website; just scroll down to part (b) https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIV/TitleI/Chapter269/Section10
 
What town u in? Boston, worcester and afew other towns have length limits but theres no state law against it. I started carrying a kabar or a woodsman when i was 14 and im in brookline. Cops in general dont care about knives unless your in boston. I asked a cop friend of mine and he said a trench knife is ok for carry here (its not). They jsut give you the benefit of the doubt because of the lack of knife laws here. We may have terrible gun laws but our knife laws are pretty chill. Like glistam said carry it concealed, if u open carry it and someone feels threatened then you can get an assault charge. Stupid but true.
 
MAKnifenut said:
if u open carry it and someone feels threatened then you can get an assault charge. Stupid but true.
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I hate to pick nits, but that's a bit of an exaggeration. You can get a disorderly conduct at most and usually only if you're oppositional in how you behave. Assault requires a person to verbally or physically do something that reasonably makes another person fear they will be attacked. A person being afraid of attack based on mere presence of a knife alone is unreasonable and I were that officer I would take that complainant in for psych eval or write them up for false statement to law enforcement on account of wasting my time.

Now on the other hand, concealment is also recommended in populated areas because it is actually legal for store owners to make you leave or not let you into their business in the first place if you are open-carrying, for no other reason than they personally disapprove of the knife being carried. And there is a chance one might encounter a cop who's not terribly competent about knife laws and might give you a hard time anyway.
 
guys thanks for all info. and i currently live in framingham so. i also dont know if they have any length limit so if you know the answer to that that would be great.
 
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