Hawaii Help

[Wharn]

Gentlemen,

I have spent the last few weeks lurking on the Emerson forums and drooling over some of his knives. One in particular that caught my eye is the "Gentleman Jim". This is the exact description of the knife in question:

This is a finely refined folding dagger with a serious case of "Bad Intent." Slim, Sleek, and Deadly Serious are the words that perfectly describe the Gentleman Jim folder.

My question is under Hawaii state law would this be illegal? Would you actually consider this a "dagger" or "deadly weapon". Given it's official description I suppose it would be hard to argue in court. Here is the law:

§134-51 Deadly weapons; prohibitions; penalty.
(a) Any person, not authorized by law, who carries
concealed upon the person's self or within any vehicle
used or occupied by the person or who is found armed
with any dirk, dagger, blackjack, slug shot, billy,
metal knuckles, pistol, or other deadly or dangerous
weapon shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and may be
immediately arrested without warrant by any sheriff,
police officer, or other officer or person. Any weapon,
above enumerated, upon conviction of the one carrying
or possessing it under this section, shall be summarily
destroyed by the chief of police or sheriff.

Hawaii Case Law:
- "'Other deadly or dangerous weapon' is limited to
instruments whose sole design and purpose is to inflict
bodily injury or death... A 'diver's knife' is neither a
'dangerous weapon' nor a 'dagger'. 'Deadly and dangerous
weapon' is one designed primarily as a weapon or diverted
from normal use and prepared for combat...



Now I don't plan on running into the law anytime soon, but if I'm going to carry something I don't want to have it always in the back of my mind that it is potentially illegal. Am I just reading too much into the description or do you think this would actually be considered a dagger and/or a deadly weapon? I always thought a dagger was double sided, but I suppose the shape of this blade can make it classified as a dagger?

Your thoughts and opinions are much appreciated.

 

[Noctis3880]

I believe legally, a knife must be sharpened top AND bottom to qualify as an actual dagger. Whether the sole design and purpose is to inflict bodily injury or death is questionable because Emerson markets their knives as tactical knives(the CQC label doesn't help either). On the other hand, the mass majority of their knives are used for cutting tasks rather than only killing people.

Legally it should be fine, though practically I suspect any cop that sees it will still either arrest you or confiscate it, so try to be subtle about it. I suspect the Super Karambit and CQC Super-7w I had would be worst than the Gentlemen Jim. But again, I always assume any cop or sheeple will freak out at the sight of any one of my knives, so I generally won't pull it out unless I need it. Showing off must be done in private.

 

[Wharn]

Thanks Noctis, that's how I feel about it. I thought the same as well about the top and bottom being sharpened to be a dagger, but the official description does say it's a "folding dagger" so that doesn't help.