help with California laws

I

italiandagger

Joined
Jan 15, 2016
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3
Hello,
I am moving to US California sfbay very soon and, being a blade enthusiast (I have a nice blade collection here in Italy)
I got very confused reading the California laws regarding blades.
I am enthusiast of military knifes and I would like to buy a Camillus viet nam pilot knife and Cattaraugus 225Q both in excellent
shape found on ebay.
I hope you can help me understand what I Am allowed and what I Am not.
I do not want to fail to follow any law.
I would like to ask if I am allowed to have those knives shipped at my house in sf bay area by post mail (USPS) or FedEx or anything like that.
I ask if I Am allowed to own and keep those knifes/daggers in my house, and if happen to carry them in another location, if I am allowed to put them in the trunk into a bag or a closed box.
Regarding pocket knife I Am usually used to bring with me a standard Victorinox Swiss knife with a 2.7 inch blade.
Sometimes I Was used to have a hand made (Very expensive by the way) Vendetta corsica knife with a 4 inch blade,
but since rules changed in Italy I Am not bringing it with me anymore. It s a normal folding knife like this one:
ECO051_0.png

Is it legal to bring this in your pocket ?
I Expect it is legal to bring a Victorinox almost everywhere but just in case it's not like that,
please let me know what is allowed or not as of your knowledge of course.
thank you very much

Rick
 
All of the knives you mentioned are perfectly legal to own, and have shipped to you, by any means you wish, in the state of California.

Under California state law it is legal to openly carry ANY fixed-blade (California penal code 20200). It is also perfectly legal to carry a fixed-blade concealed in a backpack/dufflebag/etc. It is ILLEGAL to carry fixed-blades concealed upon your person.

Also, under CA state law, it is legal to carry any size folding knife, concealed or openly, as long as it is not a switchblade, gravity knife, or butterfly knife, with a blade 2" long or longer.

But San Francisco might have their own knife laws that are more restrictive. I'll see if I can find any and report back.

I've lived in California for 46 years now.
 
As far as I know San Francisco is knife friendly but oakland right around the corner has a size limit.

Fixed concealed is normally illegal though there was one court case where a flexible unsharp bread knife without a pointed tip was legal to conceal since it didn't fall under dirk/dagger category.
 
I thought that both San Francisco and Los Angeles have a 3" blade limit. AFAIK, where I live (SD) there is no such limit.

Jim
 
Ok, here's a breakdown of San Francisco's knife laws-

Under section 1291-

It is illegal to carry a knife concealed with a blade 3" or longer while "loitering" in public.

It is illegal to possess a knife, in any manner, with a blade 3" or longer while engaging in a fight.

It is illegal to carry concealed a knife with a blade 3" or longer while "loitering" around any business that sells alcohol.

It is LEGAL to carry any size of knife if you are doing so for legitimate purposes.

And then there is Section 4.01-

It is illegal to carry any fixed-blade in any public park.

Also, all switchblades are illegal (section 1292) And it is illegal to sell or give knives to minors (unless they are your own children) (Section 1293).

EDIT- The bold items are things I just added for the sake of information and clarity.
 
Last edited:
Beat me to it.
Also more than 2.5 inch around schools is a nono.

2inch switchblade/automatic is legal.
 
Jens Schuetz said:
Beat me to it.
Also more than 2.5 inch around schools is a nono.

2inch switchblade/automatic is legal.
Click to expand...
Section 1292 of the SF code (the one that refers to switchblades) makes no mention of blade length when it comes to switchblades. That leads me to believe that ALL switchblades are illegal.

I'm going to make a few small additions to my previous post.
 
killgar said:
Section 1292 of the SF code (the one that refers to switchblades) makes no mention of blade length when it comes to switchblades. That leads me to believe that ALL switchblades are illegal.

I'm going to make a few small additions to my previous post.
Click to expand...
Oh. So the california legal autos are restricted in SF. Not that I own one but good to know.
Thank you!
 
Jens Schuetz said:
Oh. So the california legal autos are restricted in SF. Not that I own one but good to know.
Thank you!
Click to expand...

It looks that way. I couldn't find any sort of specific definition of a "switchblade" in the SF code. So I wouldn't take the chance of carrying one.
 
Basically Italiandagger, as far as that Vendetta Corsica knife is concerned, it is legal for you to carry it, concealed or openly, as long as you are not "loitering" in public, or engaging in a fight, and as long as you are carrying it for legitimate reasons. That's my opinion anyways.

If I were you, I would carry the knife without any worries. But that's what I would do.:)
 
Actually I will travel everyday from north bay to south bay, Berkeley, San Francisco, Palo Alto, always being in my car driving.
I Was worried about bringing a folding knife like vendetta in my pocket on BART or Caltrain.
BTW we have very strict laws in Italy regarding firearms for example but California is really stricter!
 
I just picked up a sog snarl blade length under 3" and was wondering of its legality here in LA county. It seems as though it is perfectly legal to open carry a fixed blade 3" or under but NOT legal to carry a fixed blade of ANY size concealed. Can anyone help me out and let me know if I am misunderstanding it or not? Maybe someone in law enforcement? Any help def appreciated. I would love to carry it concealed as a neck knife.
 
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