How are the knife laws in your state

Getting better in Colorado: Automatics and gravities will be legal after August 9 2017.

Zieg
 
Don't know if it's been mentioned but Ohio is absolutely horrible...

Pointed tips, hole openers and LOCKING BLADES are all indicative of a "knife more likely to be carried as a weapon"
 
Ohio's state law is about carrying a concealed "deadly weapon." A "deadly weapon" is "any instrument, device, or thing capable of inflicting death, and designed or specially adapted for use as a weapon, or possessed, carried, or used as a weapon."

Now laugh it up about all those Cold Steel ads.

Roy Williams, Thompson’s employer for five years, testified for Thompson.
Williams owns a company that does brick work and roofing. On the day of the incident, Thompson
was laying bricks in Huber Heights. According to Williams, Thompson needs “something to cut the
bands on the brick” to do his work. To cut through the “thick piece of fiberglass” around the bricks,
Williams testified that his workers use “knives, carpet knives, anything with a sharp point.”

Williams identified Thompson’s knife as “one of the tools he used * * * by the end of
it that‘s been bent from where he drove it down in the brick and pulled it back out.” Williams agreed
that the knife was “appropriate to accomplish the job.” On cross-examination, Williams stated that
Thompson usually keeps the knife in his pocket. At the conclusion of Williams’s testimony,
Thompson again renewed his Crim.R. 29 motion for acquittal, which the court overruled.

“In determining whether knives, or other useful items, such as screw drivers,
hammers, ice picks, etc., are carried as weapons, a trial court may consider a variety of factors,
including the nature of the instrument itself, the circumstances under which it is carried, including
the time, place, situation in which the accused is found in possession, the manner in which it is
carried, the particular person carrying the item, and possibly other expository circumstances which,
of course, would necessarily include any peaceful uses which the possessor might have for carrying
the questionable instrument.” Dayton v. Hickey (Sept. 25, 1981), Montgomery App. Nos. CA 7137
and CA 7175.

{¶ 18} As the Sears court also noted, “‘There are thousands of varieties of knives in daily
use, not designed for use as weapons, even though they may obviously be so used. Were every knife
considered to be an instrument designed for use as a weapon, every workman, camper, hunter and
fisherman could be found guilty of a first degree misdemeanor on the whim of a law enforcement
officer.’” Mayfield Hts. v. Greenhoff (Nov. 14, 1985), Cuyahoga App. No.49741, quoting Sears.

Having thoroughly reviewed the record in a light most favorable to the prosecution,
we conclude that the evidence was such that no rational trier of fact could have found the essential
elements of carrying a concealed weapon proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Further, we conclude
that in resolving conflicts in the evidence, the trial court clearly lost its way, creating a manifest
miscarriage of justice such that the conviction must be reversed.

{¶ 20} Thompson was stopped on the basis of a disorderly-conduct complaint. He was not
cited for public intoxication, and the incident at issue did not occur during nighttime hours. While
his knife was undoubtedly capable of inflicting death, the state did not meet its burden, as Thompson
argued below, of producing evidence that the knife was either designed or specially adapted for use
as a deadly weapon, or was possessed, carried, or used for that purpose by Thompson. Williams,
Thompson’s employer, attributed a peaceful use to the knife, and he identified Thompson’s knife by
evidence of that use, namely a bend in the knife. Although the court was free to discount
Thompson’s defense witness, that did not alleviate the state’s burden to show the knife was
possessed, carried, or used as weapon. Without evidence of the knife’s special design or adaption for
use as a deadly weapon or evidence that Thompson possessed it, carried it, or used it for that
purpose, we conclude that the evidence was insufficient to meet the Sears test and that Thompson’s
conviction is against the manifest weight of the evidence. Thompson’s two assigned errors are
sustained.

{¶ 21} Accordingly, the judgment of the trial court is reversed.
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• Whenever possible I try to include a serrated option for our small knives. Cold Steel’s serration pattern is designed specifically to “grip and rip”. It’s also one of the few serrations on the market that you can snap cut with. Our serrations bite deep. If you’ve only got a small knife to save your life, serrations will be a blessing.
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= instrument, device, or thing capable of inflicting death, and designed or specially adapted for use as a weapon

Quickly adopted by Military, Law Enforcement Special units, Emergency Services Personnel, Self Defense professionals as well as members of the Martial Arts community, Cold Steel quickly became renowned for quality, strength, reliability and dependability in every day carry (EDC). Our diverse and varied line-up quickly grew to include not only a massive selection of folding knives (from smaller "EDC" blades, to our iconic giant “mega-folders”) but fixed blades, swords, sabers, pole-arms and halberds, as well as hunting gear, spears, blowguns, axes, machetes, tomahawks and tools!
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Cold Steel is famous for raising the bar in the knife industry, and the Recon 1 tactical folder has set a standard that’s hard to beat....
To compliment the tactical mission, the blade has a tough black Tuff Ex finish. This coating offers three major advantages for use on tactical blades. First; it helps the blade to resist rust. Second; it eliminates glare and light reflections which may give its user away. Third; it’s a superior lubricant, which causes the blade to slip through even tough material with markedly less friction. This means you can cut deeper and far longer than with a non Tuff Ex coated blade.
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The worst Ohio issue is that any city of village can pass criminal laws making possessing a knife of some given blade length (2.5 or more inches in Cleveland) a misdemeanor punishable to up to a year in jail. You may win your case, but that can be expensive and is by no means certain.
 
I live in NY - not the City of - and the knife laws, though a mess, are easy enough to live with. Sure, I'd like to be able to routinely carry a RMD, or Bravo 1.25-LT; and it would be nice have the option of carrying an auto...but I've found plenty of legal options that I like. I might occasionally go a smidge over legal with my fixed blade carry; but I'm a 50 yr old man that is unlikely find himself under such police scrutiny...and I avoid The City as much as possible - those laws, and the application of same, are ridiculous.
 
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Anyone have any experience in Rhode Island? I don't have any autos and don't really care for them because my home is in Virginia where it is completely illegal to carry anything auto. I have seen the 3" rule for rhode island but that is for concealed. Do they consider the pocket clip sticking out to still be concealed? I like to carry my large sebenza which I believe is around 3.6."
 
fordmn1966 said:
Anyone have any experience in Rhode Island? I don't have any autos and don't really care for them because my home is in Virginia where it is completely illegal to carry anything auto. I have seen the 3" rule for rhode island but that is for concealed. Do they consider the pocket clip sticking out to still be concealed? I like to carry my large sebenza which I believe is around 3.6."
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Bump I would also like to know thins thanks!
 
Ky has pretty lenient knife laws. You can pretty much own and carry any type of knife. They only have one knife law that bugs me involving automatic knives. You can own and open carry them, but it is illegal to carry them concealed.
 
glistam said:
Maryland's just "ok" in my opinion. We can own all knives, and carry anything unconcealed. We can only conceal non-auto folders, but on the plus side there is no length limit by ruling of the highest court. So sometimes I carry a CS Rajah I (a 7" folding kukri) just because I can. Our guns laws are bloody awful though. We're one of barely a handful of states that aren't shall-issue with carry permits.
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I live in MD and agree with you! I ha e wondered though if carrying an auto knife with a pocket clip would be not considered concealed due to the clip being visible. I have asked several guys in MD but got a variety of answers.
 
Arizona is pretty nice. I walk around town, even into stores, with a trench knife on my hip, and hardly anyone even looks twice. I even strap a machete on my hip if I have to go through the open field at night, due to coyotes and a couple mountain lions.
 
MTHall720 said:
I live in MD and agree with you! I ha e wondered though if carrying an auto knife with a pocket clip would be not considered concealed due to the clip being visible. I have asked several guys in MD but got a variety of answers.
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Yeah, pocket clips being concealed or unconcealed is untested waters in MD (and most other states), so there really is no right answer. Polk v Maryland established that if someone can tell the thing is a knife when looking at it, it's not concealed, but that was a fixed blade.
 
glistam said:
Yeah, pocket clips being concealed or unconcealed is untested waters in MD (and most other states), so there really is no right answer. Polk v Maryland established that if someone can tell the thing is a knife when looking at it, it's not concealed, but that was a fixed blade.
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I have read for hours and have come to the same conclusion you did. Wish the laws were clear cut and reasonable.
 
RickJ said:
OK when did this happen? What about blade length restrictions, any change there?
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Ok did some research, no change to the length restrictions, No longer than 3.5 inch blade concealed and no intent to use as a weapon.
 
Live in PA, pretty decent knife laws. The one glaring restriction is automatics. Given that PA is open carry for a firearm, I shake my head that I can open carry a firearm but, cannot own an automatic knife. Go figure!
 
About to get a whole lot better thanks to knifelobbyist. Daggers, dirks, poniards, stilettos, swords, spears, bowie knives, throwing knives, spikes, and stars, knives with a blade longer than 5.5 inches, are currently illegal to own if not in your car, house, or property under your control. After September 1st, they will no longer be illegal, but location restricted. If I understand the amendments correctly, these items can be carried, openly or concealed anywhere in the state of Texas, save for several locations that concealed handguns are currently not allowed. This change had to be made due to the fact that there was a mass stabbing at UT, and the perp used a bowie knife, and this was the week this bill was going to be reviewed by the state lawmakers. I hate to admit it, but I was certain this bill was gonna get axed as a result, but this amendment seemed to be a fair compromise, and I can live with it.
 
One correction, 22, but I'm a nitpicky person with respect to the law - the items mentioned were NEVER illegal to own. You just could not carry them in public. A court case opened up the off home property carry to allow for the items to be legally possessed off property while in your car, rv, boat, etc..

Also, the knife, to my knowledge, has not been made public other than a few news repeorts saying it was a "large hunting knife", with no explanation of what was "large".

The only thing known for sure is that its blade was greater than 5.5". The only picture I saw was when he was handcuffed and the knife/sheath were on his belt. "Appeared" to be about a 6 or 7 inch blade, but that is based on apparent sheath size to leg ratio.
 
The sucky part of PA is no autos or daggers. *Whips out large bowie from wastband* However you can totally conceal carry a hunting knife. Which makes no sense. You can mess somebody up way faster with a fixed blade then pretty much any auto.
 
I know everyone in PA doesn't follow the rules as I have ought at least a dozen bayonets from people in PA, from a Brown Bess to a couple of 45-70s to a Krag to a variety of Ms.
 
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