Is it legal to carry the Hide Away Knife in CA?

L

LongDistance

Joined
May 24, 2004
Messages
319
According to what I read, you cannot carry a "dirk or dagger" that is capable of causing "bodily harm or death" in CA. Is the HAK considered a dirk or dagger? I also read that it is legal to carry a fixed blade open but illegal to carry a fixed blade concealed. Can anyone explain that further? If I carry a HAK in a neck pounch, is that considered concealed?

a confused knife nut :confused:
 
LongDistance said:
According to what I read, you cannot carry a "dirk or dagger" that is capable of causing "bodily harm or death" in CA. Is the HAK considered a dirk or dagger? I also read that it is legal to carry a fixed blade open but illegal to carry a fixed blade concealed. Can anyone explain that further? If I carry a HAK in a neck pounch, is that considered concealed?

a confused knife nut :confused:
Click to expand...

it is concealed if it is not in plain view. penal code specifies fixed blade suspended from the waist, so neck carry would violate that.
 
I'll add my two cents. If and that's a big if, you wore your HAK or other neck knife outside your clothes, I believe it would be unconcealed, and therefore legal, but lets face it, that's not how your likely to wear it. Your better off with a folder in California. Of course your mileage may vary.

Best regards,

Argyll
 
I believe there is case law to support the interperetation that "openly suspended from the waist" is one example of legal, unconcealed carry, not the only legal method. (This was a court case involving ankle carry of a dagger. Jim March has the details, if he's still around here.) So I think you'd be okay with neck carry, as long as it is not covered by any clothing.
 
medusaoblongata said:
I believe there is case law to support the interperetation that "openly suspended from the waist" is one example of legal, unconcealed carry, not the only legal method. (This was a court case involving ankle carry of a dagger. Jim March has the details, if he's still around here.) So I think you'd be okay with neck carry, as long as it is not covered by any clothing.
Click to expand...

my interpretation is based only on the penal code section. i am not aware of case law stating otherwise, but case law is always being updated. and since arrests and bookings are normally not based on case law, but existing penal code sections, you would have to wait until arraignment to present that as evidence. and there is no guarantee that the judge will see it the same way. case law is one judges interpretation of a law, a view not necessarily held by other courts.

since there is no other example that i can find for open carry, it is debatable whether other methods are acceptable.

interesting side note, no where that i can find in the penal code is it stated that a dagger is 'double edged', dagger is used as a synonym for knife.
 
an hak could also easily be deemed metal knuckles, which would be arrestable in and of itself.

i wouldnt recommend carrying one concealed and counting on case law to save you.
 
MORIMOTOM said:
an hak could also easily be deemed metal knuckles, which would be arrestable in and of itself.
Click to expand...

If the HAK is deemed metal knuckles (which is a possibility), then you can't have them at all. I have no idea how a court would interpret that, if the defendand claimed it was a "dirk or dagger" and was therefore legal to carry unconcealed, and the prosecutor claimed it was "metal knuckles." I wouldn't want to be the test case, though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top