Hello, I am an incoming freshman at a college in the state of Kansas governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The college I am attending decided to adopt the same policies as defined in the Kansas Board of Regents Policy regarding weapons. This prohibits basically anything beyond the standard pocket knife and has to have a blade of under 4 inches. However, house bill 2033 of Kansas states that any municipality cannot make ordinances or rules regarding pocket knives, switch blades, gravity knives, etc. There is a disclaimer in the meaning of municipality and house bill 2033 states that school districts, jails, and juvenile correctional facilities are excluded in term, "Municipality," meaning that they can impose rules regarding the possession of any kind of knife. I am in to balisongs and would like to continue my hobby. This creates a problem as I will be living on campus and their policy states that gravity knifes are prohibited. So my question is: Does a university have the legal right to impose rules regarding knives when there is a bill in place from the legislature that prohibits any ordinances regarding knives?
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Kansas Knife Laws and Colleges
- Thread starter McCoy1996
- Start date
College policy is just policy, not law or ordinance, and thus preemption doesn't apply. It is private property so technically they can make whatever rules that want so long as those rules do not contradict a federal, state, county, or city law (i.e. they cannot make the drinking age lower on campus, nor ban people of a certain race from attending).
Because it is policy and not law, violating it is not a crime. It can only bring consequences from the school itself, like being kicked out.
The only way around weapon policies of private property that I have ever heard of is when states enact special laws specifically prohibiting it. To date the only type I have heard of is a law one state passed where a property can only be a gun-free zone if it has full coverage security with metal detectors at every entrance. It was designed to counteract the "shooting-gallery effect" where a spree-killer goes to a place he knows will not have anyone person able to shoot back but also has no security to prevent him from getting his own guns in. Sadly I have never heard of such a law being passed for knives.
Because it is policy and not law, violating it is not a crime. It can only bring consequences from the school itself, like being kicked out.
The only way around weapon policies of private property that I have ever heard of is when states enact special laws specifically prohibiting it. To date the only type I have heard of is a law one state passed where a property can only be a gun-free zone if it has full coverage security with metal detectors at every entrance. It was designed to counteract the "shooting-gallery effect" where a spree-killer goes to a place he knows will not have anyone person able to shoot back but also has no security to prevent him from getting his own guns in. Sadly I have never heard of such a law being passed for knives.
Thanks for the prompt and very informative response! I just feel it is quite silly that they allow normal pocket knives with a blade of equal to or less than 4 inches in length. A knife is a knife no matter how it opens. But I must be very scary because I can flip a balisong. Knife laws are incredibly irrational and I think we can all agree on that. But at least I can carry off campus 