keeping a knife in the car?

R

Rothrandir

Joined
Oct 8, 2003
Messages
187
are there legal issues with keeping a knife in your car?

i'm wanting to put one in my center console, but am concerned about the blade being over 5inches long. (it's a ka-bar, with a 5.75inch blade (or somewhere thereabouts)
as i understand it, carrying a knife with a blade length exceeding 5inches on or about your person is a no-no, but does about your person include in a vehicle?
 
You are considered in possession of it if you have easy acess to it in your car. Same thing applies to guns and drugs.
 
i figured that was the case :(

well, i guess i'll either have to grind the blade down to under 5inches, find a new knife (i had just bought the ka-bar for that purpose!), or relocate it to my trunk.
although my backseat flips down to allow access to the trunk, i hope that doesn't complicate things.
 
I think it will depend on which state you're in. Here's a link for Iowa: http://pweb.netcom.com/~brlevine/ia.txt. The various knife laws I've seen on Mr. Levine's site don't define what qualifies as being "on your person" (or in the case of Iowa, "on or about your person"). That may be defined elsewhere in your state's statutes or else in case law (past court decisions). Also, please note that the law text cited in the link above may be out of date.

Bill D.
 
thanks tsme.

that's the link where i got the information. i suppose a call to the sheriff's office is in order...
 
From one of the "COP" shows:
A man was stopped for making a rolling stop at stop sign.
Sheriff ask if he had any knives-drugs-weapons in the car. Driver promptly handed him a Schrade-Sharpfinger in sheath.(3"blade).
Sheriff thank him for his honesty. Placed him under arrest.
It's illegal in Albuquerque ,N.M. to carry sheathed knife in car.
( the driver had been night fishing and kept the Sharpfinger in his fishing bag.Mute point I would say ).
 
Weapons are considered 'readily available' if they are not under lock and key. I was told a locked glove compartment or better in a locked case in the trunk. Out of immediate reach. The caveat of 'to and/or from an activity' likely applies also.
I live in the country, drive a pick-up and look like a good ol' boy. I am also very polite to the police. I LIKE being profiled as 'not trouble'.
If you need a defensive weapon in your car carry a big screwdriver and an assortment of other tools. Easy to explain and useful to have. Breakdowns are far more common than weapons level assaults.
 
I always have a large fixed blade by my side in my car. A Lightfoot Predator. Itr's tucked in between the seat and the console. It isn't "illegal" in Canada per se, there being no restriction on blade length etc, but that very much depends on the interpretation put on a few things, like "weapon", "concealed" and "intent" that I've discussed elsewhere and that may differ according to jurisdiction.

But, frankly, I will fight for my right to have a knife right there. If I have to cut myself or a passenger out of a seatbelt or even smash a window to get out of my car, or to assist someone else in another car [that does happen up here in the winter], my knife can save lives. That trumps paranoid fascism. I'm driving a 4000 lb machine that can kill a person, or an elephant, in an instant, and I'm not allowed to have a blade? Now that's really asinine.
 
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