Knife Carry

[Quick Steel]

I would like to recommend an article that has drawn some interest. It is titled Knife Carry: Avoiding Trouble.

It can be found at the following website: http://www.mancertified.com

I'd appreciate any feedback as I know the author rather well.

 

[risen]

Quick Steel,

Thank you for the post/link. Nice clean read with common sense suggestions.

I'm sure there's always room for this or that, but I believe your buddy covered a nice spread.

I'd like to follow up on a few things where he wrote: "Its not a bad idea to copy and carry those regulations with you, perhaps in your car, to politely show an aggressive LEO.".

I'd also suggest that a person carry a published description/spec sheet on the knife being carried (I do this only with knives that look iffy). It's especially helpful if there's confusion as to blade length, A/O, etc... .

Also, don't be afraid to promptly write up your own incident report of what took place with the officer (include date/time, etc...). If/when it gets to court, written reports will more than likely be referred to and may be relied on. It may not be your word against the officer's, so much as it might come down to your word/recollection versus a document prepared shortly after an incident, recording fresh memories. Civilian/citizen written accounts do matter.

Another thing I would recommend is have any/all witnesses write down their own report/s of what they saw & heard, if possible. Provide these to your attorney or submit these to the court yourself, along with your own report. Btw, bring/provide that published description/spec info I mentioned earlier. If you do submit this stuff yourself, provide multiple copies (for the Judge, Deputy DA, etc..., if it wasn't already done before the court date).

There's other stuff to keep in mind, but that's only if things got a little rough with the LEO. Please PM me and I'll be happy to provide a little more info, in layman's terms. While I'm not an attorney, I can provide you with my CA background.

Hope some of this stuff helps.

risen

 

[Quick Steel]

Risen, thank you for your excellent and valuable information. When I said I knew the writer rather well I was making a weak attempt at humor as I am the writer.

As soon as I figure out how to PM you I will do so.

 

[glistam]

I like it. Concise and to the point, makes reasonable suggestions and I learned a few things I'd not thought of.

One variation on carrying a copy of the law with you is to carry it in slightly more plausible form than a printout. There are pocket guides to criminal laws available for nearly all states, many of them carried by officers themselves. I carry one of these: http://www.pocketpress.com/ These are official published books with ISDN numbers, so I would think they would be more accepted.

I wrote a similar guide to as well a while back. It is not as concise, but has a lot more detail on not getting noticed in the first place and is aimed at all non-firearm weapons. http://weaponlaws.wikidot.com/start

 

[kingsqueak]

Good generic advice.

I don't recommend carrying laws around for something like a 'weapon'....if you get a 'difficult' officer, they will be the type to explode on you if you start showing them laws in print.

The only thing I carry around is the law for use of ham radio equipment in my vehicle while driving....as it's pretty innocuous and I would imagine most officers have no clue to the specific exemption in NJ for that use vs the anti-cellphone law. It's rather obscure and I only carry it to save 'both of us' time and paperwork. Anything to do with a knife, I'd rather let a court decide and keep my mouth shut otherwise.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

I'd recommend one thing, to anyone who wonders if the knife they carry is/isn't legal.

Before consulting any of the convenient published 'guides' available on laws in a particular jurisdiction, find out where to look for the true source of written law in your state/locale. In most states, I think, you'll find a link on your own state government's official web site (usually ends in '.gov' or '.us'). Some states will publish all current statutes within their own web site, others might (or at least should) have a link to a company that's been contracted by the state to keep track of current statutes. Just be sure that it's the 'official' current & up-to-date reference source for the laws that'll potentially be used against you, should that unfortunate day come.

The published guides for sale in various places are a handy 'guideline', but keep in mind, they won't be viewed as THE LAW when your court date comes. Weapons laws are very much in flux these days; many states/local jurisdictions have made radical changes very recently. So, always know where to look, to make sure that whatever 'guide' is in your pocket is actually current and relevant.

A very wise instructor in a class of mine a long time ago, pointed out, 'It's not necessarily important to know all the right answers, it's more important to know where to find them.' I've always remembered that, and it's served me well.