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- May 13, 2003
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- 154
Anyone familiar with knife laws in N.J. ? In regards to fixed blades and folders, size limits and thoughts on their concelment, in a legal sense.
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Knife Laws In NJ
- Thread starter CPettersen
- Start date
NJ knife law is (intentionally) vague, using terms like "dangerous knife", but never really defining the term as far as blade length, etc. I stay under 3.5" in length, no assisted openers, no fixed blades. That's just my personal rules, based on nothing concrete.
Read more here:
http://pweb.netcom.com/~brlevine/links.htm
http://pweb.netcom.com/~brlevine/sta-law.htm
Read more here:
http://pweb.netcom.com/~brlevine/links.htm
http://pweb.netcom.com/~brlevine/sta-law.htm
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- Dec 27, 2004
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- 1,500
The bottom line, as I understand it from LEOs I know, is this: if you behave yourself, they won't arrest you just for having a knife; you have to act threatening or otherwise give them an excuse to roust you. But if you do anything to warrant a frisk, and they find a knife, you're looking at a weapons charge, on top of whatever else they can think to charge you with. 
If they decide to arrest you, pretty much anything more threatening than a pair of nailclippers will be held against you. As already mentioned, the law is deliberately vague, enough to treat anything as a "weapon" if the prosecutor wants to make an example of you.
The NJ justice system likes to "pile on" as many charges as they can scare up, then plea-bargian the minor ones away in exchange for cooperation. Weird thing is, from what I see in the paper, weapons charges seem to be the first ones to get bargained away.
If they decide to arrest you, pretty much anything more threatening than a pair of nailclippers will be held against you. As already mentioned, the law is deliberately vague, enough to treat anything as a "weapon" if the prosecutor wants to make an example of you.
The NJ justice system likes to "pile on" as many charges as they can scare up, then plea-bargian the minor ones away in exchange for cooperation. Weird thing is, from what I see in the paper, weapons charges seem to be the first ones to get bargained away.
the key phraseology in the law has to do with "intent". While it can be said that one cannot divine another's intent, suffice it to say that if you are being an idiot and happen to have a knife, you will likely be considered an idiot with the intent to harm with a weapon. Absent some dumb move on your part, it's pretty hard to assume criminal intent. Of course, in some jurisdictions the clothes you wear is all that is needed to charge criminal intent, so your mileage may vary.
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- May 13, 2003
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I apreciate all the info, I do not consider myself to act as an "idiot", nor do I conduct myself as a "thug" or "troublemaker". I am an adult, married with two children( not that it has any bearing on the topic) All I am trying to say, is that, I use a knife as a tool, being a tradesman, it is very handy. I guess with a vague question, like the one I asked, might give people a reason to think I want to cover up something. Not the case here, just a collector and a knife user, looking to expand, my knowlege and right to carry a knife safely.
Again thank you for all the information.
Again thank you for all the information.
I did not intend to imply that you were a thug, idiot, or anything other than a gentleman. I'm sorry if that's how it reads. If you sensed a lack of patience, it's not with you it's with the laws in the state, that seem designed to "catch" people doing nothing wrong.
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- May 13, 2003
- Messages
- 154
No offense taken RH, just trying to convey mysef a little better, I agree with you 100 percent that the laws are designd to catch people doing nothing wrong. Also thank you for the links, they were informative. 