Massachusetts Knife Laws?

P

PG

Joined
Feb 13, 2000
Messages
19
This is my first time to this forum. I was wondering if anyone knows where I could find out about the maximum blade length that Massachusetts allows for a pocket knife. For the past few months I have been carrying around a Benchmade AFCK. I just don't want to find out the hard way that my knife is illegal to carry. I have tried contacting both local and state police. None of the officers I talked to were able to give me an answer. They seemed to think that it was okay to carry. The main points they brought up were that you can not have an automatic blade and the blade can't be double sided. One local police man said that I could walk down main street with a machete straped to my belt and they would not stop me. (I don't believe him). So does anyone know where I might find this information?

Peter Giorgetti
 
Hi Pete
I grew up in Dorchester and the rule of thumb with the cops was 4 fingers.Over you were in trouble under they would just confiscate it. The thing was each cop had different size hands so how accurate was that LOL. Of course I only heard about things like this.
Bob
 
Thanks for the replys. I did find some info on the website JDS had found. The bill I read Was dated 1994 so I must assume that nothing has changed.

Thanks again

Peter Giorgetti
 
The assumption that nothing has changed is sometimes a poor one (it isn't as bad if the site explicitly dates its material as current).

The best place to find up-to-date law info is at the state's site with legislative info, many (or all, I'm not sure) of which are linked from the AKTI site. It takes a little more effort to search the correct sections, but material from even the lastest sessions is often available.
 
Massachusetts law is written ambiguously and can be construed to mean just about anything. If you ask four different cops from four different agencies what the law is on knives, I guarantee you four different answers.

The bottom line is "officer discretion". If the officer you`re dealing with doesn`t want you to be carrying your knife, he can take it. My son have had his Endura and his BF Native (both Spyderco) taken from him by the police. He has since gotten them both back.

If you pose no threat, are discreet and don`t do anything stupid, you`ll never have a problem carrying a knife here. Don`t give the officer any reason to notice you have a knife. I carry (at least) one everyday, and I`ve never had a problem. Both times my son have had his taken has been a direct result of him doing something REALLY stupid!
 
It does state that an auto can not be over the length of 1 1/2 inch.I carry a Dalton pocket hawk once in a while.Im sure there not gona arrest me over a KIDS TOY
BTW.....PG where are you located?
Take care




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Jay
Life is like a box of chocolates,never know what your gona git!
 
"Vague" is right as is "officer discretion." I think the discretion also varies from urban to rural areas. I carry a fixed blade hunting and fishing and get no grief. But I surely wouldn't risk it in downtown Boston. I sure as heck was surprised though by a kid crossing the street one day with an estimated 12" OAL fB in sheath on his belt. Though I wasn't there, I hazard to say that kid's knife would probably by on him too were he to run into the blue uniforms.

sing

AKTI #A000356
 
Thanks to all once again. I will check into it a little more.
I like to have as much information as possible just in case. I don't plan on doing anything stupid but if I were to be stopped for a traffic violation and the officer noticed my knife, I want to know if what I'm carrying is okay.

Peter Giorgetti
Sharon, Massachusetts
 
I'm also living in Mass, in the Boston area. Not too long ago, a lawyer friend of mine and I were talking about the laws that cover knives, and he said that there is no length law for knives in Mass. However, a LEO I know claims there is a 4-inch length limit.

Now, I don't find a length limit (except for autos) in Chapter 269 section 10 (see the link in the post above), BUT there is a restriction on "stilettos", "daggers", "dirk knives", etc. with NO definitions given for those terms.

It's all up to the discretion of the LEO.

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He who attacks must vanquish. He who defends need only survive.
 
Again, I'm no lawyer, but the 4" limit may be based on case law rather than statute (if I'm using the right terminology.) In other words, it may be based on some judge's court decision that 4"+ is "too long."

I'd like to see a cite if one can be produced.

Mike
 
It`s also a good idea to remember that Massachusetts isn`t exactly a bastion of conservatism. Don`t expect to catch a break from the local DA or the court. They are most likely going to view your pocketknife as a weapon. You usually fair much better with the officer and his "disgression". Most (not all) cops know the difference between a tool and a weapon, and are able to "read" a person in a given situation.

Bottom line: Stay out of the court system in this state!!
 
I've asked this question previously on this forum, and in several other places. I just got off the phone with the sergeant of my local precinct, and he says that he believes knives over 5 or 6 inches (he said 6 once, 5 later on) are illegal, as are any double- edged knives or other daggers, and he mentioned serrations as being illegal, which may matter to some, but I don't own any serrated knives, so not to me.

--JB
 
It's not the "non-conservative" character of the MA court system that you have to worry about with knives and other sharp pointy things. It's the prejudice against knives-as-weapons among authority figures that goes back centuries before anybody heard of a liberal.

There are other jurisdictions where you may have or be able to obtain permission to carry a gun, but you'll get in bad trouble for a "nasty knife."

There seems to be as much myth and legend about MA knife law as there is about CA knife law. Indeed, there's one well known knife mail order company that stamps anything double-edged and some other stuff as "Not for sale in CA or MA," as if the two states had identical laws, which they don't.

There's a "real rumor" that MA has made it an offense to merely own a double-edged knife, but I haven't seen a chapter and verse.

As for five or six inch knives being "illegal," I'd be very surprised to learn that you could get away with carrying a 4.5" hunting knife concealed in Boston, and I'd be very surprised to hear that anybody with an 8" chef's knife in the kitchen was breaking the law. Likewise with serrations. I'd like to see the statute there! Sounds like the cop may have been telling somebody the Law As He'd Write It.

Asking cops for legal advice is a good way to get frustrated and confused. That's not what they're trained for and paid for, just like lawyers aren't trained and paid to do police work.


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- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
 
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