Hello again. I have a question about carrying a Pendleton lite Hunter in maryland. I plan on carrying it in a pocket of my edc bag. I do not carry it conceded but more discreetly. I understand that I can't carry a Dirk dagger bowie or star knife concealed but dose the Pendleton fall under this category
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MD knife law question- cold steel pendleton lite hunter
- Thread starter Waldamir
- Start date
All fixed blade knives can (but not necessarily always) fall under the umbrella of "bowie knife," or "dirk knife" if they are carried concealed (per §4101). A police officer discovering any fixed blade "concealed on or about the person" has the discretion of whether or not they want to cite or make an arrest for CDW.
I have seen cases of this type go either way (and I don't mean "I heard from some guy," I mean I actually went to the courthouse and pulled the record)
Generally speaking, fixed blades of a utilitarian nature, carried in the absence of any apparent criminal intentions, will be thrown out by the judge rather than prosecuted.
If the knife is not concealed, it is not illegal to carry it. But your use of the term "discreetly" might be cause for concern. A reasonable person encountering and interacting with you should be able to not only see the knife, but identify that it is a knife. If they can't, that is concealed.
I have seen cases of this type go either way (and I don't mean "I heard from some guy," I mean I actually went to the courthouse and pulled the record)
Generally speaking, fixed blades of a utilitarian nature, carried in the absence of any apparent criminal intentions, will be thrown out by the judge rather than prosecuted.
If the knife is not concealed, it is not illegal to carry it. But your use of the term "discreetly" might be cause for concern. A reasonable person encountering and interacting with you should be able to not only see the knife, but identify that it is a knife. If they can't, that is concealed.
i keep the knife in a pocket of my EDC bag. the pocket covers most of the knife and sheath (i carry the sheath in there). the handle juts out about an inch but my bag and knife handle are black. When i say discreetly i mean that i dont obviously have a knife on my person but can be identified if a person was looking for it. the handle blends in well with the bag but the handle is still visibleAll fixed blade knives can (but not necessarily always) fall under the umbrella of "bowie knife," or "dirk knife" if they are carried concealed (per §4–101). A police officer discovering any fixed blade "concealed on or about the person" has the discretion of whether or not they want to cite or make an arrest for CDW.
I have seen cases of this type go either way (and I don't mean "I heard from some guy," I mean I actually went to the courthouse and pulled the record)
Generally speaking, fixed blades of a utilitarian nature, carried in the absence of any apparent criminal intentions, will be thrown out by the judge rather than prosecuted.
If the knife is not concealed, it is not illegal to carry it. But your use of the term "discreetly" might be cause for concern. A reasonable person encountering and interacting with you should be able to not only see the knife, but identify that it is a knife. If they can't, that is concealed.
An inch of handle on a Lite Hunter is not going to fly as "open carry." While you, I, or a cop may recognize it, most people would not even if they looked right at it. Keep in mind that if a cop recognizes it, it still counts as concealed because of a common understanding in the legal system that police are "specially trained to spot and recognize weapons," whereas the threshold for concealment is the average untrained citizen.
An inch of handle on a Lite Hunter is not going to fly as "open carry." While you, I, or a cop may recognize it, most people would not even if they looked right at it. Keep in mind that if a cop recognizes it, it still counts as concealed because of a common understanding in the legal system that police are "specially trained to spot and recognize weapons," whereas the threshold for concealment is the average untrained citizen.
So basically Its more legal to carry a knife on my belt with criminal intentions then to carry on the side of my bag as an emergency light duty survival knife. thats my take on it.
So basically Its more legal to carry a knife on my belt with criminal intentions then to carry on the side of my bag as an emergency light duty survival knife. thats my take on it.
Well, no, if you are carrying on your belt with criminal intentions, that too is just as illegal (i.e. the statutory text "openly with the intent or purpose of injuring an individual in an unlawful manner"). The Lite Hunter concealed but otherwise with no criminal intent on the other hand, even if you were cited, would probably be thrown out in court.
Of the cases I reviewed with a concealed fixed blade, the only times it was not thrown out was when the defendant was clearly "up to something" nefarious but the cops couldn't prove it. One (Polk v MD) was a case of a guy in a car who had doctored the temp tag expiration, was behaving erratically and cussed at the police when they approached. The guy was clearly high on something and the knife was just used as an excuse to get him. And that case was dismissed on appeal for failure to prove the knife was concealed. The other was a case were police were summoned for a domestic violence call. The defendant had clearly beaten up his wife, but of course she unconvincingly denied it and kept insisting she had "tripped." They noticed the handle of a fixed blade in his pocket and took him in for a concealed weapon, more or less as a technicality to get him out of the house with something they could prove that didn't require eyewitness testimony. This is why I take stories about being searched by the police "for no reason and they were determined to find something" with a grain of salt.
But I'm not the person you need to convince this law is stupid. If I had my way we'd be like Vermont, with no knife or gun carry laws at all (at least, not that affect non-felons of proper age). Who knows, with how KnifeRights has been doing the past 5 years, I may live to see it happen.