We have the three inch/locking laws in place here in South Texas, but I have never seen them enforced unless part of a larger problem such as being used in a bar fight or stabbing. As an interesting piece of local history, our knife law prohibiting locking knives and knives with blades over three inches is directly attributable to the Buck 110.
That's right, the venerated, respected, "now considered traditional" 110. It had a nasty point on it that was seen as making it a stabbing tool. It locked, which the traditionalists of the day screamed that NO traditional knife needed a lock unless it was for no good purpose. (Learn how to use your knife, boy... you shouldn't need training wheels...)
The lock was the killer as they local constabulary felt that it made it into a concealable weapon. And it was. The local motorcycle club immediately adopted it as their own for must have gear. A ton of folks carried them, and it was found to be a quite necessary tool of the Saturday Night Knife and Gun Club. I didn't get one back in the 60s because in its day, that knife was considered an aggressor's weapon around here. Lots of murders, stabbings and misunderstandings with that knife, and it was so often used that they developed a graphic (which reinforced it as a thug's knife) to show when they announced a local stabbing murder.
That only lasted a few years, but that knife was considered the blade of a trouble maker. The popular thinking among my blue collar workers was that if you wanted a blade that size on a knife, you should buy a fixed. If you didn't want to learn how use a folder properly which meant you shouldn't need a lock, maybe you shouldn't carry a knife at all. Traditional knife carriers were really militant then, and saw no need for this large, heavy, overbuilt locking knife with the long point that was SO big that it came with a belt sheath. Or was that actually a holster? The city ordinance passed easily that banned that type of knife, and the 110 was used as the poster boy to get it done.
Rigorous enforcement of the law got a lot of folks in trouble, and if you were in an altercation of any type and the police were called, you were arrested if you had a 110 on your person, even if no used in the commission of a crime. Arrested. Possession of an illegal weapon!
After about 5 years or so, all that calmed down, and the 110 started showing up everywhere. So much so, (and for a while, with so many police officers carrying them) the just quit enforcing the law. I have never seen anyone get in trouble around here for their choice of knife carry as long as they use common sense when carrying it.
Heck, ya! I wasn't familiar with that particular knife, but it seems our law makers all have the same kind of sensibilities when making law. It makes perfect sense that you shouldn't be able to carry a knife with a 3" blade, but can carry a double edged fighting dirk/dagger when wearing a kilt. Makes perfect sense to me!
Robert
