Traveling to California for a week or so

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Pondoro2310

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Apr 13, 2014
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What are the laws about pocket knives relative to length, locking blades and thumb assisted opening? Thanks.
 
Depends on the region, every city is a bit different. The law is vague about flippers, depends on how you interpret "flipping out." But generally blades under 3" are fine and locking mechanisms are fine. Definitely no autos. Assisted openers are okay if you deploy using thumb stud or spidey hole. But again, the language of the law is open to interpretation and probably a LEO will use his opinion.
 
I'm in Southern California..Los Angeles County but not City of Los Angeles (Who have their own City ordinances).
As a former So. Cal. Police Officer and one who knows the knife laws, you can legally carry any fixed blade knife openly in a sheath but never concealed.
A folder of any blade length can be carried concealed as long as it's not an automatic. Spring assist knives are also fine concealed. These are knives that have no mechanism for opening on the HANDLE or SCALES.
If the opening mechanism is part of the blade, or on the blade, you are totally fine (thumb stud or flipping protrusion on blade).
This stupid rule that some cops and people throw out there because they don't know what they are talking about
like (the blade cannot be longer than the width of my palm) is wrong. Believe it or not, 85%+ of Police Officers don't understand the State or County knife laws. They will call a supervisor (watch Commander) to help them out.
It's really their call in the field at that point.

Northern Cali might have different local county/city ordinances that I'm not aware of. Keep that in mind.
 
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I live in The Oakland area and never heard of the 3" thing being enforced.
 
3 inches or more in plain view is a problem. Concealed in your pocket (in Los Angeles County) not a problem.
I've never lived in Oakland.
 
Yeah I guess if the cop wants you he'll pin as many cases as he can on you. Everytime I've been detained they gave me my knives back and let me go.
 
Im with SOCALedc, I live in SF and LA, I carry a knife with me everywhere I go in audition to other EDC items. IMO the more attention your knife attracts the more likely you are to have law enforcement engage you about it. As SOCAL said, many officers don't know the law, you should be ok as long as you are not out looking for trouble.
 
Thanks. My suitcase (checked luggage) always contains a Buck 284. Small and cheap enough to throw away if I ever get somewhere and find out "oops, this is illegal", or change plans mid-trip to go somewhere with stricter laws. Sounds like it is OK to stay in my suitcase.

I once dropped my daughter off at the airport in a European country and they were screening with metal detectors at the front door. I wanted to help her get her boarding pass and then have coffee with her, as she was pretty early. I hid my cheap knife outside, went in with her and later returned to find it, still hidden.
 
The chances of being stopped and search by police in California are very slim unless you are looking for trouble. If you carry a non-auto 3" fold you should be able to carry with confidence. I carry very high quality small folders and have no worries at all if I am stopped, which is unlikely.

Pondoro2310 said:
Thanks. My suitcase (checked luggage) always contains a Buck 284. Small and cheap enough to throw away if I ever get somewhere and find out "oops, this is illegal", or change plans mid-trip to go somewhere with stricter laws. Sounds like it is OK to stay in my suitcase.

I once dropped my daughter off at the airport in a European country and they were screening with metal detectors at the front door. I wanted to help her get her boarding pass and then have coffee with her, as she was pretty early. I hid my cheap knife outside, went in with her and later returned to find it, still hidden.
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As far as I'm aware (which probably isn't much), L.A., San Francisco and Oakland (and possibly Sacramento?) have the strictest blade length laws in CA, as far as visible carry (i.e., visibly clipped to the pocket). There may be other cities like that. But even so, they are still FAR less restrictive than many places outside of CA, such as Boston, Chicago, NYC, Washington DC, etc., etc. San Diego seems less restrictive than L.A. in this regard.

I've never had any problems at all. I regularly carry a Spyderco Military or large CRK Insingo clipped to my pocket, and they've never gotten a second look from anyone, even cops so far. Admittedly, if I were to go to L.A. or SF and wanted to carry clipped instead of down in-pocket, I'd probably opt for a Delica or similar-sized folder. Regardless of my one-hand opening knife, I always carry at least one SAK on me at all times, except for where knives are restricted. That means federal buildings, sporting events, concerts, amusement parks, the zoo, airports, etc. But then again, that's pretty much the standard rule all over the country, I would think.

Jim
 
James Y said:
As far as I'm aware (which probably isn't much), L.A., San Francisco and Oakland (and possibly Sacramento?) have the strictest blade length laws in CA, as far as visible carry (i.e., visibly clipped to the pocket). There may be other cities like that. But even so, they are still FAR less restrictive than many places outside of CA, such as Boston, Chicago, NYC, Washington DC, etc., etc. San Diego seems less restrictive than L.A. in this regard.

I've never had any problems at all. I regularly carry a Spyderco Military or large CRK Insingo clipped to my pocket, and they've never gotten a second look from anyone, even cops so far. Admittedly, if I were to go to L.A. or SF and wanted to carry clipped instead of down in-pocket, I'd probably opt for a Delica or similar-sized folder. Regardless of my one-hand opening knife, I always carry at least one SAK on me at all times, except for where knives are restricted. That means federal buildings, sporting events, concerts, amusement parks, the zoo, airports, etc. But then again, that's pretty much the standard rule all over the country, I would think.

Jim
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Lived in SF bay area all my life and the only length limits I've ever heard of are in Berkeley, which has a 3" ord. Fixed blade carry is fine unless concealed; putting a jacket on can make you an instant felon. Watch out for BART police. They
make up the rules as they go along and can be quite unpredictable...
 
Also, autos and balis are out unless the auto is a sub-2 (1.999) or less in blade length. Still wouldn't want to be caught w/ one...
 
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