Washington St/Canada laws

lazerboy2000

lazerboy2000

Joined
Mar 3, 2008
Messages
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I'm leaving for Seattle tonight and will be in Seattle for a few days and also be traveling to Vancouver and Whistler. What are the laws regarding knife carry in these places? I'll mostly be carrying a small Boker Trance but am I allowed to have the clip visible or must it be completely concealed?

Also, what are the rules on max blade length for a folder so I can bring some different knives to rotate.
 
Washington State is mostly wide open for folding knife carry. A 3-1/2 blade length restriction exists only in Olympia, Seattle, Everett, etc, the major cities.
The only prohibited knives are all switchblades and balisongs. Assisted openers are OK.
 
In Canada you are actually NOT supposed to have a concealed knife.

90. (1) Every person commits an offence who carries a weapon, a prohibited device or any prohibited ammunition concealed, unless the person is authorised under the Firearms Act to carry it concealed.
Click to expand...

I therefore make use of my pocket clips, but if you're carrying a little folder in your pocket nobody is going to harass you. Carrying a knife with a blade longer than 4" is pushing it, depending on the circumstance (e.g., carrying a large knife while camping is not going to get you in trouble).

Remember that in Canada a knife is not for self-defence. Vancouver is a liberal city, but if you managed to get stopped by the cops (and you wont - knock on wood) and tell them that you're an American and your knife is for protection from communists, they will, at the least, confiscate it.
 
boro said:
In Canada you are actually NOT supposed to have a concealed knife.
Click to expand...

Yes and no.
In Canada, you may not carry a weapon, but you MAY carry a knife because it is a TOOL. Since there is no law against concealed carry of TOOLS, you can do so; the problem is that some cops use their "discretion" to say that you concealing it shows INTENT to use it as a weapon.
You'd win in court, if it went that far, but what a PITA.
P.S.- in Calgary, your knife MUST be concealed or you get a fine(city by-law:)).
 
thanks for this post. i am heading to Vancouver BC today from WA state and had same questions. There are little to no readily available answers to this from "official" websites such as city of Vancouber site, BC site, or Canadian customs. Would love to see some links any Vancouver and/or BC locals may know of that show actual laws, regs or ordinances that may apply. I did find this site:

http://www.geocities.com/freedom_web/ccra/banned.htm
 
I'm from Vancouver, and have been carrying without any problems since I joined the forums (researching knife laws which lead me to BF is actually what got me hooked on knives). But I need to clarify..so are the Washington state knife laws similar to Canada's, or should my knife be concealed? Thanks guys.
 
I think in Canada it makes sense to learn self defence with something you are likely to be carrying, and are able to carry reasonably concealed legally. Depending on your trade or hobby this could be any number of things. While hiking and camping you could carry a large staff and a large camp knife. If you do that sort of thing regularly you should be able to keep them in your car also, which is a good idea anyway. Lots of stuff you could have in a vehicle I suppose, like crowbars, baseball bats. For walking around the city perhaps a cane or umbrella, and a smaller camp knife or larger pocket knife.

We seem to have forgotten the art of walking quietly and carrying large sticks.
 
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