What are the laws for carrying a Kukri sized knife in a vehicle?

[sweetcostarica]

The law is different everywhere, so be careful about generalized advice. For example, here, the statutes find that "zip guns" "switchblades" with blades over 3" long, slung shot, blackjacks, brass knuckles and supressors are illegal.

Remember that these weapon Laws can and do change daily. Shann's, mine, and all the advice above could be different next week. This is one reason I make my plea to learn the Law in your city and state and check them as often as possible.

 

[falar]

You just nailed "Officer discretion".

View attachment 288709
So true thebrain. That is why I tell people to go to the Police Station. In the Station you have more Officers, secretaries, and the right Law books for checking.

COps are the LAST people to ask what is legal. In their minds you have no rights and everything they deem to be illegal, IS. I can't tell you how many times I've been threatened by them when legally carrying guns and knives.

 

[Esav Benyamin]

I moved this to our Knife Laws forum, the proper place for this discussion.

Knife laws are very specific to time and place: they change frequently, and differ in every jurisdiction. So do the best authorities. I could ask a police officer in my town, but I would never trust the answer from the NY police. Even lawyers may not be up on current knife law.

We have two great resources fighting for our rights:
AKTI and Knife Rights. Research there, and consider joining:

http://www.akti.org/ The American Knife & Tool Institute
http://www.kniferights.org/ Knife Rights

 

[HighlanderNorth]

With the warning in mind that I'm not giving professional legal advice, I'll offer that laws against "knives designed to harm people" are usually leverage for police officers to confiscate weapons from people who look like or are actively causing trouble. Further, it's another charge that a prosecutor can throw at a criminal for leverage on a plea bargain.
If you have an especially "badge heavy" officer or someone just in a bad mood, they might interpret your knife as malevolent anyway, but that's a special issue. For an officer intent on interpreting the law against you, your best defense is to cooperate fully and have a good lawyer on retainer.
Most of the time, though, if you're keeping a low profile, acting natural, and generally obeying the law, the police aren't going to interpret the laws against you. If they do take issue, be polite and have a good reason to be carrying your knife.
All that said, I can't speak for the disposition of your local law enforcement. Where I'm from in West Virginia, I'd occasionally khukuris to work and no one cared, and no one ever cared if I had a pocket knife even on a college campus. By contrast, the NYPD will arrest and charge you if they see so much as a pocket clip or printing, and the prosecutor will take it to trial. But NYC has chosen to interpret New York's laws as making all locking folders illegal.

That makes sense^

But as far as the NYPD officers charging just about anyone with a felony for even a clip knife, the only positive thing you can hope for in that scenario is that NYC has lots of more "liberal" prosecutors and judges, who often give slap-on-the-wrist sentences to even the worst offenders, so maybe you'd get off with a misdemeanor or the charges would be dropped. I watched a real-life crime drama where two young people(early 20's) intentionally manipulated another guy they knew to follow them down into central park near strawberry fields about 8-12 years ago, then they tortured the guy in the most heinous way, before killing him. They literally cut him open and pulled out his intestines while he was still alive and filled the chest cavity with debris from the ground, then stabbed him to death. They admitted to the crime but blamed each other, but the prosecutor decided to only charge them with simple manslaughter(when it was clearly 1st degree murder!) and gave them 6 years in jail. They got out a few years ago.

So for a little knife you might not be seriously punished. But then again, we are talking about liberals, many of whom hate knives and guns, and may decide to make an example of you, and your little pin knife, and throw the book at you and give you 3-5 years or some-such insanity....

 

[Chris Wille]

In the bed of your truck I'd say no problem.You can have a ax in your bed no problem.As far as the cops episodes i bet those guys had charges dropped ..Hell you can carry rifles in a gun rack so its seen so i'd hang it there .idk i'll check into it.what state

 

[Esav Benyamin]

The First Law of Self-Defense: Don't go there. (New York City)

The Philosophy of Self-Defense:
"Keep your soul out of hell, your body out of jail, and your name out of the newspapers." :grumpy:

 

[TOM1960]

Thats the one thing I've been concerned with here. When I was younger and we lived out in rural areas, in between moving as a result of my Dad taking every transfer offered to him by the company he worked for, my friends and I used to carry pocket knives and even fixed blade knives with us here and there because the only things to do were to go fishing, hunting, etc. Plus we were in Scouts and all, so we always owned knives.

But when I turned 19, I moved out to a mid sized town in Delware, a college town, with many liberal-anti knife types all over, and I heard you could get in trouble for carrying a knife, even if you had no intent of ever using it as a weapon. So I stopped carrying knives from then on. I bought a new Gerber multi-tool type knife back in 2007 right before backpacking the AT in Shenandoah natl park in winter.

But now I've bought 2 Kukris recently, and I threw the Ontario Kukri into the back of my cab and drove to work the other day. Then I remembered seeing at least 2 episodes of "Cops" in recent years, where 2 different cops charged 2 different guys with Felony concealed deadly weapon charges, just for having a stupid folding pocket knife on their dash or in the cup holder under some papers or under a MacDonalds wrapper! They clearly werent trying to "conceal" these knives, they just had messy vehicles with papers laying on top of the knife, but they still got charged!

So after remembering that, I removed the Kukri from the cab, and placed it on top of the rear fender in the bed, out in the open, where any cop who might pull me over for whatever reason can see it isnt "concealed". But I dont know if thats good enough, and some police will certainly charge you for something bogus. They can say it was concealed, even if its sitting in the middle of the bed out in the open! It would be your word against theirs.

So I read a website where a guy has entered the knife laws for every state. But after reading it, I'm more confused than before! Those laws are written in "Lawyer speak". They are usually redundant, and the same thing is written over and over with slight, confusing differences. The one thing they do keep stating over and over is that you are supposedly allowed to have a "pocket knife" with a blade under 3", BUT...then they say you WILL be charged with a felony if the knife is made for causing harm to people! Well, any knife can cause harm to people, so what is a knife that is "made for causing harm?" If you buy a 3" tactical folder, maybe they can charge you with a felony, because the knife is a "tactical knife" which they can claim is designed to harm people! Even if its blade is 3" or under.

The term "pocket knife" is a term from the 1920's to 1970's. Back then there werent any "tactical folders" for sale everywhere, and all knives that folded were called "pocket knives". Its not so cut and dry these days!

I just want to carry the Kukri for my landscaping business to cut branches, slash through briars before removing the stumps, general thick brush cutting, etc. I'm not carrying it as a weapon, but since they can claim that it is "designed to harm people", could I be charged with a felony even if it isnt concealed?

These laws need to be rewritten, but I live in a blue state, and the liberals are certainly anti-knife and anti-gun, just like they are everywhere else! They want them off the streets and out of our possession, and they dont care if people are unfairly charged with felonies for no legitimate reason, as long as they achieve their goals.........

What do you think? Can I get charged with a felony in De for carrying a Kukri in the back of my truck?

You drive a pickup truck? If so, get one of those locking aluminum truck tool boxes and install it behind the cab. Besides your kukri (and other knives), you can carry your firearms (unloaded and cased) in that box, because it counts as a locked container under F.O.P.A. for interstate travel (complete journey, just passing through with short stops for refueling, meals and restroom breaks). Anything carried in such a box is completely inaccessible to driver and passengers. Just make sure to keep the box locked at all times if it contains knives or firearms. As an added bonus, you can use the box as an antenna mount if you are into CB or mobile Amateur Radio (had to add that; I am an amateur operator myself!).

 

[sweetcostarica]

The First Law of Self-Defense: Don't go there. (New York City)

The Philosophy of Self-Defense:
"Keep your soul out of hell, your body out of jail, and your name out of the newspapers." :grumpy:

This is actually the best advice I've heard yet :thumbup:.