Zero Tolerance 0560 Legal for California Carry?

B

Bert Reynolds

Joined
Jun 16, 2010
Messages
17
Hello, I will be traveling to California and wanted to know if my ZT 0560 is legal to carry in my pocket clipped or unclipped? Everything I have been trying to read is a little confusing and contradicting.

Thanks
 
I was in California recently and noticed the captain of some tourist boats with a big locking folder clipped to his belt. Not clipped in his pocket, clipped to his belt. He told me any knife is legal in California as long as it's not concealed. So in pocket is presumably not legal if it's a big knife which I presume it must be (I am not familiar with ZT models). My Spyderco Delica which comes it at 2 7/8" blade is fine...so said the captain.

Carry a knife in California at your own risk.

Come to Indiana where no knife is illegal, no matter how you carry it! The beach and the mountains here are great...no...wait...
 
It's legal to carry any blade length you want in a folder as long as it's folded in pocket not opened in pocket. But check county and city laws. L.a. You can't have a blade over 3 inches visible on belt. No concealing fixed blades no autos no daggers no balisongs. You can carry a 10 inch folding knife in your underwear if you truly wanted to.
Basic summary
Fixed blades must be on belt in sheath and can't be hidden by shirt.
Knives in pocket must be closed
Any length in pocket clip or no clip.
 
HoosierQ is very wrong regarding California knife laws, and the boat captain was very wrong as well.

Blade Dude is mostly correct. His only mistakes are- daggers are not illegal in California, to own or openly carry. And autos and balisongs are only illegal to carry if the blade is two inches or longer.

As far as the ZT 0560, under California state law it is perfectly legal to carry that knife either concealed or openly on public or private property. However, under state law it is illegal to carry ANY locking folder of any size on any school property grades k-12 (CA penal code 626.10).

Blade Dude is correct that some jurisdictions in California (like Los Angeles) have knife laws that are stricter than state law, and which limit the size of folder or fixed-blade you can openly carry. Odd but true. Some counties/cities here don't like large, openly carried knives, but carrying them concealed is perfectly legal (as long as they are folders)

Here is a link to California's official state website where all of it's state knife laws can be found- http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes.xhtml

To find the knife laws, click on the "text search" box, then click the "penal code" box (bottom of center column), then type whatever word or words you want into the search boxes- knife, blade, dagger, etc. And all state laws with those words in them will appear.
 
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Just talking about manual folders, in Los Angeles if your folder is in "plain view" it cannot have a blade length over 3 inches (San Francisco also has a 3" blade length limit). You can carry a blade length over 3 inches as long as it's concealed, for instance, in your pocket but not clipped. Of course, certain types of folders like double-edged, automatics, etc. are restricted. For autos if it has a blade length under 2 inches it's legal. You really have to go by local laws (not just state laws).
 
HoosierQ said:
Carry a knife in California at your own risk.
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I read this type of thing a lot on the forums. It's an incorrect assumption. There are other states, or cities within those states, where knife laws are MUCH stricter than even in L.A. or S.F., let alone other places in CA with more relaxed knife laws.

Jim
 
RamZar said:
Just talking about manual folders, in Los Angeles if your folder is in "plain view" it cannot have a blade length over 3 inches (San Francisco also has a 3" blade length limit). You can carry a blade length over 3 inches as long as it's concealed, for instance, in your pocket but not clipped. Of course, certain types of folders like double-edged, automatics, etc. are restricted. For autos if it has a blade length under 2 inches it's legal. You really have to go by local laws (not just state laws).
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Not to be "Mr. Know-it-all", but it's not illegal to carry double-edge knives in California. Neither double-edge folders or double-edge fixed-blades. No such prohibition exists anywhere in the California penal code (I provided a link to the CA penal code in my first post).

Likewise, in my research I have never seen any local laws in this state that forbid carrying double-edged knives.
 
Rasco said:
I consider this a good place to start when researching any state's knife laws.

http://www.knifeup.com/knife-laws/
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I couldn't disagree more.

In regards to California, that website says- "Dirks, Daggers and Stilettos are illegal". But nothing could be further from the truth, none of those knives are illegal in this state. Just another example of a website claiming to know knife laws, and getting them wrong.

Since they got California wrong, who knows what other states they have gotten wrong.

If someone wants to know the knife laws of California, they should read the actual penal code, the actual laws written by the people who wrote them.
 
Killgar nailed it. CA laws aren't that bad for knives. The auto and Bali thing bugs me but I can deal with it. Lots of people carry knives out here. It's not uncommon to see people with large folders. The law does vary county to county. Check out an app called "Legal Blade". I use that a lot when traveling.
 
I love the "I heard this from a guy" when it comes to rules or laws. Just go look at the actual law. Why in the hell would anyone risk legality to hearsay?
 
killgar said:
Here is a link to California's official state website where all of it's state knife laws can be found- http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes.xhtml
Click to expand...

Go to that awesome state government website and try to find me some knife laws.

I clicked the link, then clicked "Penal" or is there another code section I should be looking under? Once you get to Penal, it's a dead end. Clicking on "THE PENAL CODE OF CALIFORNIA" gets you nowhere. Tried Text Search checking the box for Penal and searching the word "knife" and it appears to give results, but try clicking on any of those results...

Another brilliantly functional CA website for ya... >_>

The link I provided may not be great, but neither is the state website...

Try this(?)

http://www.zknives.com/knives/articles/law/caknifelaws.shtml
 
Where in California?

The laws in San Francisco are much different than the laws in Oakland and Berkley.

I wouldn't stress too much. I've lived in San Francisco for over 6 years and carry many folders larger than 3 inches in blade length. If you manage to get a cop to notice you and pat you down, you probably were asking for it. Common sense prevails.
 
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Rasco said:
Go to that awesome state government website and try to find me some knife laws.

I clicked the link, then clicked "Penal" or is there another code section I should be looking under? Once you get to Penal, it's a dead end. Clicking on "THE PENAL CODE OF CALIFORNIA" gets you nowhere. Tried Text Search checking the box for Penal and searching the word "knife" and it appears to give results, but try clicking on any of those results...

Another brilliantly functional CA website for ya... >_>

The link I provided may not be great, but neither is the state website...

Try this(?)

http://www.zknives.com/knives/articles/law/caknifelaws.shtml
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The link I provided is working fine for me. I just used it to find these two laws regarding "dirks and daggers"

Here is CA pc 16470, California's legal definition of "dirks and daggers"- http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=16470&lawCode=PEN


And here is CA pc 21310, the law that says it's illegal to carry "dirks and daggers" concealed upon ones person.
http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=21310.&lawCode=PEN

Furthermore, there is only one reference to a "stiletto" in the entire California penal code, and here it is- http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=16340.&lawCode=PEN

That statute only refers to using a blade as a stiletto. Sword canes however are quite illegal in this state.

I tested those three links and they work fine for me.

As for the link you provided in the post quoted above, I didn't read every word, but I noticed it did say "I can't find where the law ban either double edged blades or dirks and daggers".

That doesn't surprise me, because there are no such bans. Only a ban on carrying them concealed upon ones person (21310) carrying them on school property k-12 (626.10), and possession in any correctional institution (4502). But there are no prohibitions on ownership, or carrying double-edged folders concealed (closed), or openly carrying double-edged knives.

However long it might take for an official state government website to load, and however much effort it might take to search through that website to find the actual knife laws, I think that's much better than getting legal information from websites that are providing inaccurate information, regardless of how easy it is to find that information.
 
Bert Reynolds said:
Hello, I will be traveling to California and wanted to know if my ZT 0560 is legal to carry in my pocket clipped or unclipped? Everything I have been trying to read is a little confusing and contradicting.

Thanks
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We need to know what cities/counties you'll be visiting in order to answer your question. Do not rely on any advice that hasn't taken this into account.
 
As far as I remember, the cities/counties that have restrictions are:

LA county
Berkeley, CA
Oakland, CA
San Francisco, CA (while loitering).

Otherwise, state law should be the most restrictive; but it's always good to double check whichever cities you're going to.

Zero
 
I carry a 560 along with a 560BW and a 452cf with it's ~4" blade. I know it's legal to have them on me in my pocket as long as they're in the closed position and i'm not in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Oakland - Places where I sometimes am. If I have a fixed blade, then it has to be open carried.

Belt buckle knives, pen knives, cane swords, shuriken, butterfly knives over 2" are illegal.

Don't look like a gangster / street thug and your odds of having a knife and being unmolested by police goes way up.
 
killgar said:
Not to be "Mr. Know-it-all", but it's not illegal to carry double-edge knives in California. Neither double-edge folders or double-edge fixed-blades. No such prohibition exists anywhere in the California penal code (I provided a link to the CA penal code in my first post).

Likewise, in my research I have never seen any local laws in this state that forbid carrying double-edged knives.
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I recall something like double edged blades were all right only for open carry and since most folders are not carried that way I play it safe. I'd rather err on the side of caution specially in places like Los Angeles and when downtown.
 
Rey HRH said:
Don't look like a gangster / street thug and your odds of having a knife and being unmolested by police goes way up.
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^ This!

I've honestly never taken the time to even check the laws in, San Diego County. Like most native Californian's, I know the laws pertaining to automatics & balisongs. With that said, when it comes to folder's, I pretty much carry what I want, when I want. I've never once been questioned, or searched by a law enforcement officer. Having a father in law enforcement, & hanging around many LEO when I was a kid, gave me a keen understanding that if you follow Rey's advice, you typically don't have too much to worry about. And if I were to ever get into a situation, once the officer did a background check (realized I have zero criminal history), am respectful, clean cut...these attributes could possibly help making difference between a warning, & a confiscation. Either way, it's a calculated risk that I'm willing to take.

How about that Super Bowl!?!? :thumbup: I took the Bronco's & the points, & the under...I'm busting! :D
 
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RamZar said:
I recall something like double edged blades were all right only for open carry and since most folders are not carried that way I play it safe. I'd rather err on the side of caution specially in places like Los Angeles and when downtown.
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Nope, there's nothing in state law that prohibits the carrying of a concealed double-edged folder (as long as it's carried closed). In fact, there is no mention whatsoever in the California penal code of "double-edged knives" or "double-edged blades", or "knives with two sharpened edges", or anything like that. If you use the link I provided in my first post, and do a search for "double-edged knives", or similar language, you won't get any results.

Likewise there is no mention of double-edged knives, either fixed or folders, anywhere in either the Los Angeles municipal code, or the Los Angeles county code.

But of course, what you choose to carry, or not carry, and your reasoning, are entirely your business. :)
 
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