What Are the Pocket Knives Laws, Legal Lengths, and Rules for Illegal Types?

Pocket knives are applicable tools in emergencies and helpful in daily life. However, they are also weapons and subject to various restrictions.

Characteristics like your pocket knives' length, shape, and stored location may affect their legality. Understanding local regulations is crucial to pocket knife ownership and avoiding potential issues with law enforcement.

Is It Illegal to Carry a Pocket Knife?

Carrying a pocket knife is legal, depending on where you live and the size of the knife. Some states, like Alabama, allow unrestricted carry, while others, like New Jersey, ban both folding and automatic knives.

States allowing citizens to carry pocket knives usually specify that there must be no intent to harm. In these cases, if you're found with a knife after committing an assault, you aren't legally protected even if you didn't use the weapon.

Additionally, locations such as schools, hospitals, and airports prohibit weapons under most circumstances. These areas are often designated as Gun Free Zones, where weapons of any kind, including knives, are strictly prohibited to enhance safety.

Is it Illegal to Have a Knife in Your Car?

Keeping a knife in your car can save your life. You can cut away the seatbelt in an overturned vehicle or remove clothing that's snagged to the wreck. Maybe you want to take your knife to another private location, and you're worried about whether it's legal to drive with a bladed weapon in your car.

Luckily, vehicles are considered personal property in most states. This definition showcases the difference between "carrying" and "owning" a knife. It means that storing a knife in your glove compartment is barely different from having it in a drawer in your house.

Some states ban the ownership of certain blades, such as ballistic knives or knives exceeding a certain size. These knife types are also illegal to store in a vehicle. Always check your state's specific laws regarding knives in vehicles to stay compliant.

What Size Knife is Legal to Carry?

Knives are measured from the tip to the base of the handle. Because a knife doesn't have to stab very deep to be fatal, the police are more interested in the cutting edge's length.

Legal Pocket Knife Length by Jurisdiction

Some states allow foot-long blades, while others ban anything over two-and-a-half inches. The allowed length of a knife varies greatly depending on the jurisdiction.

Thirteen states do not limit a blade's length as long as it isn't an illegal knife type. A third of these states restrict blades to citizens under a certain age or to people with previous drug or violent offenses.

Most states that create a hard line for blade lengths set it somewhere between 3 and 4 inches. Here are some examples of legal blade lengths in various regions:

• Shortest Blade Length: 1.5 inches (Connecticut and Massachusetts)
• Longest Blade Length: 12 inches (Georgia)

Blade length restrictions are highly generalized, and there may be further limitations depending on the location. Alabama allows state residents to carry knives in bus terminals and airports, but this practice is not the norm.

Legal and Illegal Types of Knives

Laws surrounding "knives" sometimes apply to many non-standard bladed objects like axes, throwing stars, machetes, and tomahawks. These extreme inclusions are typically removed from any statutes involving open or concealed carry in most states.

However, some blades that maintain a "knife-like" appearance are also banned in many places. These knives are not considered multi-purpose and are subject to more intense scrutiny.

The most common definition of a pocket knife is a small, folding knife that fits in your pocket. A knife whose handle sticks out or whose blade is permanently exposed does not fit this characterization.

Pocket Knife Rules for Specific Types

• Folding Knives: Legal in most states except Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, and North Dakota. However, folding knives must conform to the state's blade length requirements.
• Fixed-blade knives: Exposed blades are considered more dangerous and intended to inflict harm. They are banned in many states and may have a separate minimum blade length where they are legal.
• Switchblades: Frequently illegal due to their dangerous automatic opening mechanism. They are historically associated with gang crime. California and New York are especially strict about these knives.

How Old Do You Have to Be to Carry a Pocket Knife?

Pocket knives are often classified as deadly weapons. Some states take this classification and ban them, while others set age requirements in the hope that they're handled more responsibly.

The cutoff for pocket knife carry coincides with the age at which people are expected to handle more responsibility. Arizona, Alaska, West Virginia, and Wyoming all set their age requirements at 21.

Exceptions to Age Requirements

Many exceptions allow minors to handle pocket knives, but they come with conditions. Common requirements for minors to use pocket knives include any or all of the following:

• Parental supervision
• Limited blade length
• While hunting or fishing
• Legitimate work-related purposes

These examples are common reasons why it might be legal for a minor to handle a pocket knife. They are not universally accepted in all states.

Buying, Selling, or Gifting Pocket Knives

States with age restrictions against carrying a pocket knife may forbid selling or gifting one to a minor. This prevents you from being the fun aunt or uncle who gives pocket knives as a "coming-of-age" present.

Some people believe that it's okay for minors to keep, but not use, a knife until they're the right age. However, if the minor brings the knife to a school, hospital, or public space, you could be held legally responsible. Such measures are crucial for maintaining school safety and preventing accidents.

Understanding age-related restrictions and exceptions can help prevent accidents in young people.

Navigating the laws surrounding pocket knives requires careful attention to local regulations. There are dozens of pocket knife types with different sizes, shapes, and hidden mechanisms. What may seem like a cool or helpful novelty could put you in legal hot water.

Generally, you're safe if you're an adult and the knife folds comfortably in your pocket, but always check your local laws to ensure compliance. Understanding these laws allows you to choose a pocket knife safe for personal, professional, and emergency use.