Pocket Knife - Legal Issues

Legal Issues

Pocket knives are legal to own in most countries, but may face legal restrictions on their use. While pocket knives are almost always designed as tools, they do have the potential to be considered by legal authorities as weapons.

In the United States, knife laws vary from state to state and even within different cities and counties of the same state. Some local jurisdictions prohibit the possession or use of pocket knives that feature locking blades. Others prohibit certain blade styles perceived by law enforcement and legal authorities as optimal for offensive fighting, transforming the pocket knife from a utility tool into a deadly weapon. These might include knives with dirk, dagger (double-edge), bowie, or stiletto blades. In some jurisdictions it is illegal to conceal knives larger than a certain size or with blades over a certain length, particularly when combined with locking blade mechanisms. The possession or carrying of a folding pocket knife with a quick-opening mechanism such as a gravity knife, butterfly knife, balisong, or switchblade may be prohibited. Under U.S. federal law, switchblades and ballistic knives are banned from interstate shipment, sale, or importation, or possession on federal or Indian lands or U.S. possessions and may be prohibited entirely in some states. Knives of any size or configuration may be prohibited by federal or state laws in certain designated areas or places, such as schools, courthouses, jails, power plants, or airports.

In the United Kingdom it is illegal to carry a knife having a blade more than 3 inches in length in public without "good reason". The terms "in public" and "good reason" are not defined, but examples of "religious duty", "national dress" and "requirement of employment or hobby" are given. It is left up to a police officer's individual subjective discretion, and ultimately a magistrate to decide if a knife is being carried "in public", and for a "good reason". Folding knives with blades of 3 inches or less may be carried without needing to provide "good reason" so long as the blade is not capable of being locked in the open position. However, it is illegal to have the intention of using any object in public as a weapon, meaning that even a knife that is legal to carry without needing "good reason" may still be found to be illegal if the police officer has grounds to suspect it will be used as a weapon. The onus lies on the officer to prove that intent. Recent court decisions in the U.K. have made it easier for public prosecutors to obtain knife possession convictions by preventing the accused from citing self-defence or even fear of attack as a justifiable reason for carrying a knife. The U.K. government advisory website on crime and justice states flatly that "even if you carry a knife to protect yourself or make yourself feel safer but don’t intend to use it then you are committing a crime."