Legal Carry in California?

[donutsrule]

I'm more confused now than I was before. It was a simple question, which Spyderco folder knives are legal to carry in California?

"What clothes should I wear while in California?" is a simple question, but unless/until we have sufficient details to know whether you are going to be in Tahoe in the winter or Death Valley in the summer, the answer is not simple. :)

[jackknifeh]

Here's a thought I go buy but it may not work for everyone, everywhere. I think FL (where I live) has a state law of anything over 3" is illegal. I have no idea about county or other laws. Five or six years ago I called my local Sheriff's office to ask what a legal knife consisted of. They thought it was funny that anyone would ask. I live where hunting and fishing are popular so you may see about any kind of knife on people in public. They may come out of the woods and go right into Wal Mart. So, even though my GB is (or may be) illegal by the book, the cops here won't care if I carry and use it as long as I don't poke anyone with it (other than my self that is :) ). This is important to me since I don't really care about owning an knife I don't carry at all. If I had to worry about my GB being confiscated I wouldn't carry it. If I wouldn't carry it I wouldn't want to keep it. If the police officers you may run into don't care what you carry even if it is technically illegal you should be ok using it. You have to decide about this.

[zhyla]

I'm more confused now than I was before. It was a simple question, which Spyderco folder knives are legal to carry in California?

Various municipalities felt the need to regulate knives, so it's potentially as complicated as the number of cities in CA. But personally I think it's better to ignore that and just follow the state laws. I've never found cops to be terribly interested in knives and almost certainly don't know the local city ordinances on knives. LA county is probably a worthy exception.

I've seen numerous "switchblade" arrests in the crime map feed in my county. But nobody bats an eye at regular folders. Just my two cents.

[Knifeaddict]

This dillemma is not just a CA problem.

Massachusetts has laws for every town/district and city . Boston is the most restrictive and as has already been stated try working your way down to the sub-laws like school zones,court buildings,private property etc etc etc. Basically what it boils down to is if they want to the can nail you good even if its a 1" knife depending on the scenario.

It truly does suck. I can drive 5 mins and go from being legal to commiting a crime 3 times back and forth . How are you supposed to keep track and compensate for this ridiculousness? You cant so you decide to either take the risk or not carry at all which is the most recommended action by your Gov't . How do I know this? because i called and asked local and state authorities and thats their response. Just make it easy and dont carry a knife and your good to go.

[BAL]

"What clothes should I wear while in California?" is a simple question, but unless/until we have sufficient details to know whether you are going to be in Tahoe in the winter or Death Valley in the summer, the answer is not simple. :)

+1

[noseoil]

In San Francisco, its simple to be properly dressed. None!

[JudasD]

Various municipalities felt the need to regulate knives, so it's potentially as complicated as the number of cities in CA. But personally I think it's better to ignore that and just follow the state laws. I've never found cops to be terribly interested in knives and almost certainly don't know the local city ordinances on knives. LA county is probably a worthy exception.

LA and San Francisco are the two worst. They follow the city/county laws for length. Most other areas in California dont seem to care much and just follow the state laws.

JD

[Waco]

Here's a thought I go buy but it may not work for everyone, everywhere. I think FL (where I live) has a state law of anything over 3" is illegal. I have no idea about county or other laws. Five or six years ago I called my local Sheriff's office to ask what a legal knife consisted of. They thought it was funny that anyone would ask. I live where hunting and fishing are popular so you may see about any kind of knife on people in public. They may come out of the woods and go right into Wal Mart. So, even though my GB is (or may be) illegal by the book, the cops here won't care if I carry and use it as long as I don't poke anyone with it (other than my self that is :) ). This is important to me since I don't really care about owning an knife I don't carry at all. If I had to worry about my GB being confiscated I wouldn't carry it. If I wouldn't carry it I wouldn't want to keep it. If the police officers you may run into don't care what you carry even if it is technically illegal you should be ok using it. You have to decide about this.

Yeah, I think the laws are there so that they can take your knife away if you are doing something bad with it, but nobody cares otherwise. I guess if a certain area has a problem with violence, they might start cracking down on knives that are visible. I think somebody posted about getting their Delica taken away just because a cop noticed it sticking out of their pocket.

[jackknifeh]

Yeah, I think the laws are there so that they can take your knife away if you are doing something bad with it, but nobody cares otherwise. I guess if a certain area has a problem with violence, they might start cracking down on knives that are visible. I think somebody posted about getting their Delica taken away just because a cop noticed it sticking out of their pocket.

They would enforce the law if they needed to. In this case I think it's a good thing for strict laws. Still we would be depending on the cops to be completely rational. The problem here is cops are people too therefore not perfect. Giving people more power than they should have can always be a pain in the butt. :) There was a joke (sort of) when I was in the military. The military has the UCMJ (military laws). It was rumored that the last sentence in the book was "If you do something we don't like but it isn't against a law or regulation already noted, it's covered by this statement". :D