Gettin' a New Knife

Ya, state laws can be a bitch.
California permits "assisted opening" knifes so long as they are actuated by pressure on the blade, and have a bias toward closure.

I stopped carrying my Sog Vulcan because if I manually operate the lock release, it functions as a "gravity knife"

 

Is there also something on length of a autos' blade as well? Seems I've seen the words "Cali legal" on some autos with less than a two inch blade. A MicroTech UTX-70 comes to mind.

 

Ya.. 2" or less and they are exempt from our switchblade/balisong ban.

But....

It is not illegal to own a switchblade in California.
It is illegal to transfer one.
It is illegal to possess one in a public place.
It is illegal to transport one in the passenger compartment of a motor vehicle.

So legally, I could drive to AZ, buy a 12" automatic, and unless there are federal laws I'm not aware of, I could put it in the bottom of my airbox, bring it home, and keep it in my home.

It's not that much different from the stupidity of our high-cap laws.
It's not illegal to possess or use a high cap.
It's not illegal to BUY or receive one!
It is illegal to import, manufacture, keep/offer for sale, or to sell.
There are something like 19 exemptions as well... including the owner of an armored car company.

 

We (Alabama) have some weird wording in our auto laws as well, can own, collect. Can carry IF pocket clip is visible (guess it's not a "concealed" weapon) that way. And if you have a CCP for a handgun, your good period. The way I understand it, as explained by a close family friend, that is our cities judge.

 

I don't know if they will still do this but years ago I had a Gerber Mark I that I liked to throw at logs and things when I was bored until I finally snapped the blade in half. I sent it back to Gerber and they sent me a new one free of charge, with a little note that said that the Mk I, looks notwithstanding, really was not designed to be a throwing knife.

 

I recommend Zero Tolerance. They are the tactical division of Kershaw. Look at the ZT200 and ZT 350. These are great intro knives into the brand and both are BEASTS of a folder.

 

California is one of the better states when it comes to knife carry laws.

California prohibits the CONCEALED carry of a "dirk or dagger"
"Dirk or dagger" is defined as a device designed for and readily capable of cutting or stabbing. The law also specifies "Concealed on or about the person"

Readily capable opened a can of worms that the legislature did not anticipate.

A folder is not "readily capable" if it is not opened, so the Rajah that I posted above, if carried folded, may be carried concealed legally.
A fixed-blade must be carried openly (and a sheath on the belt is defined in the law as an example of legal carry).

So for open carry in California (in general, read on), anything goes.
For concealed carry, it simply must be a folder that is not open.
The pocket clip being visible creates an interesting situation where it may or may not be considered "concealed", but being a folder, it wouldn't matter.... Except:

Los Angeles, unincorporated LA County, and some Bay Area counties and cities have more restrictive laws. It is illegal in LA/LACO to openly carry any knife with a blade longer than 3".
Of course, there are exceptions for legitimate recreational, religious, or employment purposes.

The "concealed on or about" ends up putting a lot of situations under officer discretion. I've been told by a Berdoo Co deputy that, in the case of a fixed blade in a backpack, if the knife is in a position where it can be quickly retrieved, it would likely be an arrest. If it is simply "in there" and takes some digging to get to it, then it would not likely be an arrest unless there was some other reason that the contact was under suspicion.


California's License to Carry impacts only concealed handguns. It has no impact on knives or other tools that may be used as weapons.

 

Bench made for sure. You'll lose it before it ever breaks.

 

I will try a ZT soon. Like the NCIS show!

 

Benchmade, Kershaw, or spyderco

benchmade barrage is a great knife, If you want a benchmade, try cutleryshoppe.com

they have a 25% coupon there for benchmades basically permanently

 

I have been a knife enthusiast for about 25 years now and Spyderco is my favorite knife to carry. The Para Military2 is my favorite followed by the Spyderco Gayle Bradley (it is built like a tank). I was recently given a SOG Trident for my birthday which has a spring assisted opening mechanism. It is cheaper cheaper than both of the Spyderco's and is very light. I like it but I love the spyderco's too much lol. The Kershaw flipper and CRKT knives are pretty nice if you are on a tight budget.
I really recommend going to a store and actually holding a knife that you think you might like. Many knives that some folks find perfect may not feel perfect in your hands. Hope this helps

 

Yeah… I was trying to take off some center caps on an older style Lexus at work.

Lexus-1 Knife-0

And thank all of ya'll for your advice!! Hopefully I'll be buying a new one here shortly, on payday. I just have to make up my mind…

 

i just like the one hand open close of the crkt and the durability, it's been with me everywhere from a simple box cutter to chopping branches

 

Good luck trying to find that model. It's the ZT302 with the Tan Scale. I had 3 of them and sold them all at twice the price I paid.

You can get a different color scale, but same exact knife. The ZT301 (Green scale),the ZT303 (Black scale), the ZT300 (Black scale, black blade) are about $270, or if this website ever has blem models (There is a manufacturing defect in the DLC coating, such as the black not being dark enough, but functions 100%) http://www.kershawguy.com/products-page/zt-blems/, for $175.

 

This thread got me to wondering and I read my state's knife laws. Reading local knife laws in one county where I worked as a paramedic reveals that I was actually in violation of county law, as were all of the other firefighter-paramedics for carrying tools such as lock-blade knives and other dangerous instruments. Also, the way the law is worded makes it a crime to own a cane, or to carry a straight shaving razor in any vehicle (which also made all of us paramedic criminals as we had them as part of the standard trauma kit), go figure that one out. Fortunately, the rest of the state is sane. with the exception that it's apparently illegal to carry a slingshot in your back pocket, which makes every kid I grew up with a criminal under state law.

Edit:

Did you know that can legally carry a small (3" blade) switchblade under federal switchblade law if you only have one arm?

Double edit:

In Wyoming you can get in trouble for carrying a concealed attack animal:

Wyoming - Statutes 6-8-104... A person who wears or carries a
concealed deadly weapon is guilty of a misdemeanor...
- 6-1-104. Definitions... (iv) "Deadly weapon" means, but is
not limited to... an animal

 

BENCHMADE IS THE SHIT (good way) especially the ones with the axis

 

Read the following sections for exemptions.
It is rare that there are not exemptions for legitimate employment use.

On carrying a cane, it is likely similar to California's laws on a sap or a billy.
The old joke is, you can carry a baseball bat in your car as long as you have a ball and glove. There's a bit of truth to that, but it's not quite that simple. The issue becomes one of intent... both in whether an officer is going to make the arrest, whether the DA will press charges, and whether a jury will convict.

In California, you can't carry a cane (or a D-Cell Maglight) if the intention of carrying it is to use it as a weapon.

 

Sometimes rules are silly beyond belief. When I was in the Army the military once chartered a couple of civilian DC-10s to take us on an exercise. We all got on the plane with our firearms and other combat gear but they collected our pocket knives and stored them because they were "dangerous."

 

Big 5 has sales on S&W's all the time. i've bought a couple of them and they all work pretty good for EDC's

 

That's a good one, but here's another. Has been several years ago, but at a very large gun/knife show at which countless numbers of class III dealers were showing and selling, and walking around with, for that matter all sorts of "select fire" weapons. The PA crackled to life stating, "any dealers or patrons, in possession of ANY air rifle or pellet gun needs to remove them from the tables or your person immediately, Jefferson County has a ordanance against them". I bout shit my self laughing.