I was reading in the pit about knifes at airports, but didn’t wanna hijack.
Is the 4 inch blade rule an actual law or just an urban legend. I always heard that if your knife blade was less than 4 inchs long, it was considered a tool, rather than a weapon. At least as far as concealed weapon laws, and airport weapon laws are concerned. Obviously its considered a weapon if you kill somebody with it.
I don’t know about federal/state laws, but at my last high school one was allowed to carry a knife so long as the blade was less than 6 inches in length; anything more was considered a weapon. Stupid idea to allow blades of any sort, but since we were at a rural school with a vo-tech center it was permitted.
WAG: perhaps there is such a rule to distinguish between pocket knives and normal knives. My Swiss Army Knife has a blade that is… (Diceman digs through his drawer and finds a ruler) …about 2.5" long.
I was going thru the airport, and when they looked at my bag on the x-ray, I was asked “Do you have a screwdriver in there?”
I said, “Well, it’s a type of screwdriver.” It was the kind that has a hollow handle, with about five or so attachments of varying types and sizes.
I pulled it out, and the guy said that if it had been a real screwdriver, that I would not have been able to take it on board.
I don’t think airports allow anything obviously non-needed that does not pass the metal detector. Be safe and leave the knife at home.
I’ve got one of those little utility tools on my keyring (screwdriver, nailfile, knife blade). The blade is 1.5 inches and everytime I go into the courthouse it kicks off the metal detector and they seize my car keys because of the blade. God knows what they’d do if I didn’t leave the SAK and the Leatherman in the car. Maybe they’re afraid the judge couldn’t defend himself with just the mallett.
LOL, but please, it’s a gavel. I once had a debate over getting into bankruptcy court because I didn’t have a picture ID on me. All I had was a folder with papers in it - what did they think, I was going to attack the judge with an unbent paper-clip?
LOL, I can see the headlines now “Judge Critical from Papercuts”
My ex and I were going through the airport once, he had one of those little teeny tiny swiss army knife looking things on his keyring. Security confiscated that. But, the great big Swiss Army knife that was in his carry on - security picked it up, said “cool, that’s a nice one” and dropped it back into the carry on. I’ll never understand that.
They’re pretty strict with scissors, too.
I was flying around the holidays with a wooden lawn sign. It was about 3 - 4 feet long, and had a sharpened end. It didn’t fit in any of my bags, so I was carrying it beteen the handles of my duffle bag.
I asked the guy at security if I could take it on the plane, pretty much expecting him to confiscate it. He didn’t, but he asked me, very seriously, if I had a hammer with me. He told me that I could carry on the sign, but not the hammer. Four foot sharpened stick, okay, sixteen ounce hammer, not okay.
Last time I went to the courthouse (marriage license) my wife kept setting off the detectors–which are FAR more sensitive than the haphazard airport type. The culprit turned out to be the foil inner wrapper on her pack of cigarettes.
Look, toadspittle, if you are going to practice polygamy you should be a little more discrete about it. I mean, bringing the wide down to the courthouse to get a marriage license! 
Here is a summary of what I found on the web:
http://www.knifeart.com/knifeart/kniflawbysta.html
This site hasn’t been updated in a while, but it looks pretty complete.
The rule I’ve always heard is that a serrated edge is considered a weapon, which I’ve never understood. Every knife intended as a weapon I’ve ever seen or heard of has a straight edge-- Cutting, as opposed to slashing, isn’t too useful if what you’re cutting won’t stay still.
What the hell?!? If that’s the type of tool I think it is, how is it substantially different from a “real” screwdriver? What was that guy thinking?
Let’s see, what have I carried through airport security?
pockets:
Swiss Army knife–a big one
leatherman
2 screwdrivers
carry-on:
3.5 inch dive knife
a wad of chain mail (to work on in my spare time) that I noticed on the little screen looked remarkably like a hand grenade
a 7 inch steel spike I use for making new chain links
a spool of 16 gauge wire (would make a dandy garrote combined with the spike)
All at the same time! No one said a word to me about it. I’m afraid to fly now.
Maybe a hammer and a shrapened stick isn’t okay? Wouldn’t want anyone pounding a sign into fellow passengers.
** Any would be terrorists, pay no attention to this post**
Okay, sort of off topic, sorry. When I was in the army, we used to “attack” the airport periodically to test security. Now, it is important to note, they knew we were coming and presumably tightened up security for that reason. Every year those sneaking in the whole bomb got caught but those carrying pieces got through. Kinda scary, no?
is that the law is different or CAN BE different in every State, County, and City in the US. No general “rule” or “law” can be said to safely apply to every case. If you don’t know, don’t bother bringing it.
But how’re you supposed to kill Vampires that way?
Cripes…one of these days there’ll be a Vampiric massacre on one of those airliners, and THEN they’ll be sorry for their nearsighted policies!
^__~
And ren, about the screwdrivers - I’d assume the distinction is that with a normal screwdriver you can just pull it out and stab someone - with one like the one in question, you’d have to take it out, fumble with it to get out the bits, and put the bit in - and you still wouldn’t be able to stab very deeply because the sleeve would tend to stop it…
In my experience, airport security isn’t all that on the ball. I’ve traveled several times carrying my tool-logic credit card knife. Granted, it’s a smaller knife, but it’s damn sharp, serrated, and I can throw it fairly accurately.
It’s also my keychain, so I just put it in the bowl and walk through the metal detector. They’ve never once asked about it.
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That’s not even to mention the loaves of french bread…
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