# Banning knives **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 4, 2023, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-knives/982137 "2023-04-04T15:16:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-knives/982137/61 "2023-04-06T04:28:02Z")
EVERYONE: I would prefer to not see this thread closed for straying too far off topic. I genuinely am interested in hearing people’s opinions on knife bans, so to the extent possible can we at least primarily return to that subject? ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-knives/982137/62 "2023-04-06T05:05:32Z")
Getting somewhat back to the OP, in the current US, given the ubiquity of guns, I don’t see a whole lot of point for a knife ban. For those wishing to do others harm, the gun is the method of choice. The maxim “don’t bring a knife to a gun fight” holds true and while the greasers of the 50s might have had to make do with a swtichblade, these days pretty much anyone intent on doing harm can get a gun without too much difficulty. Adding in already mentioned utility that knives have and cost benefit analysis doesn’t seem to favor a ban. In a society such as England where guns were less ubiquitous and knives were the weapon of choice it might make sense to consider banning the carrying of certain knives in certain circumstances, but not in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-knives/982137/63 "2023-04-08T02:07:59Z")
Not allowed to carry a knife in most of Australia. Some exceptions, but self-defence isn’t one of them. Doesn’t seem to bother anyone. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-knives/982137/64 "2023-04-08T03:48:56Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > The city of Seattle bans knives over 3.5 inches in length. > It survived a Constitutional challenge That’s blade length, not knife length and that’s a common blade length for restrictive laws. I just measured my daily knife and it’s a 4" blade. I might downsize to a smaller blade for travel. I own a lot of small switch blades for the novelty of them but don’t carry them because any sprung or partially sprung blade can open while carried in a pocket. I would think those knives pose little threat. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-knives/982137/65 "2023-04-08T12:59:53Z")
To everyone here, I thank you. The last thing I need is another pocket knife, but I just bought two more. I can’t wait for the Amazon truck to get here… (It’s the last thing I _ **need** _. But is it the last thing I want? Hell no.) ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-knives/982137/66 "2023-04-08T13:25:15Z")
Well, we/I need a link to see what you’ve bought. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-knives/982137/67 "2023-04-08T13:31:40Z")
> [@LH75](#): > > I carry a Kershaw Leek with assisted opening almost every day. My pocketknife is not a weapon, it is a tool that gets a lot of use Same here, as noted above. The only danger with it is that I’m so used to having it in my pocket, I forget it’s there. People like TSA agents and guards at government buildings are not amused when they find something like that. I had my last one confiscated when I showed up for jury duty. And they wouldn’t return it when I left the building, the fuckers. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-knives/982137/68 "2023-04-08T13:46:05Z")
> [@GaryM](#): > > Well, we/I need a link to see what you’ve bought. I got a Kershaw Emerson. It’ll probably be an EDC in my right pocket with the SAK I mentioned above in the left. [https://www.amazon.com/Kershaw-Emerson-CQC-6K-Folding-Pocket/dp/B00I0RSVQK](https://www.amazon.com/Kershaw-Emerson-CQC-6K-Folding-Pocket/dp/B00I0RSVQK) ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-knives/982137/69 "2023-04-08T17:39:29Z")
What explanation did they offer in their refusal to return your legally owned property? This is theft. One of the “security staff” is probably the new owner of your EDC ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-knives/982137/70 "2023-04-08T18:07:09Z")
I get a lot of people asking about whether the knife I use for foraging mushrooms is legal in the UK - it’s a folding knife with a non-locking blade that is about 4 inches long - sometimes I substitute this with an Opinel of similar blade length, which happens to have a way to lock the blade - so neither of these are legal EDC in the UK, but it’s perfectly legal for me to carry in the context of a legitimate use - fishing, foraging, whittling sticks in the woods, whatever. If, at a nightclub or football match or cinema or whatnot, I was found to be carrying one of these knives in my pocket, I should expect to be in trouble. So I don’t do that. At home, I’ve got a selection of very sharp and dangerous knives that I use in the kitchen and workshop - and things like a billhook for the garden that is more or less the same as a medieval combat weapon - except I only use it in armed combat against brambles and ivy - if I ran down a public street shouting and brandishing any of these things, I should expect to be in trouble, so I don’t do that - but nobody is trying to stop me owning or using these things in their proper context. As I understand it, apart from the types of knives that are outright prohibited to own (generally explicitly weapon-styled knives), the laws about EDC are mostly there to make it more straightforward and clearcut for genuine offenders and troublemakers to be arrested. Ultimately a court decides whether or not it was a crime. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-knives/982137/71 "2023-04-08T18:10:06Z")
They could have charged him with a felony, and he still would have lost his knife. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-knives/982137/72 "2023-04-08T18:13:52Z")
> [@LH75](#): > > What explanation did they offer in their refusal to return your legally owned property? This is theft. One of the “security staff” is probably the new owner of your EDC The usual answer is “You wanna go put it in your car, be my guest. We’re not equipped to store property tagged property for return.” If you don’t have time to do that, or you got dropped off, well, sucks to be you, the trashcan is over there. As to a staffer keeping the knife for themselves, probably no reason to do so. He’s already got a better one from somebody else last week. For awhile some entrepreneur made a decent business in selling heavy duty postage-prepaid padded mailers (envelopes) just outside TSA checkpoints. If you found you had a pocket knife or whatever that TSA didn’t like, you could exit the area on the non-secure side, buy a mailer, put your stuff in it, and mail it home at the convenient USPS box nearby. Then USPS pulled all their boxes out of all airport terminals, afraid that they’d be hiding places for bombs. His business duly folded. Which is also why all the luggage lockers on both sides of security disappeared. TPTB don’t want any publicly accessible and not-readily-searchable places anywhere in airports. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-knives/982137/73 "2023-04-08T20:14:38Z")
No explanation at all. I let them know I was pissed about losing a $40 knife, but got a shrug in return. The one guy said “you could have taken it home and come back”. “Home” was a half-hour train ride each way, which meant I would have been late for jury call. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-knives/982137/74 "2023-04-09T07:26:10Z")
Next time stash it outside, under some random tree perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-knives/982137/75 "2023-04-09T14:58:36Z")
A few years back, OK,14, I had to visit the county courthouse in an adjacent county. I parked about 2 blocks away and walked over to find an unexpected security checkpoint. I had a nice knife in my pocket and asked if there was place I could keep it. The officer said “put it on the floor under the edge of my desk”, which I did. When I came back about 45 minutes later he said “say, I found this knife on the floor, perhaps you dropped it”? I love living in a rural area. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-knives/982137/76 "2023-04-09T15:05:47Z")
I’ve got several Kershaws, but not that one. I prefer the assisted flippers in general. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-knives/982137/77 "2023-04-09T23:25:04Z")
That’s a very nice story. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2023, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-knives/982137/78 "2023-04-10T00:42:21Z")
One time I was in Brussels (I think it was), and I was under time pressure to catch a flight, and I had some sort of Leatherman tool that I had forgotten about. What finally happened is that the guy at the airline check-in counter put it into a cardboard box that was either checked in with the baggage, or one of the crew held on to it—come to think of it, I do not know which—but not only did it make it onto the flight (not clear from the outset), I got it back, it was not stolen or anything. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-knives/982137/79 "2023-04-12T11:19:03Z")
Sorry. I find this hard to believe, unless that pocket knife is a lot bigger than it looks, or you were threatening someone with it. > It’s also illegal to: > > - carry most knives or any weapons in public without a ‘good reason’ > - sell most knives or any weapons to anyone under the age of 18 > > The exception to these 2 rules are folding pocketknives that: > > - have a cutting edge no longer than 3 inches > - are not lock knives (they do not have a button, spring or catch that you have to use to fold the knife) > **[Selling, buying and carrying knives and weapons](https://www.gov.uk/buying-carrying-knives)** > > The laws on selling, buying and carrying a knife or weapon depend on the type of knife or weapon, your age and your circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-knives/982137/80 "2023-04-12T16:02:00Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Sorry. I find this hard to believe, unless that pocket knife is a lot bigger than it looks, or you were threatening someone with it. > > > It’s also illegal to: > > > > - carry most knives or any weapons in public without a ‘good reason’ > > - sell most knives or any weapons to anyone under the age of 18 > > > > The exception to these 2 rules are folding pocketknives that: > > > > - have a cutting edge no longer than 3 inches > > - are not lock knives (they do not have a button, spring or catch that you have to use to fold the knife) > > [Selling, buying and carrying knives and weapons - GOV.UK](https://www.gov.uk/buying-carrying-knives) Well, believe it. I certainly wasn’t threatening anyone. I was merely entering a museum. The blade is about 3” long. Confiscated. It happened. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-knives/982137.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-knives/982137.md?page=5)