Is picking locks illegal in most places?

Perhaps one of the jurists here schooled in criminal law can substantiate, but I doubt you could be successfully convicted of burglary for bypassing, or attempting to bypass a lock. Breaking & entering, or alternatively unlawful entry would be the appriate charge, or perhaps attempted burglary if the prosecutor could verify intent.

Nonsense. With the right training and equipment most people can master picking basic pin tumbler locks with a few tens of hours of study. The key here is that you actually have to take locks apart, understand how they work and what you’re doing to them, and learn to pick locks progressively, starting with just a couple of tumblers on a simple pin tumber lock and work up to more complicated locks with six or seven pins. If you start out trying to learn to pick a five pin tumber lock, or trying to defeat a Master padlock, you’ll end in frustration.

“Raking,” by the way, is a valid method for all classes of pin tumber lock and requires careful technique. It’s common to lift one or two problem tumblers (especially in a mushroom or spool pins) and then switch to a rake or bubble pick and scrub the other pins free. But most common deadbolt and doorknob locks can be defeated within a minute by a simple snap pick or bump key and a little careful pressure on the torsion wrench with essentially no knowledge of the actual mechanism.

As for the OP, I don’t know of any jurisdiction where picking a lock that you own is or can be construed as illegal. However, in some jurisdictions, possession of tools (including common hand tools) that can be used to perform lockpicking or bypass is illegal. Most locksmith houses won’t sell to someone who isn’t in their guild, and in some states locksmiths are licensed or regulated.

Stranger

While state laws vary widely, there are some places where lock picking, in a hobbyist context, is practiced openly. See the webpage of the below organization:

http://toool.us/

And I agree with those saying that lock picking isn’t that hard for most locks. Though a well made lock can be anywhere from very difficult to nearly impossible to pick.

That would be why I specified “attempted burglary” in my post.

And, my experience at lockpicking is that it is hard. Sure, others may be able to pick it up more easily than I, but I still feel that becoming proficient at it requires more time and dedication than the average “whee, I wanna pick locks!” type person will devote. That’s all I was trying to get across.

Standard Master padlocks may be able to take a bullet, but in my experience they are surprisingly easy to pick. I think they actually make a good learning lock.

I didn’t follow that either, but I think I’m going to start ending all of my correspondence with: “YOU HAVE BEEN INFORMED, TAKE HEED, ACT ACCORDINGLY!” Sure beats: “Best regards.”

Ceramic spark plugs are very hard and they fit into the hand well so that they’re easily concealed and make it simple to concentrate a lot of force into one tiny spot. That makes it a snap for thieves to break your car window with a minimum of fuss.

Hmm…In my experience, Master is about the hardest of consumer-grade padlocks to pick owning to their tight tolerances. (And experienced hacker can still snap or bump one open in a few scores of seconds, but the cheap Taiwan knock-off padlocks are so easy that you don’t even need real tools.) There are, of course, industrial security-grade padlocks that are significantly more secure, but real security means going beyond a padlock.

The “take a bullet” thing is a great marketing coup, but doesn’t actually mean much. Most padlocks can take repeated blows or shots, and unless you manage to shear the shackle or disengage the latch (or somehow totally remove the case), all you’ll do is jam the lock. It’s usually just easier to attack the hasp to which the lock is connected (if protected) or do a shim bypass. Generally speaking, padlocks are not for really secure storage. This is doubly true for spin dial padlocks, the best of whichcan be cracked in minutes without any tools whatsoever, and the three or four wheel combination locks found on cheap bicycle cable locks which can be hacked by feel within seconds and are barely more secure that tying up your bike with bailing wire.

Stranger

I never got the hang of pin tumbler locks, even though I fully understand the mechanism. I got up to three pin tumblers and just never had the dexterity or patience to do five. Master padlocks, however, are easy–at least the combination ones are. I simply learned by buying three different padlocks and trial and erroring them by applying various pressures to the latch and spinning the dial. Eventually, I figured out a method that works. Oddly enough, it’s not the method posted on any websites and, besides, I never found the freely available methods worked for me. However, it is dead easy and I can teach anyone to do it. There is an element of trial and error in it, but generally it will take an average of 2 minutes to get through a lock. No tools required.

That’s probably true, I was unfairly comparing it to a standard pin tumbler lock you would find on your average door. I learned the basics on a Master lock (it was available, I was bored and inquisitive).

Just to clarify, in case my post reads that way, I’m not about to tell anyone how to do it. I’m just saying that it’s not difficult to learn. Inquisitive types can probably pick up a bunch of padlocks and experiment for themselves, if they’d like.

Now, admittedly, my experience is with combo padlocks from 1996 and before. It’s possible the newer ones have been manufactured better–I don’t know. However, the only trouble I’ve ever had was actually with old Master combination padlocks, that were very worn. The newer the padlock, the easier it was to crack.

If you are a hobbyist it would seem that the proof is impossible to find. How can you prove that you never intended to break into someone’s house. Anything that says “hobby” can just as easily mean “practice for criminal endeavors”.

Probably, but I do it anyway, in the open, for money. Picking locks is my best money maker at arcade auctions where games are often sold without keys. (Although truth be told, the increasingly larger screwdriver trick is quicker sometimes than picking the lock.)

I suppose you could make an anonymous phone call to the police during the next auction as a test.

Tris

Isn’t that Virginia law kind of useless, without some definition of “burglarious tools”? As noted above, a screwdriver can be a burglarious tool, and plenty of people own those. But a literal reading of that law would suggest that mere ownership of a screwdriver would be prima facie evidence for intent to burgle, and therefore, everyone who owns a screwdriver could be arrested under that law. Granted, a screwdriver has many non-burglarious uses, but then, I could probably find multiple non-burglarious uses for any given tool.

And “burglarious” is a really funny word.

Like many laws, its designed to be intentionally vague and allow judgement by law enforcement (and later, a judge and/or jury) to interpret given the circumstances. “Lock picking tools” could be damn near anything; I’ve picked a (cheap wafer tumbler) lock with a straightened paperclip and a Bic pen cap for a torsion wrench. (Note to owners of The Club; this is exactly the kind of lock you have on that device. Not that a car thief is going to bother picking the lock; he’ll just cut through the soft plastic of your steering wheel with a pair of bolt cutters and throw it out the window as he drives off.)

Stranger

Dude, post number 18.