# Legal question: batons in california **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 19, 2005, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-batons-in-california/290828 "2005-02-19T01:20:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-batons-in-california/290828/21 "2006-01-09T06:48:36Z")
> [@Zabali\_Clawbane](#): > > So, I could get in trouble in CA. for carrying one in my pocket or purse? 😕 One what? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-batons-in-california/290828/22 "2006-01-09T07:12:09Z")
> [@unclviny](#): > > I asked around and found out that 6 “D” cell Maglites are considered Batons so I had to go and buy a 4 cell before I left. Perhaps one of our fine legal minds can weigh in on the issue, but I strongly doubt any prosecutor would attempt to make a case against someone carrying an unmodified 6-D cell MagLite, particularly in view of the fact that they can be openly purchased in retail. Heck, I’d carried one of these on board a plane a couple of times (prior to Sept. 11, 2001) without note. A dedicated weapon, like a telescopic ASP or a PR-24 would be a more likely case for prosecution, but I doubt any cop is going to make an issue of it unless you give them reason to do so. Firearms and knives are another issue entirely, and one upon which a great amount of vague and confused laws have been heaped on one another, in no small part owing to a desire to prosecute left-wing radicals in the Sixties and biker and drug gangs in the Seventies and Eighties. Whether this accomplished much of anything beyond giving police an expanded ability to mildly harass said gangs is another question, but unfortunately California does serve as home base on the West Coast for a number of strenuous anti-firearm types, and so arbitrary, pointless, ineffective, and counterproductive laws have made it onto the books. I have yet to figure out how a plastic stock or a bayonet lug makes a weapon more dangerous than an identical weapon without, and I question the wisdom of an extended waiting period over a comprehensive, instant background check system, but such is life in California. At least we don’t have pig farms and tornados, and our religious fundamentalist contengent tend to keep to themselves rather than mucking up our education system. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-batons-in-california/290828/23 "2006-01-09T12:07:04Z")
> [@CynicalGabe](#): > > One what? A Swiss Army/pocket knife. I would get arrested for carrying Swiss Army knife in my purse or pocket in CA? ---
**Author:** ![Anachronism](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@Anachronism](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anachronism)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-batons-in-california/290828/24 "2006-01-09T13:13:28Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > I was at an RV store (I thought it was a camping store because it was called Camper’s World’) in CA about 10 years ago, and they had half-sized (or less) baseball bats. They called them ‘tire thumpers’, ostensibly so that you could thump your RV’s tires to… uh… find out something (like kicking thetires on a car?). They would make perfect billies. Truck stops sell these also (or at least they did a few years ago), when a truck or RV has two tires next to each other if one is flat the other will support the weight, so a flat tire can not be identified visually. If you kick or ‘thump’ the tires you can find a flat tire (some also claim you can estimate the tire pressure by thumping the tires). I have a tire thumper about 18" long made of some sort of hardwood with a weight in the buisness end (Similer to this --\> [http://store.psproducts.com/oztith.html](http://store.psproducts.com/oztith.html) ), it would make an effective weapon. I have also have seen tire thumpers with metal wrapped around the outside of the buisness end (like so --\> [http://safebiz.info/images/products/hx47zqeu4onq.gif](http://safebiz.info/images/products/hx47zqeu4onq.gif) . ---
**Author:** ![Shadowfyre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfyre/32/9972_2.png) [@Shadowfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadowfyre)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-batons-in-california/290828/25 "2006-01-09T17:32:43Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. (a) Any person in this state who does any of the following > is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year > or in the state prison: > (1) Manufactures or causes to be manufactured, imports into the > state, keeps for sale, or offers or exposes for sale, or who gives, > lends, or possesses any cane gun or wallet gun, any undetectable > firearm, any firearm which is not immediately recognizable as a > firearm, any camouflaging firearm container, any ammunition which > contains or consists of any flechette dart, any bullet containing or > carrying an explosive agent, any ballistic knife, any multiburst > trigger activator, **any nunchaku** , any short-barreled shotgun, any > short-barreled rifle, any metal knuckles, any belt buckle knife, any > leaded cane, any zip gun, any shuriken, any unconventional pistol, > any lipstick case knife, any cane sword, any shobi-zue, any air gauge > knife, any writing pen knife, any metal military practice > handgrenade or metal replica handgrenade, or any instrument or weapon > of the kind commonly known as a blackjack, slungshot, billy, > sandclub, sap, or sandbag. Bolding mine. This would seem to indicate that any cast or crew member of a 80’s action movie could be arrested. Just about anything else could be faked, but a even two rubber pieces tied together with a string would be a nunchaku. Unless there is an exemption not cited for movie/tv productions. (Hope Donatello never goes to L.A. Or was that Leonardo? After 20 years, my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle knowledge is a bit rusty) RE Tire Thumpers: My boss got one of these from his boss when he went into management. It was a joke (I hope) but they are pretty bad ass. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-batons-in-california/290828/26 "2006-01-09T18:56:32Z")
> [@Zabali\_Clawbane](#): > > A Swiss Army/pocket knife. I would get arrested for carrying Swiss Army knife in my purse or pocket in CA? Extremely unlikely. But as I said, the law is extremely vague in this area. If you were dealing drugs or some other unsavory activity, I bet the cops would use it as one extra charge to hit you with. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-batons-in-california/290828/27 "2006-01-09T18:57:43Z")
I should also state: it is the collapsible metal batons I am interested in the legality of, maybe someone knows of some case law? ---
**Author:** ![Campion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-batons-in-california/290828/28 "2006-01-09T19:21:35Z")
This is not legal advice. It contains no citation to actual law. It is, instead, an anecdote and therefore is inherently unreliable. A friend wanted an ASP but couldn’t figure out how to get one. I spoke with a police officer I know to see if he would buy one for her. He said that they are illegal for civilians. Next time I see him, I’ll ask him for a cite. Frankly, you can do the same, though. Why not call the cops and ask them? Nothing wrong with doing that, and they ought to know what the law is. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-batons-in-california/290828/29 "2006-01-09T19:46:01Z")
I had a friend who was told that the _FAKE SHURIKEN_ on his keychain was illegal in CA by an airport cop. Seriously, little tiny unsharpened shuriken. Keychain going through it. They ignored it, but… sucks to find out something that trivial COULD get you in trouble if you got unlucky. If I ever go to California, I’m taking NOTHING pointy. Or dangerous-looking or filled with pepper spray. Or shocking… ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-batons-in-california/290828/30 "2006-01-09T20:08:19Z")
> [@Shadowfyre](#): > > Bolding mine. > > This would seem to indicate that any cast or crew member of a 80’s action movie could be arrested. Just about anything else could be faked, but a even two rubber pieces tied together with a string would be a nunchaku. Unless there is an exemption not cited for movie/tv productions. (Hope Donatello never goes to L.A. Or was that Leonardo? After 20 years, my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle knowledge is a bit rusty) Michaelangalo. Leonardo had the katana and Donatello the staff. I can’t remember the guy’s name with the sai. I think filmmakers have some leeway, as they can make weapons that fire blanks in non-semi-automatic firing mode as well as switchblades and other nasty items. My brother, a police officer in SF, told me you could own a switchblade/butterfly knife but couldn’t transport it. So if you wanted to walk around your lawn with it and weren’t threatening anybody… ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-batons-in-california/290828/31 "2006-01-09T20:31:25Z")
> [@kidchameleon](#): > > Michaelangalo. Leonardo had the katana and Donatello the staff. I can’t remember the guy’s name with the sai. > > I think filmmakers have some leeway, as they can make weapons that fire blanks in non-semi-automatic firing mode as well as switchblades and other nasty items. My brother, a police officer in SF, told me you could own a switchblade/butterfly knife but couldn’t transport it. So if you wanted to walk around your lawn with it and weren’t threatening anybody… Filmmakers have a lot more leeway than that. There are special assault weapons permits allowing them to have semi- and full-automatic weapons, as well as high-capacity magazines. Here in CA, only law-enforcement agencies have those kinds of toys. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-batons-in-california/290828/32 "2006-01-10T17:30:38Z")
[QUOTE=kidchameleon] Michaelangalo. Leonardo had the katana and Donatello the staff. I can’t remember the guy’s name with the sai. [QUOTE] Raphael! (I can’t believe I have brain cells devoted to recording stuff like that …) ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-batons-in-california/290828/33 "2006-01-10T19:38:52Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > Technically, that’s not full-auto or three-round burst. By definition, ‘full auto’ means that you get more than one round for each pull of a trigger. A multiburst trigger activator is a device, usually a crank, that pulls the trigger very quickly. You only get one round for each pull of the trigger, but the attachment allows you to pull the trigger so fast that it is virtually automatic. [hijack]With all that trigger jerking and muzzle climb, wouldn’t the third round be anywhere but where you were aiming?[/hijack] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-batons-in-california/290828.md?page=1)