Knife Laws in Spain: What You Can Own, What You Can Carry (2026)

Spain does not ban knives; it bans carrying most of them outside the home, and it bans owning a narrow list of specific types anywhere at all. The regulation is RD 137/1993, the Reglamento de Armas, and its rules on armas blancas turn on two questions: what kind of blade is it, and where is it. This page walks through both, plus the fine that follows getting it wrong.

Information last verified on 23 July 2026. This page provides general legal information about Spanish law and does not constitute legal advice in an individual case.

The blades that are always illegal

Art. 4.1.f of RD 137/1993 bans a specific, narrow list outright, everywhere: bastones-estoque, cane swords built to conceal a blade, puñales of any kind, and navajas automáticas, meaning spring-open or automatic-opening knives. The regulation defines a puñal for this purpose as an arma blanca with a blade under 11 centimetres, double-edged and pointed, which is what separates it from an ordinary navaja: a puñal is banned by its shape and size regardless of how it opens, while an automatic navaja is banned because of how it opens, regardless of its length. The same article also bans firearms or compressed-air and gas weapons combined with a blade, knuckle-dusters, souped-up slingshots and blowpipes, munchacos, xiriquetes, and, as a catch-all, «cualesquiera otros instrumentos especialmente peligrosos». That last clause matters in practice: it lets an item that is not literally on the named list still be treated as prohibited if it functions the same way as one that is.

The puñal definition is worth reading twice, because it is a size-and-shape test, not a brand or category label. A knife counts as a puñal, and is therefore banned regardless of where it is or how it is used, only when all three elements line up: the blade is under 11 centimetres, it has two cutting edges rather than one, and it comes to a point. A single-edged blade of the same length, or a double-edged blade of 11 centimetres or more, falls outside that specific definition and is judged instead under the rules below.

The 11cm rule for ordinary navajas

An ordinary, non-automatic navaja is not on that outright-ban list, but art. 5.3 adds a size limit: selling, advertising, buying, owning or using a non-automatic navaja with a blade over 11 centimetres, measured from the guard or stop of the handle to the tip, is prohibited. There is a narrow carve-out from that prohibition: manufacture or commercialization with Guardia Civil intervention, and home-only possession for ornamental or collection purposes, are not covered by the ban even above 11cm.

What adults can freely own

Art. 106 confirms the ordinary case works the other way: acquisition and possession of category 5.1 weapons, meaning blade weapons not on the prohibited list, is free for adults. The article's main subject is manufacturing and import control rather than personal ownership, but it states plainly that buying and keeping an ordinary knife, a navaja under 11cm, a kitchen or utility knife, is not restricted for an adult. What changes the picture entirely is taking it out the door.

Carrying is the real restriction

The article that actually bans carrying a knife is art. 146, not the licensing or manufacturing articles that sound closer to the point. Art. 146.1 prohibits carrying, displaying or using any short firearm or arma blanca outside the home, the workplace, or the relevant sporting activity, «especialmente aquellas que tengan hoja puntiaguda», along with weapons of categories 5, 6 and 7 generally. The same paragraph leaves it to the «prudente criterio» of police on the scene to judge whether the carrier had a genuine need to have the weapon with them, given the occasion, moment or circumstance, and singles out weapons carried under a licencia B for that same case-by-case scrutiny. Art. 146.2 adds that carrying or using a weapon at a public establishment or a gathering, recreation or entertainment venue should generally be treated as unlawful, as should anyone previously convicted of a crime against persons or property, or sanctioned for misusing weapons.

Art. 148.1 gives police the matching stop-and-check power: officers can carry out the checks necessary to prevent weapons from being carried or used unlawfully on public roads, places and establishments, under the authority the RD still cites from art. 18 of the (since repealed) Ley Orgánica 1/1992, a power that now lives in the LO 4/2015 on public safety.

Read together, arts. 106 and 146 draw the line most people actually run into: the home, the workplace and the sports field are where an ordinary knife can travel freely, and everywhere else is a judgment call that belongs to the officer in front of you, not to the owner. A folding knife carried openly on a hiking trail sits closer to the sporting-activity exception the statute names; the same knife in a pocket on a night out in the city center does not.

The fine for getting it wrong

Carrying, displaying or using a prohibited weapon, or carrying a permitted one negligently, recklessly, in an intimidating way, or outside the places where it may be used, is a grave infraction under art. 36.10 of the Ley de Seguridad Ciudadana (LO 4/2015), so long as the conduct does not itself amount to a crime. Art. 39.1 sets the fine band for grave infractions at 601 € to 30.000 €, split into graduated sub-bands: roughly 601 € to 10.400 € at the low grado mínimo, 10.401 € to 20.200 € in the middle, and 20.201 € to 30.000 € at the top, depending on the circumstances of the case.

In practice, the two questions from the top of this page decide the outcome: is the specific blade one of the prohibited types or over the 11cm navaja limit, and, separately, is it justified to have it outside the home at that moment. A pocket knife bought legally and kept in a kitchen drawer raises neither question. The same knife carried on the street, with no sporting or work reason, is what art. 146 and the LO 4/2015 fine band are built for. Where carrying an arma blanca turns into a criminal case rather than an administrative fine, most commonly because of how or against whom it was used, the criminal-law section covers the offences and procedures that follow.

This page is general legal information about Spanish law and does not constitute legal advice in an individual case. The controlling texts are the current versions in the BOE.