Knife Laws by State (2026): Carry Rules, Blade Limits, Penalties

Federal law does not ban carrying a knife. The Federal Switchblade Act (15 U.S.C. §§ 1241-1245) regulates interstate commerce in switchblades, exempts spring-assisted folding knives from its §§ 1242-1243 offenses under § 1244(5), and, in § 1245, makes it a federal offense to knowingly possess, manufacture, sell, or import a ballistic knife in or affecting interstate commerce or within federal territorial jurisdiction, but none of that decides whether a person can own, carry, or conceal a knife on the street. That question is almost entirely state law, and every state answers it differently across four separate axes: what you can own, what you can carry openly, what you can carry concealed, and where you cannot carry at all regardless of the rest. This page explains the federal framework, resolves the blade-length confusion that dominates search results for this topic, and compares all 50 states plus the District of Columbia.

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers the federal framework governing knives under the Federal Switchblade Act and related statutes, and state-by-state knife law in all 50 US states and the District of Columbia. It does not address Canadian provincial knife law, city or county ordinances beyond what is noted for preemption and local-option states, or knife import and export law.

What federal law actually regulates about knives (and what it doesn't)

Federal law does not decide whether an individual may own or carry a knife. 15 U.S.C. § 1241(b) defines a "switchblade knife" as any knife with a blade that opens automatically, either by hand pressure on a button or other device in the handle, or by the operation of inertia, gravity, or both. Building on that definition, 15 U.S.C. § 1242 makes it unlawful to knowingly introduce, manufacture for introduction, transport, or distribute a switchblade knife in interstate commerce, and 15 U.S.C. § 1243 extends the same prohibition to manufacturing, selling, or possessing one within a federal territory, Indian country, or the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States. Both offenses carry a fine of up to $2,000, imprisonment of up to 5 years, or both. Neither section reaches an individual who owns or carries a switchblade for personal use outside those federal-jurisdiction and interstate-commerce contexts; that question is left to state law.

15 U.S.C. § 1244, titled "Exceptions," exempts a defined list of situations from the §§ 1242-1243 prohibitions. It does not change the § 1241(b) definition of switchblade. The exceptions cover common and contract carriers shipping switchblades in the ordinary course of business, Armed Forces contracts and personnel acting within the scope of their duty, a person with only one arm possessing a knife with a blade of 3 inches or less, and, since a 2009 amendment, any knife that contains a spring, detent, or other mechanism designed to create a bias toward closure of the blade and that requires exertion applied to the blade by hand, wrist, or arm to overcome that bias and assist in opening the knife (15 U.S.C. § 1244(5)). That 2009 carve-out is the reason modern assisted-opening folding knives are manufactured, sold, and shipped nationwide without triggering the federal switchblade prohibitions; several states, including Washington, write their own switchblade definitions to mirror this exact language.

Ballistic knives are treated differently. 15 U.S.C. § 1245 makes it unlawful to knowingly possess, manufacture, sell, or import a ballistic knife, defined as a knife with a detachable blade that is propelled by a spring-operated mechanism, in or affecting interstate commerce or within the special maritime, territorial, or Indian-country jurisdiction of the United States. The general penalty is a fine, imprisonment of up to 10 years, or both; possessing or using one in the commission of a federal crime of violence carries a fine, imprisonment of 5 to 10 years, or both. This is the one knife type federal law bans outright, by name, within its jurisdiction, and most states independently ban ballistic knives too.

Two narrower federal rules matter for specific locations. 18 U.S.C. § 930 bans possessing a firearm or "other dangerous weapon" in a federal facility, but its definition of "dangerous weapon" expressly excludes a pocket knife with a blade under 2.5 inches, so a small pocketknife is not automatically banned there, though a larger or non-pocket-style knife can be. Separately, TSA prohibits knives in carry-on baggage, with a narrow exception for round-bladed, non-serrated items like plastic cutlery, but allows them in checked baggage if properly sheathed or wrapped; this is agency screening policy, not a law with the same force as a statute, and a screening officer's discretion applies at the checkpoint regardless of the stated rule. On National Park Service land, 36 CFR 2.4 bans possessing a weapon, trap, or net, without naming any item type in its own text; the item list some sources attribute to that section actually lives in the regulation's definitions at 36 CFR 1.4, which defines "weapon" to include one "the possession of which is prohibited under the laws of the State in which the park area ... is located." So whether a given knife is restricted on NPS land is effectively a function of the underlying state's knife law, plus any park-specific superintendent's compendium.

Knife taxonomy: what these terms actually mean

State statutes use a recurring vocabulary, switchblade, gravity knife, balisong or butterfly knife, dirk, dagger, stiletto, bowie knife, and ballistic knife, but the words are not a single national glossary. Each state grounds the same term in its own statutory test, and a state can even use the same word differently for different purposes within its own code.

A switchblade opens automatically by a button or similar device in the handle, or by inertia or gravity (15 U.S.C. § 1241(b); Haw. Rev. Stat. § 134-52(e) mirrors this test almost exactly). A gravity knife opens by the force of gravity or a flick of the wrist rather than a button; New York banned gravity knives by name until a 2019 repeal removed the term from its possession statute (N.Y. Penal Law § 265.01), while its switchblade ban remained in force. A balisong or butterfly knife has a blade concealed inside a split handle that swings open manually, assisted by inertia or gravity; Hawaii bans carrying one concealed under its own dedicated statute, separate from its switchblade statute (Haw. Rev. Stat. § 134-53). A ballistic knife has a detachable blade fired from the handle by a spring, elastic material, or compressed gas, distinct from an assisted-opening knife, whose blade stays attached to the handle.

"Dirk" and "dagger" show the clearest example of a term meaning different things in different states. California defines a dirk or dagger functionally: a knife or instrument capable of ready use as a stabbing weapon, with a folding or pocket knife counting only if its blade is exposed and locked into position (Cal. Penal Code § 16470). A closed or non-locking folding knife is not a dirk or dagger there, no matter its length. Most other states that use the terms, including North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland, instead name dirk and dagger as fixed categories inside a broader list of banned or restricted weapons, with no locking-blade test at all. Reading the specific state's own definition, not a generic dictionary meaning, is the only reliable way to know what a term covers in that state.

Blade length is not the whole story

Searches for knife laws tend to fixate on a single number, but length is only one of several independent variables a state's law can turn on, and in most states it is not the controlling one at all. Some states regulate by named type regardless of length: Michigan bans a dagger, dirk, stiletto, or double-edged nonfolding stabbing instrument "of any length," and New Jersey's possession ban covers a gravity knife, switchblade, dagger, dirk, and stiletto with no blade-length figure anywhere in the statute. Others regulate by intent rather than by the knife itself: Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, and Vermont each make carrying a knife, of any length or type, an offense only when done with a purpose to unlawfully use it against a person, so an ordinary pocketknife carried for everyday use commits no crime under those statutes regardless of its blade. Ohio goes further and excludes a knife from its "deadly weapon" definition entirely unless it was actually used as a weapon.

Where a length figure does appear, it usually marks a narrow exclusion or a specific context rather than a blanket ceiling. Idaho's 6-inch figure is not a maximum legal carry length; it is the point below which a knife is excluded from the "deadly weapon" definition altogether, so a longer knife still requires only a permitless-carry exception most adults already qualify for, not an outright ban. Georgia's 12-inch figure defines when a knife becomes a regulated "weapon" at all, not a ban above that length; since 2022 Georgia has been a permitless-carry state, so no license is required to carry one over that threshold either. Colorado's 3.5-inch figure defines the term "knife" for its concealed-carry misdemeanor and excludes a hunting or fishing knife carried for sports use as an affirmative defense even above that length. West Virginia's 3.5-inch figure cuts the other way in two specific settings: it ordinarily excludes a pocket knife from the state's "knife" definition, but that exclusion is switched off at a school or a courthouse, so a short pocket knife counts as a deadly weapon there even though it would not elsewhere in the state. Virginia added its own new figure in 2026, a 3.5-inch "location-restricted knife" that may not be carried into a hospital providing mental health services, on top of its older, unrelated 12-inch threshold for the state's anti-intimidation brandishing statute. A state's own statute, read for what the number actually gates, matters far more than the number alone.

Knife laws by state (comparison table)

"Banned to own" lists a knife type the state bans to possess or sell outright, independent of carry. "Open carry" and "concealed carry" summarize the operative carry rule for an ordinary adult where one is confirmed. "Blade-length rule" gives the specific inch figure where a state's law turns on one. "Preemption" states whether a statewide statute voids a stricter local ordinance. "Key statute" names the central citation for that state's rule; see that state's own page for the full analysis and every citation.

States with no statewide restriction on ordinary knife carry

25 states place no statewide restriction on carrying an ordinary knife, open or concealed, for an adult: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. They reach that result through different routes. Arizona's concealed-weapons statute categorically excepts a pocket knife and criminalizes carrying anything else concealed only in three narrow circumstances: in furtherance of a serious or violent felony, lying to a law enforcement officer about carrying it, or being under 21 (Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 13-3102). Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and Vermont instead use an intent element: carrying a knife is only a crime when done with a purpose to unlawfully use it against a person (Pennsylvania's version reaches concealment with intent to employ it criminally; Kansas's applies only to a covered named-type item, not any knife), or, in Louisiana's case, when the carrier does not qualify for the 2024 exemption available to an adult 18 or older who may lawfully possess a firearm (Ark. Code Ann. § 5-73-120; Iowa Code § 708.8; K.S.A. § 21-6301(a)(2); La. R.S. § 14:95; 18 Pa.C.S. § 907(b); 13 V.S.A. § 4003). Idaho, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, and West Virginia leave an ordinary knife unregulated for a qualifying adult or leave no general ban in place at all: Idaho by excluding a knife with a blade of six inches or less from the "deadly weapon" definition and letting most adults 18 and older carry concealed without a license (Idaho Code § 18-3302), Kentucky by defining "deadly weapon" to exclude an ordinary pocket knife or hunting knife (Ky. Rev. Stat. § 500.080(4)(c)), Missouri by having no blanket statewide ban on ordinary carry, restricting a concealed knife only in specific listed locations (RSMo § 571.010, § 571.030), Ohio by excluding a knife from its weapon definition unless it was actually used as one (Ohio Rev. Code § 2923.12), and West Virginia through permitless carry of a "deadly weapon" for anyone 18 or older who is not otherwise barred from possessing a firearm (W. Va. Code § 61-7-7(c)). Georgia reached this group through a 2022 change to permitless carry, and Tennessee and Oklahoma through repeals in 2014 and 2016 respectively; a source describing any of those three states' older, more restrictive rule is out of date. South Carolina's 2024 repeal is a different case: the repealed statute had already excluded an ordinary knife from the offense absent an intent to commit a crime, so an ordinary concealed knife was as lawful before the repeal as it is today, and the repeal removed a largely symbolic restriction rather than moving South Carolina into this group. Wyoming is not on this list: its concealed-carry statute, Wyo. Stat. § 6-8-104(a), bans a functionally defined "deadly weapon" that can reach a knife used or intended as one, and the state's one appellate decision construing that statute, State v. McAdams, 714 P.2d 1236 (Wyo. 1986), is itself a concealed-knife prosecution.

States that ban carrying a named list of knife types

19 states criminalize carrying a defined list of knife types, most commonly a dirk, dagger, stiletto, bowie knife, or switchblade, with no intent requirement in most of them: California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Washington. Carrying one of the listed items, openly or concealed depending on the state, is itself the offense in most of these states; the state does not have to show the carrier intended to use it unlawfully. Washington is the exception: its named-item concealment offense requires the carrier to have furtively concealed the item, a narrower intent element than showing an intent to use it unlawfully, but still an intent element rather than a strict bar on carrying. West Virginia is not on this list even though its own statute names a similar set of items: a qualifying adult (18 or older, not otherwise barred from possessing a firearm) may generally carry one of those named types under the state's permitless-carry framework. For an adult who does not qualify, West Virginia has no license covering a knife and no separate offense of carrying a concealed deadly weapon other than a firearm without one, so that carry is neither squarely banned nor licensed, rather than reached by a flat ban. Several of the 19 statutes carry their own carve-outs worth knowing. North Carolina exempts an "ordinary pocket knife," defined as one whose cutting edge and point are fully enclosed by the handle; Missouri, which has no blanket statewide ban on ordinary carry and so is not part of this group, uses a similar exclusion, defining "knife" to exclude an ordinary pocketknife of 4 inches or less in the first place. Maine's version reaches concealment, or a threatening display, of a bowie knife, dirk, or stiletto, with a hunting-and-fishing exemption. Massachusetts's ban on carrying a switch knife survives on the books, but the state's highest court held that specific clause unenforceable against the Second Amendment in 2024 in Commonwealth v. Canjura, while leaving the rest of the statute's named list, dagger, stiletto, ballistic knife, dirk knife, and double-edged blade knife, in force. New York removed gravity knife from its own equivalent list in 2019 but kept switchblade, ballistic knife, metal knuckle knife, and cane sword banned. Virginia's list itself changed in 2023: the statute now names a "stiletto knife" rather than a "switchblade knife," though a catch-all clause for weapons "of like kind" likely still reaches a switchblade in practice.

Ownership bans: ballistic knives and a shrinking switchblade list

A ballistic knife, a knife with a detachable blade propelled by a spring, elastic material, or compressed gas, is the type banned most consistently: federal law bans it within its own jurisdiction (15 U.S.C. § 1245), and at least California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, and Ohio independently ban owning, manufacturing, or selling one under state law. Ohio's version is easy to miss because the statute never calls it a knife ban: Ohio Rev. Code § 2923.11(K)(1) classifies a ballistic knife as "dangerous ordnance," and § 2923.17(A) bans acquiring, having, carrying, or using dangerous ordnance outright. North Carolina's version is also easy to miss because it sits outside the state's general concealed-carry statute: N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-269.6 bans possessing, selling, or carrying a spring-loaded projectile knife, ballistic knife, or "any weapon of similar character" outright, and reaches even a law enforcement officer, with the ban lifted only for agency-level evidentiary, education, or training possession. New Jersey and New York each fold the ballistic knife into their general named-list possession bans rather than a standalone statute (N.J.S.A. 2C:39-3(e); N.Y. Penal Law § 265.01(1)). A plain switchblade, by contrast, is banned to own or sell in a narrower and shrinking group of states, including Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Washington. The list has been shrinking because several states have repealed their switchblade bans in recent years: Louisiana in 2018, New York's parallel gravity-knife ban in 2019, and Vermont's blade-length-based switchblade statute in 2025. Missouri does not belong on the switchblade list despite its statute's text: RSMo § 571.020.1(6)(d) bans a switchblade only when possessing, manufacturing, transporting, repairing, or selling it also violates federal law, and federal law does not restrict an individual's simple possession, so the clause does not function as a freestanding state possession ban. Delaware is a case worth reading carefully rather than assuming: an older Delaware switchblade statute (11 Del. C. § 1446) was repealed in 2025, but a separate, still-current statute (24 Del. C. § 901) independently bans switchblade possession and sale statewide, subject to an unresolved carve-out for sporting and household knives. A bare "Delaware repealed its switchblade ban" claim describing the state today would be wrong.

Statewide preemption: when local knife ordinances are void

20 states preempt local knife regulation, voiding a conflicting or stricter city or county ordinance: 19 by statute, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, plus New Mexico, whose preemption is constitutional rather than statutory (N.M. Const. art. II, § 6 bars a municipality or county from regulating "an incident of the right to keep and bear arms" in any way). New Mexico's clause is categorical in wording but contingent in application: whether a specific local knife ordinance actually regulates that right, rather than merely touching on knives, is a question a court still has to answer. Arizona's statute is the clearest model: no political subdivision may enact any ordinance, rule, or tax relating to the transportation, possession, carrying, sale, transfer, or use of a knife, and a conflicting local rule, whenever enacted, is null and void (Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 13-3120). Georgia's preemption statute defines "knife" more broadly than its own carry statute does, so local governments there cannot restrict any knife more strictly than state law, not just knives over the 12-inch threshold (O.C.G.A. § 16-11-136). Idaho's preemption statute sits at a separate, easily missed section, Idaho Code § 18-3327, titled "Consistency in knife regulation," apart from the state's firearms-only preemption statute; Idaho's does carry named exceptions letting schools, courthouses, law enforcement facilities, prisons and jails, and child care facilities still regulate knife possession on their own premises. Wyoming's preemption statute uses the undefined term "weapon" rather than naming knives, so its reach to knives specifically is an inference from the statute's title and structure rather than a definitional certainty. West Virginia's preemption statute, § 8-12-5a, binds only municipalities, not counties, and even a municipality keeps authority to regulate deadly weapons, including knives, inside municipally owned buildings and recreation facilities. Several other states preempt knives through a statute that is not obviously about knives at all: Ohio's is its firearms-preemption statute, R.C. 9.68, which added knives by amendment effective September 2022; New Jersey's is the Criminal Code's general local-preemption clause (2C:1-5(d)), a conflict-preemption rule, not a weapons-specific one, that courts have applied to void a conflicting local ordinance on any subject the Code addresses, but that does not automatically void a local knife ordinance merely because it is stricter than state law without actually conflicting with it; and Nebraska's and New Hampshire's firearms-preemption statutes each reach further than their names suggest, Nebraska's by preempting "firearms or other weapons" (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 13-330) and New Hampshire's by a section titled "Firearms, Ammunition, and Knives; Authority of the State" (RSA 159:26). Tennessee's preemption statute names knives in its own separate subsection (Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-1314(f)).

The remaining 30 states plus the District of Columbia (which has no counties or municipalities of its own) leave knife regulation open to local government, subject to whatever home-rule limits that state's constitution or general law otherwise imposes. In those states, a city or county ordinance can add restrictions state law does not, so a knife legal to carry under state law is not automatically legal to carry everywhere within that state.

Recent legislative changes worth knowing

Knife law has moved quickly in several states over the past few years, enough that an older source can describe a rule that no longer applies. Georgia became a permitless-carry state under SB 319 (2022), which removed the earlier requirement that anyone carrying a weapon be a license holder, extending to a knife over 12 inches the same way it extends to a handgun. Ohio Rev. Code § 9.68 was amended effective September 13, 2022 by Senate Bill 156 to add knives to the state's uniform firearms-preemption law, and Pennsylvania's Act 119 of 2022 removed automatic-knife language from the state's "offensive weapons" definition, effective 60 days after its November 3, 2022 signing. Tennessee's 2023 Public Chapter 142 added a narrow school-property exception letting a nonstudent adult carry a concealed, unhandled pocket knife for the sole purpose of voting in an election. South Carolina's Constitutional Carry Act, Act No. 111 of 2024, repealed the state's general concealed-weapons statute effective March 7, 2024; that statute had already exempted knives from criminal liability absent an intent to commit a crime, so the repeal removed a largely symbolic restriction rather than creating a new one. Louisiana's concealment statute was amended effective July 4, 2024 (Acts 2024, 2nd Extraordinary Session, No. 1) to exempt any person 18 or older who is not otherwise prohibited from possessing a firearm from the entire concealment offense, reaching a knife the same way it reaches a firearm. Massachusetts's high court held the switchblade-carry clause of the state's general weapons statute unenforceable against the Second Amendment in Commonwealth v. Canjura, 494 Mass. 508, decided August 27, 2024, while leaving the rest of that statute's named list in force. Vermont repealed the switchblade-specific blade-length language in its former weapons statute in 2025, so the section now covers only "zip" guns. New York repealed its statewide gravity-knife possession ban in 2019 after a federal court found the prior test unconstitutionally vague, while its separate switchblade ban was untouched. Texas replaced its older named-type "illegal knives" list with the current blade-length-triggered "location-restricted knife" model, effective September 1, 2017, under HB 1935. Virginia added a new location-restricted-knife rule for hospitals providing mental health or developmental services in 2026 (Va. Code § 18.2-283.3), and West Virginia's 2026 HB 4106 repealed the state's former age-based license requirement for concealed carry, moving West Virginia's qualifying age for permitless carry down to 18.

How knife penalties typically work

Penalties for a knife offense fall into a recognizable pattern across the states in this comparison. Many states treat bare possession or ordinary carry, where it is restricted at all, as a misdemeanor: Illinois classifies both its outright switchblade ban and its intent-based ordinary-knife offense as a Class A misdemeanor, and Colorado's concealed-knife offense and its separate ballistic-knife ban are each a class 1 misdemeanor. A location-based aggravator commonly raises the grade: Illinois elevates either of its base offenses to a Class 4 felony if committed in a school, park, courthouse, or public-housing property, and Georgia's school-safety-zone knife offense is a felony, punishable by up to $10,000 and 2 to 10 years, for anyone who is not a lawful weapons carrier. A few states set unusually high exposure for their outright possession bans: Delaware's concealed-deadly-weapon offense and Washington's manufacture-or-possession-of-a-spring-blade-knife offense are both felony-tier, and Massachusetts sets a 2.5-to-5-year state-prison range for its general carrying-dangerous-weapons statute. Several states instead route an ordinary violation through a civil or administrative track rather than a criminal one: Wisconsin's general concealed-weapons statute excludes a knife entirely for the public, reserving its Class A misdemeanor penalty for a person already prohibited from possessing a firearm. Because the range across states runs from a fine-only local-option county penalty to a multi-year felony, a specific number only means something attached to a specific state; check the table above and that state's own page rather than assuming a single national penalty.

Knife laws are one of several weapons and everyday-law topics covered on this site. Self-defense laws address the broader legal framework for using force, including with a knife, in defense of a person.

Disclaimer: This article provides general legal information about knife laws in the United States as of September 2026. It is not legal advice. Knife statutes, blade-length thresholds, named-type lists, and penalties change by state and by year; verify the current text of your state's law before relying on it, and consult a lawyer licensed in your state for advice about a specific situation.

Statutes cited reflect their in-force version as of 2026-09-18. Last updated: 2026-09-18.