New York Knife Laws (2026): Switchblade Ban After the Gravity Knife Repeal

New York runs two separate tracks for knives: a per se possession ban for a named list of items, and a broader intent-based offense for daggers, dirks, stilettos, and other dangerous knives that applies only when the knife is possessed with intent to use it unlawfully. A separate statute bars anyone under 16 from possessing a dangerous knife anywhere in the state, a prior conviction turns either adult offense into a felony, and New York repealed its gravity-knife possession ban in 2019 without touching the separate switchblade ban.

Jurisdiction scope: This page covers New York state law only, principally N.Y. Penal Law §§ 265.00, 265.01, 265.01-a, 265.02, 265.05, 265.10, 265.15, and 265.20. It does not cover New York City's separate municipal knife ordinance, which readers in New York City should check directly.

Two separate offenses for two different knife categories

New York's weapons chapter runs two distinct tracks for knives, and collapsing them into one rule misstates the law. The first track, § 265.01(1), is a strict possession ban for a specific named list: "He or she possesses any firearm, electronic dart gun, electronic stun gun, switchblade knife, pilum ballistic knife, metal knuckle knife, cane sword, billy, blackjack, bludgeon, plastic knuckles, metal knuckles, chuka stick, sand bag, sandclub, wrist-brace type slingshot or slungshot, shuriken, or throwing star." No intent to use the item unlawfully is required; possessing one of these listed items is itself the offense.

The second track, § 265.01(2), reaches a broader list but only conditionally: "He or she possesses any dagger, dangerous knife, dirk, machete, razor, stiletto, imitation pistol, undetectable knife or any other dangerous or deadly instrument or weapon with intent to use the same unlawfully against another." Simple possession of a dagger, dirk, stiletto, machete, razor, or "dangerous knife" is not itself a crime under this provision; the prosecution must show intent to use the item unlawfully against another person. Both offenses, on their own, are class A misdemeanors; a prior conviction changes that, described below.

A prior conviction turns either offense into a felony

§ 265.02(1) provides: "A person is guilty of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree when: (1) Such person commits the crime of criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree as defined in subdivision one, two, three or five of section 265.01, and has been previously convicted of any crime." Criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree is a class D felony. Because subdivisions one and two of § 265.01 are the two knife-possession tracks described above, a person with any prior criminal conviction, not only a weapons or violent-crime conviction, who commits either offense faces a felony rather than a misdemeanor.

What makes a dagger, dirk, or dangerous knife a "weapon"

§ 265.00 does not separately define "dagger," "dirk," "dangerous knife," or "stiletto," even though each appears in § 265.01(2)'s intent-based offense and § 265.05's under-16 possession ban below. New York's Court of Appeals has supplied the governing test rather than leaving the terms to ordinary meaning. In Matter of Jamie D., 59 N.Y.2d 589 (1983), the Court held that "dangerous knife" "connotes a knife which may be characterized as a weapon." Some knives qualify based on their characteristics alone: "a bayonet, a stiletto, or a dagger" comes within the term because those instruments are "primarily intended for use as a weapon." A utilitarian knife, one designed and primarily intended as a tool, can still qualify in either of two other ways: it may have been physically converted into a weapon, or "the circumstances of its possession, although there has been no modification of the implement, may permit a finding that on the occasion of its possession it was essentially a weapon rather than a utensil."

New York's Court of Appeals applied this test in In re Antwaine T., 23 N.Y.3d 512 (2014), a case about whether a juvenile delinquency petition was facially sufficient, not about guilt. The issue was "whether the petition was facially sufficient to charge respondent Antwaine T." with possessing the 14-inch-bladed machete he was found with late at night on a Brooklyn street; the Court held that it was, reasoning that "it would be unreasonable to infer from the statement supporting the petition that respondent was using the machete for cutting plants," and that the officer's description of the machete's size and the time and place it was carried "adequately states circumstances of . . . possession that support the charge that defendant was carrying a weapon." The delinquency adjudication itself later rested on the respondent's own admission and a subsequent probation violation, not on a trial finding under this standard. This is the test that decides whether an ordinary work knife or a machete falls within § 265.01(2)'s "dangerous knife" language or § 265.05's under-16 ban below: not the knife's type alone, but its characteristics together with the circumstances of how it was carried.

The 2019 gravity-knife repeal did not touch the switchblade ban

New York's current § 265.01(1) possession list does not include "gravity knife." The term is still defined at § 265.00(5): "'Gravity knife' means any knife which has a blade which is released from the handle or sheath thereof by the force of gravity or the application of centrifugal force which, when released, is locked in place by means of a button, spring, lever or other device." The definition persists in the statute's definitions section, but the operative possession offense in § 265.01(1) no longer lists gravity knife among its banned items, consistent with New York's 2019 repeal of its statewide gravity-knife possession ban.

That repeal is narrower than it is sometimes described. "Switchblade knife," separately defined at § 265.00(4) as "any knife which has a blade which opens automatically by hand pressure applied to a button, spring or other device in the handle of the knife," remains explicitly listed in § 265.01(1) and remains fully banned. A claim that "New York repealed its knife ban" conflates the narrower gravity-knife repeal with the switchblade ban, which was not repealed and is still in force today.

Other knife-related definitions

§ 265.00 separately defines several related terms. "Pilum ballistic knife" (5-a) "means any knife which has a blade which can be projected from the handle by hand pressure applied to a button, lever, spring or other device in the handle of the knife." "Metal knuckle knife" (5-b) "means a weapon that, when closed, cannot function as a set of plastic knuckles or metal knuckles, nor as a knife and when open, can function as both a set of plastic knuckles or metal knuckles as well as a knife." "Automatic knife" (5-c) "includes a stiletto, a switchblade knife, a cane sword, a pilum ballistic knife, and a metal knuckle knife," a defined umbrella term used in the museum exemption below. "Undetectable knife" (5-d) "means any knife or other instrument, which does not utilize materials that are detectable by a metal detector or magnetometer when set at a standard calibration, that is capable of ready use as a stabbing or cutting weapon and was commercially manufactured to be used as a weapon." "Cane sword" (13) "means a cane or swagger stick having concealed within it a blade that may be used as a sword or stiletto."

The presumption that supplies intent

§ 265.15(4) provides, in full: "The possession by any person of the substance as specified in section 265.04 is presumptive evidence of possessing such substance with intent to use the same unlawfully against the person or property of another if such person is not licensed or otherwise authorized to possess such substance. The possession by any person of any dagger, dirk, stiletto, dangerous knife or any other weapon, instrument, appliance or substance designed, made or adapted for use primarily as a weapon, is presumptive evidence of intent to use the same unlawfully against another." The subdivision's first sentence addresses the substance covered by § 265.04; its second sentence is the one that connects directly to § 265.01(2)'s intent element for knives: simply possessing one of these named knife types can itself supply presumptive evidence of the unlawful intent that offense otherwise requires, shifting the practical burden onto the possessor to rebut the presumption. A separate provision, § 265.15(3), treats the presence of a switchblade knife, pilum ballistic knife, metal knuckle knife, dagger, dirk, or stiletto (along with several firearm-related items) in a non-stolen automobile as presumptive evidence of possession by every occupant of that vehicle, with exceptions if the item is found on one occupant's person, the vehicle is a licensed for-hire vehicle, or the item is a pistol or revolver possessed by a validly licensed occupant.

Manufacturing, transporting, and disposing of the same knives

Separately from possession, New York criminalizes the supply chain for the same listed items. Subdivision 1 of § 265.10 opens with machine guns, assault weapons, large capacity ammunition feeding devices, disguised guns, and rapid-fire modification devices before reaching knives in its third sentence, which provides: "Any person who manufactures or causes to be manufactured any switchblade knife, pilum ballistic knife, metal knuckle knife, undetectable knife, billy, blackjack, bludgeon, plastic knuckles, metal knuckles, throwing star, chuka stick, sandbag, sandclub or slungshot is guilty of a class A misdemeanor." § 265.10(2) applies the same manufacturing-offense structure to transporting or shipping merchandise, but its knife list is not identical: it reaches "any firearm, other than an assault weapon, switchblade knife, pilum ballistic knife, undetectable knife, billy, blackjack, bludgeon, plastic knuckles, metal knuckles, throwing star, chuka stick, sandbag or slungshot," omitting the metal knuckle knife and the sandclub that subdivision 1 names. § 265.10(4) separately covers disposal: "Any person who disposes of any of the weapons, instruments or appliances specified in subdivision one of section 265.01, except a firearm, is guilty of a class A misdemeanor, and he is guilty of a class D felony if he has previously been convicted of any crime." § 265.10(5) covers a narrower disposal offense tied to the age of the recipient rather than the item: "Any person who disposes of any of the weapons, instruments, appliances or substances specified in section 265.05 to any other person under the age of sixteen years is guilty of a class A misdemeanor." Because § 265.00(6) defines "dispose of" broadly, to include giving, giving away, leasing, loaning, keeping for sale, offering, offering for sale, selling, and transferring, this is New York's rule against giving or selling a § 265.05 dangerous knife (or the section's other listed items) to anyone under 16, distinct from and narrower than subdivision 4's general disposal offense. This matters to the museum exemption described below, which by its own text lifts only § 265.01(1) and § 265.15(4), not § 265.10.

Anyone under 16: a dangerous knife is banned everywhere, not just at school

§ 265.05 provides: "It shall be unlawful for any person under the age of sixteen to possess any air-gun, spring-gun or other instrument or weapon in which the propelling force is a spring or air, or any gun or any instrument or weapon in or upon which any loaded or blank cartridges may be used, or any loaded or blank cartridges or ammunition therefor, or any dangerous knife; provided that the possession of rifle or shotgun or ammunition therefor by the holder of a hunting license or permit issued pursuant to article eleven of the environmental conservation law and used in accordance with said law shall not be governed by this section." A person who violates this section is adjudged a juvenile delinquent rather than convicted of a crime. This ban applies anywhere in New York State, not only on school property, and "dangerous knife" carries the same Matter of Jamie D. test described above. New York's Court of Appeals applied § 265.05 to a 15-year-old carrying a machete on a Brooklyn street in In re Antwaine T.; the same conduct was also charged, in the alternative, under § 265.01(2)'s adult intent-based offense. The other side of that same age line is a separate crime: § 265.10(5) makes it a class A misdemeanor for anyone to dispose of, meaning give, give away, lease, loan, offer, or sell, a dangerous knife or any other item specified in § 265.05 to a person under 16, regardless of whether the person disposing of it has any prior conviction.

School grounds: a separate firearm-only statute, on top of the under-16 ban

§ 265.01-a bans knowingly possessing "a rifle, shotgun, or firearm" in or upon a building or grounds used for educational purposes by a school, college, or university, or on a school bus, without the educational institution's written authorization, a class E felony. This statute's text is limited to a rifle, shotgun, or firearm; it does not mention a knife of any type, and New York has no separate state statute making knife possession on school grounds specifically, as opposed to statewide, a distinct offense. That does not mean knife possession by a student is unregulated: § 265.05's under-16 dangerous-knife ban, described above, applies on school grounds exactly as it applies anywhere else in the state, and it was a school-adjacent arrest, a 15-year-old with a machete, that produced the controlling Court of Appeals decision construing it.

Narrow exemptions: corrections officials and a knife museum

§ 265.20(2) exempts a warden, superintendent, headkeeper, or deputy of a state prison, penitentiary, workhouse, or county jail from the possession bans for, among other items, a switchblade knife or pilum ballistic knife, when possessed in that official capacity. A separate exemption, at § 265.20(d), provides: "Subdivision one of section 265.01 and subdivision four of section 265.15 of this article shall not apply to possession or ownership of automatic knives by any cutlery and knife museum established pursuant to section two hundred sixteen-c of the education law or by any director, officer, employee, or agent thereof when he or she is in possession of an automatic knife and acting in furtherance of the business of such museum." Because "automatic knife" is defined to include a stiletto, switchblade knife, cane sword, pilum ballistic knife, and metal knuckle knife, this exemption reaches both the strict § 265.01(1) possession ban and the § 265.15(4) presumption, but only for a qualifying cutlery and knife museum and its personnel acting within the museum's business, and it does not extend to § 265.10's manufacture, transport, or disposal offenses.

New York City: a separate local ordinance

New York City has its own knife rules under the New York City Administrative Code, in addition to the state law described on this page. City rules can be stricter than the statewide rules above; a reader in New York City should check the current New York City Administrative Code directly.

Federal law: what it does and does not reach

Federal law does not ban an individual from owning or carrying a switchblade nationwide; it restricts interstate commerce in them. The Federal Switchblade Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1241 to 1245, bars manufacturing for, or introducing, transporting, or distributing in, interstate commerce, and, in 15 U.S.C. § 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. The two switchblade offense sections, §§ 1242 and 1243, do not apply to certain knives and people; § 1244, captioned "Exceptions," lists them. A 2009 amendment, § 1244(5), exempts any knife with a spring, detent, or other closure-bias mechanism that requires hand, wrist, or arm exertion on the blade itself to overcome the bias and assist opening, the carve-out that keeps modern assisted-opening folding knives legal in interstate commerce. A separate exemption, § 1244(4), covers a person with only one arm possessing or carrying a switchblade with a blade three inches or less. New York's own switchblade possession ban, § 265.01(1), is a state offense independent of these federal interstate-commerce provisions.

Disclaimer: This article provides general legal information about New York's knife laws as of September 2026. It is not legal advice. Consult a lawyer licensed in New York for advice about a specific situation. New York City and other municipalities may impose additional local knife restrictions not covered on this page.

For a state-by-state comparison, see knife laws by state. New York's self-defense statutes are covered separately on the New York self-defense laws page.

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