I've discovered a disturbing nuance of Michigan knife law. I could have a knife hanging from my neck, not hidden under my shirt (completely open-carried), and be legal...unless I get in the car. Seems having a fixed blade within reach if one is in a vehicle can constitute concealment. I need to do one of two things: make a smurfload of noise until the laws are changed or move to a state with laws more to my liking.
I thought that only applied to daggers, dirks, stilettos, and double-edged knives.
Best as I can tell, it's all fixed blades.
I took another look at the law. Anything that is fixed and double-edged is a per se "dangerous weapon," so merely concealing it or transporting it in a vehicle can land you in hot water. In the latter case, it's a felony. A single-edged fixed blade falls under an "any other dangerous weapon" clause, which would mean a prosecutor has to prove ill intent. That's if I'm understanding the law correctly.https://www.akti.org/state-knife-laws/michigan/Some research into whether carry of a fixie (concealed or otherwise) runs afoul of a more restrictive local law I must abide by still has to be done.
Georgia (U.S.) knife lawAny knife having a blade measuring 12 inches or less may be freely carried.
Major victory for those who live in or travel to Philadelphia:https://kniferights.org/legislative-update/worst-anti-knife-city-in-america-caves-to-knife-rights/
I have trouble getting my head around knife laws in general.If someone was intent on doing harm, laws wont worry them in the least.And there are ways to getting around carrying some form of weapon no matter what laws are enacted.For instance.When we go pig hunting, a knife isn't used to finish off the pig, a sharpened screwdriver is.Gets through the thick skin more easiy and less chance of getting cut or jamming the blade.And when getting on an aircraft you are given metal cutlery to eat your food.Instead of making innocent, law aboding people into criminals by making a harmless pocket knife illegal.They should be looking at punishing criminals for using them more harshly.Its a shame when a useful tool is deemed a weapon because "someone" feels its easier to criminalize everyone rather than just the criminals.
I think knife carrying people are a minority (and not one that is protected). So, knife laws give the appearance of progress, of something being done and appease a majority. E.g. just before our knife laws got updated there was an incident with a butterfly knife. Because of that, butterfly knives are prohibited, but I can have a flipper knife with a dagger blade.Here we actually don't really have a knife law. We separate in a weapon law and a dangerous item law.Weapons: Butterfly knives, automatic knives with a blade-length over 5cm, daggers (double sided fixed blade) with a blade length between 5 and 30cm (under 5cm is less dangerous/lethal and over 30cm it becomes hard to conceal, that is the reasoning here).Dangerous item: all the other knives, sharpened screwdriver, hatchets, scissors, hammer, fireworks, golf-clubs, baseball bats, bike-chains, swords etc.Weapons: (e.g. my decorative Swiss Dagger): Needs permit to buy/sell. Can only be carried with a really good reasons (e.g. a medieval parade/festival as part of the uniform/costume). From and to the event, the dagger needs to be stored in a bag (cannot be carried on the body) and cannot make a detour or leave them in your car (never heard this to be enforced, but you probably would get a negligence charge if something happens). Weapons are far more enforced than dangerous items and bringing a weapon can be a criminal offense in itself. E.g. bringing a dagger to a shopping mall (you have no reason to bring that dagger) or carrying a dagger on your belt on the street (even if you have a reason to bring that dagger).Dangerous Items: Also need a reason to be carried (except for knives, there is always a reason ). E.g. you cannot bring a hatchet to do some cloth shopping. But you can bring a hatched to the forest (of course depending on whether you are allowed to chop wood in that particular forest) to chop wood. And while it is advised against, you can make a detour to the butcher to get some meat for the fire you intend to make. How you carry a dangerous item is less regulated but it is suggested that you carry the hatched in a bag until you reach the forest.As a rule of thumb, you cannot bring a dangerous item to anywhere, where there is a crowd. Exceptions are for example, you can bring a sword or a club to a medieval festival, but not a modern baseball bat. You also absolutely can get on public transport with a sword, despite it being crowded, but you cannot bring that sword to a music festival.That ruling might seem inconsistent and random but there are two huge perks to this:- people can be disarmed when going to a festival / mall / stadium. Especially events known for heavy alcohol consumption this reduces the risk that drunken brawls turn into murder. Usually, you won't get charged for bringing a dangerous item and might even be able to get it returned to you.- if you commit a crime carrying a dangerous item you are considered armed. Which automatically increases your sentence. Hopefully discouraging criminals to carry weapons. As such our "knife law" works, but mostly helps reduce spontaneous crimes, e.g. under alcohol influence. But on the other hand there are few true limitations.
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