In the February issue of Knife Magazine, attorney and knife expert Dan Lawson discussed “The Uncommon and Extraordinary Pocket Knife” and AKTI’s belief that pocket knives are not intended as weapons and should be excluded from carry restrictions. He suggests a “useful and polite response” if someone questions you carrying a pocket knife is to point out that Abraham Lincoln carried a pocket knife. Included in his pocket on the evening of his assassination was a slip-joint knife with ivory scales and silver bolsters.
The residents of 26 states are fortunate to live in a jurisdiction where no restrictions on the carry of pocket knives obtain.1 People at least 21 years old in those states listed may carry any type of pocket knife without regard to whether it is concealed, how it may be opened, or blade length. Those persons in the other half of the country are beset with various restrictions, some of which are quite dubious.
Pocket knives are designed and intended to be carried in a concealed manner – typically in a pocket or handbag. Open carry of pocket knives – excluding the relatively recent development of pocket clip carry – is challenging and the exception rather than the norm
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