This article appeared in Knife Magazine in July 2025
Know Your Knife Laws – Solving How to Legally Travel with a Knife
By Anthony Sculimbrene, Attorney and Knife Expert
People consider the United States to be one giant country, which is true. But, in many ways, the U.S. is like a collection of countries. There are not just 50 states but tribal territories, too. If you drove from Concord, New Hampshire, to Foxwoods, a resort casino in Ledyard, Connecticut, you would be subject to no fewer than five sets of laws, and this sets aside town ordinances. If you happened to drop a folding knife in your pocket for the trip, you’d have to figure out the legality of carry in each state and tribal nation. That’s a daunting task for a simple road trip for some entertainment, outdoor experience, or even work! But that’s currently the state of the law in the U.S.
Since 1986, firearms are treated differently than knives. Under 18 USC 926A (Interstate Transport of Firearms/FOPA), a person authorized to possess a gun can travel with that gun from state to state so long as it is legal in the starting state and the end state, AND both the firearm and ammunition are inaccessible during travel. AKTI has long advocated for a similar law for knives. The Interstate Transport Act, or ITA, would almost mirror the firearms law. Currently, if you were traveling with a gun and had a knife in the case with it, that knife is not protected if it is against the law.
If ITA is passed, transporting a knife would be lawful regardless of state laws or municipal ordinances, as long as the person transporting it is authorized to possess it, and it is legal in the starting and ending state and inaccessible during travel. Given the confusing patchwork of laws that exist throughout the country — town and county ordinances, tribal and state laws — ITA is a practical solution to an everyday problem.
One of the common misguided objections to ITA, and, in fairness, its firearm equivalent, is that it allows the introduction of contraband into states. By its very terms, ITA does no such thing. If you take the knife out of storage during travel in a state where it is illegal, ITA does nothing to protect you. As such, by definition, ITA still honors state and local rules about what counts as contraband. ITA would not affect residents of the state as they are not traveling and are subject to their state’s laws and any applicable local or other ordinances.
Data does not support the idea that ITA or its firearms sibling boosts crime or the possession of prohibited items. New Hampshire and Massachusetts share a border (one I cross daily for work). New Hampshire has much more Second Amendment-friendly laws than Massachusetts. And yet, since 926A’s introduction in 1986, there has been a decline in the rate of homicides in Massachusetts, from 3.4 per 100,000 to 2.2 per 100,000 in 2019. The opposite is true of New Hampshire (1986 2.2 per 100,000 and 2019 2.4 per 100,000). In 2021, Massachusetts ranked 50th in gun suicides and gun homicides. Telling in the comparison — New Hampshire ranked 36th. This is even more remarkable when the numbers account for households with guns — in Massachusetts, 9 percent of households have guns, while 46 percent of New Hampshire households have them. If these travel laws are merely covers to allow the flow of guns and knives into states that restrict them, then these numbers should be different. The number of guns between these two states should be more alike, and the rate of gun deaths should be closer. But they are not because 926A, as ITA would, accounts for this problem.
It’s not as big an issue in the West— states are vast, though there are many more tribal nations. But in the East, especially New England, you can travel through four states in two hours. I have done this before, going from work to a day-before-Thanksgiving event (I left Concord, New Hampshire, went south through Massachusetts, into Connecticut, and then veered east to Providence, R.I.).
There is no reason that this kind of routine travel should necessitate legal research. ITA will be a common-sense solution to this problem. It is one we know works, as the firearms version has been efficacious for nearly 40 years.
You can follow the progress of the Interstate Transport Act (S. 246), or get information about your state’s knife laws on our website. Sign up to receive the American Knife & Tool Institute’s monthly email news, and support AKTI with your membership or contribution to our legislative fund.