Do you consider a pocket knife to be a weapon?

Question

I mean a folding knife with a blade no longer than 3 1/2 inches long. Why or why not?

Also, does law enforcement consider a folded pocket knife in your pocket to be a weapon?

Answer 1

Your typical pocket knife is a tool, no different than a screwdriver. Can you stick somebody with it? Sure but you can do the same thing with a screwdriver.

There are larger folding fighters that are designed as being a weapon however. In some states there is a maximum legal length that a folding knife blade can be.

I carry pocket knife everywhere. My pocket knife for work clothes is small and slim but is still a lock blade. Since I live on a ranch my jeans knife if a much larger and heavy duty knife. It has to take a lot of abuse so it needs to be large and well made.

I've carried a pocket knife for over 30 years, used one nearly every day but never cut or stabbed anybody with it. Does that sound like a tool or a weapon?

Answer 2

Yes it is a weapon. Why, because it can kill or seriously hurt you.
Do this, take that 3 1/2 inch blade and open it up. Now take the blade and hold it pointing in towards you and then line it up along the out side of your face at eye level. How far into your skull would it have reached if you stuck it in your eye instead of along the outside of your face?

Check with your state however. In Texas it is a legal weapon and you can carry it on you. In Texas the blade has to be less than 5 1/2 inces long, not double bladed, not meant or designed to be thrown, and not opend with a button or gravity to be considered illegal.

If you have an encounter with Law Enforcement and you have a legal pocket knife on you, they will most likely hold it until the encounter is done and then give it back to you.

Answer 3

31/2inches into a body can kill or injure a vital organ. A folded pocket knife once the blade is opened can cut a vein ,cut a artery, take out a eye, sever a nerve to cause permanent disability. Yes,I'd say that the police considers a folded pocket knife a weapon since although folded would sem haarmless but takes only a few seconds to open and use the blade and that makes it a weapon.

Answer 4

If I recall, anything over the length of an adults palm of their hand was considered a weapon. I aggree that it is a weapon...And depending on the state, and Im not a lawyer, I would think depending on the situation at hand, it could be considered a concealed weapon. I know police will ask you if you have any weapons on you when you are searched. I had a ordeal in a Bus station in Orlando FL a few years back, where I had a pocket knife taken from me from security and it was in a carry on bag.

Answer 5

thcrbz,
I don't know about law enforcement, but I grew up with a pocket knife. When I was a teen, it was considered a handy tool. We used it for a letter opener, box opener, tape cutter .. . . etc. I didn't consider myself prepared for the day without my little knife in my pocket.

I understand times are different now, after 9/11, but people didn't change their perceptions of pipe, after Columbine and there were multiple pipe bombs. People can use a pipe wrench for a weapon, or a screwdriver to skewer someone . . . . I think it's a tool unless the bearer (or the society the bearer is a part of) considers it a weapon.

Who knew, fluids in amounts of more than 3 oz. were considered possibly dangerous????

Times are a changing, but that's my opinion.
Good luck!

Answer 6

After 9/11, any blade longer than 3" is considered a weapon.

Answer 7

My friend is a police officer and said that as long as you don't use it as a weapon and you have a justified reason to have it then they won't bother you.

I don't consider my knife to be a weapon for the simple fact that I need it to do my job.

I'm a pilot and service crew for an aerobatic team and need my knife for all kinds of random things while working on or around the airplane.

In addition to maintenance, any of the oils, fluids and so on that we use are well sealed and I'm sure I'm not the only one in this situation.

Answer 8

Anything can be a weapon if it is used as such. Generally a Pocket knife of that size is not considered a weapon until it is used in the commission of a crime.

Answer 9

No. When I think of a pocket knife, I think of survival and using it as a tool to survive in the jungle. A pocket knife is so handy. Pocket knives or Swiss Army Knives were not originally invented as weapons. We got Whittling Chip cards when I was in the Boy Scouts and when we used our pocket knives inappropriately, a corner was taken off of the Whittling Chip card or our pocket knives were taken away.

Answer 10

I don't but the Police do, they took away a 1 1/2 inch knife on my key chain to let me into the courthouse.