Are automatics over 2" illegal to own in CA? Or just illegal to carry in public?

[Hawkfan]

anyone know the answer to this? All the laws I can find refer to carrying or displaying in public but I can't find anything about just owning them.

 

[Knife_Collector_101]

As far as I know, they are okay to own and the 2 inch limit only applies to carry.

 

[Bootaka]

The way I read it, it is a double edged answer. No, they are not illegal to own, they are however illegal to have outside your home, this includes vehicles, on your person, bringing them into the state, attempting to sell, or purchase within the state. Basicly, if you don't have one grandfathered down, you can't legally own one with more than 2" in CA.

 

[killgar]

Here is the law word for word regarding the illegalities of switchblades in the state of California-

California Penal Code 21510

"Any person who does any of the following with a switchblade knife having a blade two or more inches in length is guilty of a misdemeanor:

a. Possesses the knife in the passenger's or driver's area of any motor vehicle in any public place or place open to the public.

b. Carries the knife upon the person.

c. Sells, offers for sale, loans, transfers, or gives the knife to any other person."


That's it. And that comes directly from the official California state legislative website, leginfo.legislature.ca.gov, where all California state laws can be found.

It is not illegal to own ANY switchblade in the state of California, regardless of size. It would be perfectly legal for a person moving, or traveling to California to bring switchblades, of any size, with them from out of state. It is also perfectly legal to purchase a switchblade of any size in another state and transport it into California.

In order to transport a switchblade with a blade 2" or longer legally inside the state of California it would have to be carried in the trunk of a vehicle, or in the case of a motorcycle, in a place not readily accessible to the rider or passenger.

 

[Knife_Collector_101]

I was wondering, are any of the other prohibited items under CA state law like sword canes, lipstick and belt buckle knives, knuckle dusters, etc. illegal to own or legal to own but not to carry?

 

[killgar]

I was wondering, are any of the other prohibited items under CA state law like sword canes, lipstick and belt buckle knives, knuckle dusters, etc. illegal to own or legal to own but not to carry?

All of the items you mentioned are illegal to POSSESS in the state of California, as well as sell, manufacture, or about anything else you could do with them. They are all flat out illegal. California takes a dim view of such items, and punishment for getting caught with them can be up to a year in jail.

Here are the California statutes that explain the prohibitions on each item-

20410- belt buckle knives
20510- cane sword
20610- lipstick knives
20710- hard wood or composite knuckles
20810- metal knuckles

Metal knuckles would also include any knife with metal knuckles attached. The statutes can also be applied to knives that have D shaped knuckle protectors that are either made of metal, or plastic (composite).

 

[Knife_Collector_101]

So it seems switchblades over 2” in length are okay to own and keep in your private collection as long as you don’t carry them but you’re pretty much screwed as far as those other items go. Sad to see even D guard handle swords could land you in hot water.

It appears nunchucks are legal for official martial arts trainers to possess but they’re not okay for civilians to have. So ridiculous.

 

[killgar]

So it seems switchblades over 2” in length are okay to own and keep in your private collection as long as you don’t carry them but you’re pretty much screwed as far as those other items go. Sad to see even D guard handle swords could land you in hot water.

Correct, it is legal to own switchblades over 2", just not to carry them on your person or inside the driver/passenger area of a vehicle.

It appears nunchucks are legal for official martial arts trainers to possess but they’re not okay for civilians to have. So ridiculous.

It's legal for a martial arts schools that is licensed by the government to purchase nunchucks and have them on the premises of their school (CA penal code 22015), and it's legal to sell nunchucks to a licensed school (22015), but that's it. If a martial arts instructor, even one who owns a licensed school, were to be found in possession of nunchucks outside of their school, they might be in big trouble under CA penal code 22010 which makes possession illegal. I'm not sure if there is case law on this, but I don't see any exception in the law for instructors possessing nunchucks outside of their schools. It appears that possession of nunchucks is strictly limited to licensed school premises.

On a related note, I've seen cases in California where the cops entered peoples homes, with the owners consent, either in response to the owner/occupant reporting a crime or some other issue, or the cops wanting to question the owner/occupant about a crime, and when the cops see an illegal weapon hanging on a wall, or in a display case, the owner/occupant finds themselves under arrest for possession of that illegal weapon.

That is something for people to consider if they own illegal weapons, and only keep them at home, but have them on open display. People often don't expect the police to enter their homes, but then someone breaks into their car, they call the cops, and when the cops show up they invite the cops in to file a report and forget that they have an illegal weapon on the wall. Or they don't know it's illegal, and they find out the hard way.

As far as knives and switchblades are concerned, we here in California are very lucky that the legislature didn't take as extreme a position on knives as they did on other items.

 

[Knife_Collector_101]

On a related note, I've seen cases in California where the cops entered peoples homes, with the owners consent, either in response to the owner/occupant reporting a crime or some other issue, or the cops wanting to question the owner/occupant about a crime, and when the cops see an illegal weapon hanging on a wall, or in a display case, the owner/occupant finds themselves under arrest for possession of that illegal weapon.

That is something for people to consider if they own illegal weapons, and only keep them at home, but have them on open display. People often don't expect the police to enter their homes, but then someone breaks into their car, they call the cops, and when the cops show up they invite the cops in to file a report and forget that they have an illegal weapon on the wall. Or they don't know it's illegal, and they find out the hard way.

That’s something unfortunate that all too often happens to people who try to interpret the laws in their own ways without consulting professional legal advice and as a result, they find themselves getting taken by surprise when they have an encounter with law enforcement.

For example, a lot of people interpret “possession” and “ownership” of an item as being two different things. They’ll say, “The law says I can’t possess it but it says nothing about owning it.” It’s true that they are two different things. Ownership is a title and right you have over something which can in some cases give you a right to possess it. Possession means having immediate access to or control of something. IOW, you can have an ownership right to a set of nunchucks and other melee weapons that you purchased with your own money, but you can’t store them in your house in California and have to keep them stored in a rented storage unit somewhere in Arizona.

Some interpret possession to mean “carry” or having something in your pocket outside your house and ownership to mean something you have in your house as part of your property. I’ve noticed some cops interpret it that way as well. Is this just a matter of people thinking “Who cares if it’s legal or not? It’s staying in my house on my property. Who the fuck’s going to know? Who the fuck’s going to care?”?

Seems like in a few of the states where possession of a switchblade is illegal, many cops only arrest people for carrying them and don’t care if people have them in their houses. So maybe it’s a matter of people interpreting laws based on how cops decide to enforce them.