michigan knife laws suck

J

James3297

Joined
Aug 15, 2015
Messages
25
I have ben carrying a knife for 7 years
And i read the knife law in michigan
And i am shocked. It says i cant carry a knife with intent to harm others. Can i use my knife to defend
My life in michigan the 2d amendment says yes
But Michigan says no what should
I do if i am in a life or death situation
Not use my knife because the stupid
Michigan laws say i cant and sit and wait for death
A cop told me about 1year ago if cops ask about
My knife to say its for utility purposes

I do not wish harm on anyone but i will not give my life without a fight
 
I would never carry a knife with the intent to hurt others. In my state, everything is legal now, but there is that "intent" thing that gives LEO's a lot of latitude based on the situation.
 
22-rimfire said:
I would never carry a knife with the intent to hurt others. In my state, everything is legal now, but there is that "intent" thing that gives LEO's a lot of latitude based on the situation.
Click to expand...

22 makes sense as usual. I would say there is a clear difference between "I happened to be in life or death situation and happened to be carrying my knife at the time--it saved my life" and "I am carrying a knife with the express intention of using it to do harm to others"--which is the point it seems your laws are addressing. I bet I have similar laws in my state with similar wording. Those laws don't suck nearly as much as you might think. NYC and Philly are, from what I've read, extremely restrictive regardless of intent.

Heck, I probably can't carry my walking stick with intent to harm--which I don't.
 
I live in Texas and to be honest it's nice, this state is okay with most weapons and firearms.(I'm sure most people are aware of the "open handgun carry" laws changing here)
so i just went online and educated myself on Michigan laws, as far as I can tell you are free to carry the normal knives, flippers and fixed of reasonable size, just no butterfly knives, dirks, daggers and other blades that are designed more to the harmful side of the blade world.
you should feel free carrying your average folder. just don't be stupid with it, I.E don't threaten or wave it around with no good reason. don't take it out unless needed.
the laws state you can't carry it with the intent to harm, but defense is a blurred zone when it comes to laws like this, if anything happens and you need to defend yourself the best thing to do is 1. threaten but don't use, try to keep your attacker at bay. 2. if the attacker continues to advance do what you must to survive, but don't over do it. then imminently contact authorities and make it known that you were carrying the blade at a tool and that once your life was in danger you used it as you needed to keep yourself safe. The case of People v Vaines in 1945 found that a jackknife (a type of pocket knife) that is over 3 inches in blade length is not an automatic dangerous weapon and carrying it is not a crime. The court goes on to explain that, only when the knife is used for attacking or defending is it than a deadly weapon. you may be in trouble with the law but that can be dealt with it a just and fair way where you can explain why you needed to defend yourself and if your case is truly and clearly defense you will most likely not be in much trouble. in the most states defense with your hands, knives, baseball bats, or rocks from the ground next to you will be seen imidatly as deadly weapons, you must allow the justice system and your peers to see your case and give you justice.
The most important part is to be safe, know your surroundings and don't go looking for trouble. if your never in danger you will never have to debate using a knife and that is the ideal situation.
 
Monsterbob said:
I live in Texas and to be honest it's nice, this state is okay with most weapons and firearms.(I'm sure most people are aware of the "open handgun carry" laws changing here)
so i just went online and educated myself on Michigan laws, as far as I can tell you are free to carry the normal knives, flippers and fixed of reasonable size, just no butterfly knives, dirks, daggers and other blades that are designed more to the harmful side of the blade world.
you should feel free carrying your average folder. just don't be stupid with it, I.E don't threaten or wave it around with no good reason. don't take it out unless needed.
the laws state you can't carry it with the intent to harm, but defense is a blurred zone when it comes to laws like this, if anything happens and you need to defend yourself the best thing to do is 1. threaten but don't use, try to keep your attacker at bay. 2. if the attacker continues to advance do what you must to survive, but don't over do it. then imminently contact authorities and make it known that you were carrying the blade at a tool and that once your life was in danger you used it as you needed to keep yourself safe. The case of People v Vaines in 1945 found that a jackknife (a type of pocket knife) that is over 3 inches in blade length is not an automatic dangerous weapon and carrying it is not a crime. The court goes on to explain that, only when the knife is used for attacking or defending is it than a deadly weapon. you may be in trouble with the law but that can be dealt with it a just and fair way where you can explain why you needed to defend yourself and if your case is truly and clearly defense you will most likely not be in much trouble. in the most states defense with your hands, knives, baseball bats, or rocks from the ground next to you will be seen imidatly as deadly weapons, you must allow the justice system and your peers to see your case and give you justice.
The most important part is to be safe, know your surroundings and don't go looking for trouble. if your never in danger you will never have to debate using a knife and that is the ideal situation.
Click to expand...
i would never hert someone but if my life is on the line i would have to
 
When asked why you carry it, just don't say...

[video=youtube;i_6TBTP-EJI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_6TBTP-EJI[/video]
 
Awesome. I might be one of the few Americans that hasn't watched much of The Simpsons. But I remember one very knife centric episode, wherein Bart wanted to join the Scouts to get a pocketknife.
 
RedLynx said:
Awesome. I might be one of the few Americans that hasn't watched much of The Simpsons. But I remember one very knife centric episode, wherein Bart wanted to join the Scouts to get a pocketknife.
Click to expand...

Best reason to join. :)
 
James3297 said:
I have ben carrying a knife for 7 years
And i read the knife law in michigan
And i am shocked. It says i cant carry a knife with intent to harm others. Can i use my knife to defend
My life in michigan the 2d amendment says yes
But Michigan says no what should
I do if i am in a life or death situation
Not use my knife because the stupid
Michigan laws say i cant and sit and wait for death
A cop told me about 1year ago if cops ask about
My knife to say its for utility purposes

I do not wish harm on anyone but i will not give my life without a fight
Click to expand...

I would recommend applying for a CCP and get a gun. Nothing like bringing a gun to a knife fight.
 
22-rimfire said:
I would never carry a knife with the intent to hurt others. In my state, everything is legal now, but there is that "intent" thing that gives LEO's a lot of latitude based on the situation.
Click to expand...

And better yet, If I have a question about if I should use lethal force I don't think I would post it on the internet.....

Seems like legal advice should be asked to legal folks, lawyers even.
 
I would recommend not getting working up about it, and be glad the laws are actually not that restrictive. The chances that you will need to use a knife to defend yourself is quite small, and likely wouldn't really help you all that much depending on the situation.
Instead why not focus on other reasons to carry a knife, and look around this site some to get a feel for all the different knives that are out there:)
If you are truly looking for self defense there are far better options than a pocket knife.
 
James3297 said:
I have ben carrying a knife for 7 years
And i read the knife law in michigan
And i am shocked. It says i cant carry a knife with intent to harm others. Can i use my knife to defend
My life in michigan the 2d amendment says yes
But Michigan says no what should
I do if i am in a life or death situation
Not use my knife because the stupid
Michigan laws say i cant and sit and wait for death
A cop told me about 1year ago if cops ask about
My knife to say its for utility purposes

I do not wish harm on anyone but i will not give my life without a fight
Click to expand...

This is not a case of a stupid law. It is a case where the individual reading it doesnt understand it as it is written.
 
James3297 said:
i would never hert someone but if my life is on the line i would have to
Click to expand...

That's true of all of us. From the sounds of things, Michigan laws really aren't much different from any other place excluding NYC of course. Relax. Do what's right. If you are a good basic person, you know what's RIGHT. I might also add that one should apply reason to his knife choices and where a particular knife might be carried.
 
craytab said:
And better yet, If I have a question about if I should use lethal force I don't think I would post it on the internet.....

Seems like legal advice should be asked to legal folks, lawyers even.
Click to expand...

To this day I can't tell if it was a troll post... but I saw a question on a message board about becoming a hitman, because the guy thought he'd be really good at it, but didn't know how to break into the business.
 
Remember in most states lots of things can be classed as "deadly weapons" depending on your intent. A knife is a tool, a cane or walking stick is to assist in walking, other tools such as wrenches & screwdrivers are also just tools, however, any of these can and have been classed as deadly weapons under the right circumstances. What would excuse be in having a baseball bat in the front seat of your car when stopped at 2 a.m.?
 
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