Ohio's knife laws are currently insane

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PaultheCarpenter

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Jul 12, 2020
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103
For the time being at least. Allow me to elaborate.

Currently, anything over 2.5 inches with a pointed blade, locking, had some method of opening it one handed or any combination of those were deemed a concealed weapon like a firearm. This is due to a case in which a man who did nothing wrong, but was accused of being seen with a firearm near a school. To my knowledge, he had no firearm, but he did have a pocket knife that he told arresting officers was for whatever normal use and self defense. The prosecution latched onto the defensive aspect and argued in court that he was armed with a deadly weapon, won, and created a precedent that extended the law to cover all manner of knives.

I have a couple of friends who are cops, so I asked them to clarify and they told me that should I ever be stopped, I should under no circumstance tell him I had a weapon on my person. By doing so I would be assigning intent to cause harm as my reason to carry a knife. Never imply your knife is anything other than a tool for specific, non-defensive purpose(s). Also that crossing city lines meant I was under different ordinance laws.

Many types of knives are completely illegal, OTF, gravity, butterfly and so on, but that may change soon.

Moves have been made to update the law and bring it more in line with sanity, a bill has passed the Senate almost unanimously, and currently awaits the House.
https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/legislation/legislation-summary?id=GA133-SB-140

It's a slow process, but hopefully it'll pass soon.
 
PaultheCarpenter said:
Many types of knives are completely illegal, OTF, gravity, butterfly and so on, but that may change soon.
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Actually, that’s incorrect. Autos, OTFs, gravity knives and balisongs can all be legally owned in Ohio, you just can’t carry them concealed. Autos are illegal to commercially sell and manufacture though. I think balisongs can be sold and manufactured, but carrying them concealed is a no go. The measures currently sitting in the legislature aim to repeal those restrictions on sale and concealed carry.
 
Absolutely correct, my mistake. I did mean to CC, but I didn't clarify.

I think you may even be able to carry them if it's open carry, but I'm not sure how you'd go about doing that without looking like a lunatic. Even then it's probably still down to city ordinance.
 
I myself always wondered how open carrying them would work. Perhaps in a sheath attached to your belt? Or would an exposed pocket clip suffice? Not sure how Ohio courts have ruled on that.
 
That's part of the issue, there is no directive for this available to the public regarding clip visibility and whether or not that denotes open carry, it seems it's entirely up to the cop, which is never good. A sheathed knife hanging off your belt or a neck knife would be fine, and that might work for some, but I personally don't want to be that guy.
 
NMpops said:
Never ever, ever state to a Police officer that a knife, any knife is for self defense! It's a tool nothing more.
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Absolutely correct! I have been advised by an attorney that if I'm asked by the police why I carry a knife, I should not answer that question.
 
Any time a cop starts playing 20 questions with you don't say anything other than "I'd like to speak to a lawyer at this time". Because EVERYTHING you say WILL be used in a courtroom against you - and the cop is on a fishing expedition. Just shut up. Be polite - be friendly - but don't give them anything to use against you.
 
Just doing some more reading up on the current state of Ohio’s laws. A lot of it seems to be more problematic than I was previously aware. Seems there’s language that makes it an offense to have a “deadly weapon” ready at hand. “Deadly weapon” seems like it could include any kind of knife depending on the circumstance. Even a switchblade kept in your own home, if not stored properly and left out on a table, could meet that “weapon ready at hand” term. All of this seems to be left to an officer’s interpretation of the situation. I wonder if having a switchblade in your car would be considered carrying it concealed. And how do they define a “springblade knife” or “gravity knife”? Could carrying an assisted opener concealed be considered concealed carry of a deadly weapon? It seems like in many cases, one hand operable knives (including thumb studs) were considered deadly weapons.
 
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i live in ohio and mainly carry OTF and OTS autos. i don’t ever have frequent run ins with the law so it’s quite the afterthought, but if i was ever asked if there was any weapons on me, i’d say “no weapons, only a knife i use to cut boxes and mail with”
 
aue123 said:
i live in ohio and mainly carry OTF and OTS autos. i don’t ever have frequent run ins with the law so it’s quite the afterthought, but if i was ever asked if there was any weapons on me, i’d say “no weapons, only a knife i use to cut boxes and mail with”
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Those are deemed weapons, regardless of your intent under the current law. Many knives are.
 
I started carrying an OTF Auto in Ohio whenever I am utilizing my CHL.

While I don’t look forward to it occurring, at the jury trial for carrying a concealed deadly weapon OTF knife, I suspect the jurors and judge will be confused with the charge while legally carrying a loaded handgun along with 37 rounds of 9mm.
 
Captiva said:
I started carrying an OTF Auto in Ohio whenever I am utilizing my CHL.

While I don’t look forward to it occurring, at the jury trial for carrying a concealed deadly weapon OTF knife, I suspect the jurors and judge will be confused with the charge while legally carrying a loaded handgun along with 37 rounds of 9mm.
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While the knife law is muddy, it's clear in the respect that one is legal and the other is not. A CHL is for handguns, not knives.

That said, it seems that you're not a trouble maker, likely not in a city where ordinance control is far stricter, and you aren't a member of a minority group that is regularly harassed with this law.
 
PaultheCarpenter said:
For the time being at least. Allow me to elaborate.

Currently, anything over 2.5 inches with a pointed blade, locking, had some method of opening it one handed or any combination of those were deemed a concealed weapon like a firearm. This is due to a case in which a man who did nothing wrong, but was accused of being seen with a firearm near a school. To my knowledge, he had no firearm, but he did have a pocket knife that he told arresting officers was for whatever normal use and self defense. The prosecution latched onto the defensive aspect and argued in court that he was armed with a deadly weapon, won, and created a precedent that extended the law to cover all manner of knives.

I have a couple of friends who are cops, so I asked them to clarify and they told me that should I ever be stopped, I should under no circumstance tell him I had a weapon on my person. By doing so I would be assigning intent to cause harm as my reason to carry a knife. Never imply your knife is anything other than a tool for specific, non-defensive purpose(s). Also that crossing city lines meant I was under different ordinance laws.

Many types of knives are completely illegal, OTF, gravity, butterfly and so on, but that may change soon.

Moves have been made to update the law and bring it more in line with sanity, a bill has passed the Senate almost unanimously, and currently awaits the House.
https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/legislation/legislation-summary?id=GA133-SB-140

It's a slow process, but hopefully it'll pass soon.
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We used to have stupid knife laws in Texas also. I hope your politicians get rid of those stupid laws.
 
PaultheCarpenter said:
While the knife law is muddy, it's clear in the respect that one is legal and the other is not. A CHL is for handguns, not knives..
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I guess that's my sarcastic point Paul. I can legally conceal and carry one version of deadly weapon that can cause much more death than the deadly weapon I cannot legally conceal and carry. I never truly understood the definition of irony, but this is stupidity

So while it is patently factual that it is illegal to conceal and carry an OTF knife in Ohio, a person licensed to carry any amount of handguns and rounds of ammunition on their person cannot do so. They are both decidedly deadly weapons, but the State only permits me to carry the (arguably) more lethal weapon.

I don't want to be the test case, but I would love for a prosecutor to push it on a CHL'er with a good defense attorney. And I am not talking about the CHL breaking seven other laws, but the driver busted doing 31 in a 25 with a CHL and an OTF.
 
It seems to be Ohio's mantra to pass very vague carry laws that can be easily argued in court by the state. The CCW law was an abortion when it first passed if you remember that mess. It has since been clarified a few times so I do have hope for the knife law reform. Again thanks to Mr Ritter and Knife rights for getting it this far.
 
Bluearcflash said:
It seems to be Ohio's mantra to pass very vague carry laws that can be easily argued in court by the state. The CCW law was an abortion when it first passed if you remember that mess. It has since been clarified a few times so I do have hope for the knife law reform. Again thanks to Mr Ritter and Knife rights for getting it this far.
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They make vague laws on purpose, so that their leftist officers have the option to harass and jail conservative people if they wish. My 2 cents...
 
Cops in Ohio have A LOT of elbow room to "interpret" codes as they like. They have a history of being "extremely creative" with their investigation. Ask them if you are under arrest. If they say something threatening like "Do you want to be?" politely ask them to answer your question. If they say "yes" tell them you'd like an attorney to answer all questions. Then shut up. ANYTHING you say after that will be used against you in a court. Not "may" be - "will" be.
 
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