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I am always uneasy at the idea of carrying around a fixed blade. For this reason, my backpack knife is a multitool (A fantastic Leatherman Blast, which saved the day already many times). I would like to know where I can find information and procedures to safely carry around a knife (if at all) when it comes to fixed blade, but also more in general for any kind of knife.

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I'd say that most "Is is legal" questions will be too vague and/or too localized for the community, as a general rule. Other thoughts? –  Hartley Brody Jan 25 '12 at 23:32
Agreed. I also don't think we want to be giving this sort of legal advice in general. Laws have a tendency to change, and there are better outlets for tracking legal issues. They do try to sum them up here. knife-expert.com/sta-law.htm –  Timothy Strimple Jan 25 '12 at 23:48
I think this is a fine question so long as you tack that proviso onto the answer "Warning laws change....etc". It would be better to be informed than not, in any case. –  Pureferret Jan 26 '12 at 0:06
Here in USA, each locality may have different rules, so it's difficult to answer this for "US and Europe". A more appropriate SE question might be "where can I find out if ... is legal?" –  Jay Bazuzi Jan 26 '12 at 0:20
@Jay: I reworked the question on your suggestions. Thanks –  Stefano Borini Jan 26 '12 at 0:40

2 Answers 2

Laws vary greatly by region, and are subject to being changed at any time. That being said, there are a few sites I used when looking up the knife laws in California.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knife_legislation Provides a good overview of knife laws, but did not provide the specifics I need. It's worth browsing the sources that they reference however.

http://knife-expert.com/sta-law.htm Seems to have a good summary of knife laws for each state.

http://thefiringline.com/library/blades/knifelaws.html Very high level overview of state knife laws in a table, showing the concealed vs open carry status.

I wouldn't take any of these as fact, just as guidelines or resources to help you locate your official state / region's laws regarding knife laws.

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This is the perfect answer IMO - pointing to helpful resources is the best we can do for legal quetions. –  Pekka 웃 Jan 26 '12 at 1:09

I carry a fixed blade knife almost every day and it has a 4.5 inch blade (the Cold Steel Roachbelly, if you were wondering), and nobody has stopped me for it. I'm not sure what the legal length for a fixed blade is, though. I know that for a folding it's 3.5",but I don't know what it is for fixed.It might also be 3.5", but I don't know.

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