Orange County, California legal blade limit?

[crypthomes]

Hey guys,

I'm new around these parts , and I'm curious is anyone familiar with Orange County in California, the county's legal blade length limit for like a folder? I can't really find anything about it, like in the city of Santa Ana for example. Thinking bout gettin me a new knife, but I'm not really sure what the city/county ordinances are, even tho the state has no limit on it, so I'm like... ugh idk

If anyone is familiar, anything would be nice

[kennethsime]

Edit to add: welcome to the forum!

I tried looking it up for you, and the most specific I could find was a really useless article on CalGuns. I searched the OC civil code, and the only results for “knife” were about mobile food service. It seems like there are no specific OC regulations, so I would feel fine following California state laws.

Note that the City of Los Angeles has a 3” blade length limitation.

[Bolster]

Welcome.

A city can have its own ordinances. Not familiar with county ordinances. State ordinances described here:

http://www.ninehundred.net/~equalccw/knifelaw.html
http://zknives.com/knives/articles/law/ ... laws.shtml
https://www.shouselaw.com/ca/defense/knife-laws/

Call me cynical and overgeneralizing, but if you act stupidly with a knife of any size, someone will find a law to use against you. Use your knife for appropriate purposes and take care not to frighten the sheeple, and you'll likely never have a problem.

Highly recommend the Caly line if you are going to be around sheeple. It disappears, eponymously, since 'Calypso' means "conceal." Even better than the photo below if you clip to waistband but clip goes under belt. Then virtually invisible.

[bobartig]

I tried looking it up for you, and the most specific I could find was a really useless article on CalGuns. I searched the OC civil code, and the only results for “knife” were about mobile food service. It seems like there are no specific OC regulations, so I would feel fine following California state laws.

Note that the City of Los Angeles has a 3” blade length limitation.

Disclaimer: This is NOT legal advice!

I just want to point out that knife regulations are usually part of the criminal code. Civil code wouldn't define things like carry restrictions, blade lengths, knife definitions, etc.

[crypthomes]

Alright, thanks for the comments, gents. I'll probably think about a 2.5" or something, not sure how the cops would feel about a 4" - 6"+ folder, and if they'll confiscate something they would deem long

[crypthomes]

Welcome.

A city can have its own ordinances. Not familiar with county ordinances. State ordinances described here:

http://www.ninehundred.net/~equalccw/knifelaw.html
http://zknives.com/knives/articles/law/ ... laws.shtml
https://www.shouselaw.com/ca/defense/knife-laws/

Call me cynical and overgeneralizing, but if you act stupidly with a knife of any size, someone will find a law to use against you. Use your knife for appropriate purposes and take care not to frighten the sheeple, and you'll likely never have a problem.

Highly recommend the Caly line if you are going to be around sheeple. It disappears, eponymously, since 'Calypso' means "conceal." Even better than the photo below if you clip to waistband but clip goes under belt. Then virtually invisible.

Gotcha, appreciate the comment. Yeah, I'll probably go safe with the length, maybe, not to scare people and I'm not sure how the cops would feel about a 4"+ blade. Also, I'll check out that Caly line, first time I heard of it. Utility purposes and opening a lot of boxes

[kennethsime]

Call me cynical and overgeneralizing, but if you act stupidly with a knife of any size, someone will find a law to use against you. Use your knife for appropriate purposes and take care not to frighten the sheeple, and you'll likely never have a problem.

Agreed.

[kennethsime]

I tried looking it up for you, and the most specific I could find was a really useless article on CalGuns. I searched the OC civil code, and the only results for “knife” were about mobile food service. It seems like there are no specific OC regulations, so I would feel fine following California state laws.

Note that the City of Los Angeles has a 3” blade length limitation.

Disclaimer: This is NOT legal advice!

I just want to point out that knife regulations are usually part of the criminal code. Civil code wouldn't define things like carry restrictions, blade lengths, knife definitions, etc.

Most cities and counties I've looked at in California do not have distinct criminal and civil codes, they just have a "code of ordinances" that cover everything that's not already covered by the State. In this case, I searched Orange County's Code of Ordinances, found here.

I sincerely hope that OP understands that strangers on the internet are not offering legal advice.

[Bolster]

I sincerely hope that OP understands that strangers on the internet are not offering legal advice.

Yeah! If you want legal advice, you gotta pay for it. That's what makes it legal. What you are getting here for free is essentially illegal advice.

Now, I have at times paid for legal advice in the past, and while the attorney seemed as confused as myself as to what the law on a particular point might mean, I noticed he simply defaulted to the safest and most conservative option when it came to advice. So if I were to simulate the legal advice given to me by my attorney, it would look something like this: "Don't ever carry a knife."

[kennethsime]

I sincerely hope that OP understands that strangers on the internet are not offering legal advice.

Yeah! If you want legal advice, you gotta pay for it. That's what makes it legal. What you are getting here for free is essentially illegal advice.

Now, I have at times paid for legal advice in the past, and while the attorney seemed as confused as myself as to what the law on a particular point might mean, I noticed he simply defaulted to the safest and most conservative option when it came to advice. So if I were to simulate the legal advice given to me by my attorney, it would look something like this: "Don't ever carry a knife."

It seems like the older I get, the easier it is to spot people who really know what they’re doing. This lawyer sounds like they kind of knew what they were doing.

Folks who really know what they’re doing can go right up to the line without crossing it. Folks who kind of know what here doing know there is a line somewhere, and know not to cross it, but stay well within the margin of error.

…or something like that.

[Bolster]

It seems like the older I get, the easier it is to spot people who really know what they’re doing. This lawyer sounds like they kind of knew what they were doing.

100% agreed!

Keeping in mind that an attorney's secondary motivation is to stay out of trouble himself or herself. (I think their primary motivation goes without saying.)

I did once consult with another (more expensive) attorney who reminded me constantly that once in the courtroom, "it's a crapshoot." No guarantees the jury or judge will follow the letter of the law. Knowing the law and following it, in his opinion, was an advantage, but far, far, far from a guarantee. Too many interpretations and personal agendas at play. So the problem with "going up to the line" is that either judge or jury or both can surprise you when they decide to redraw where the "line" is.

[Wartstein]

Welcome!

Just in case you decide to play it safe, get a short blade, but still want a good amount of cutting edge: Ambitious or Persistance could be options.

They both have no choil or visible ricasso, so blade length (counts legally) = pretty much edge length.

The Ambitious has a 2.31 blade/edge, the Persistance 2.75.

You'd have to look it up, but I think both can be had in FRN or G10 if you go for 8Cr13mov steel, but I'd highly recommend the S35VN versions ("just" in FRN, and I think the Ambitious in S35VN is just announced, but not available yet)

To be clear: I don't have those models myself, but just their bigger brother Tenacious in S35VN, but I am sure the smaller siblings will be as good as my Tenacious..

[Kaparaman]

Call me cynical and overgeneralizing, but if you act stupidly with a knife of any size, someone will find a law to use against you. Use your knife for appropriate purposes and take care not to frighten the sheeple, and you'll likely never have a problem.

You have to be careful in CA. Lots of snowflakes looking for a reason to feel "unsafe". I went to a yard sale one weekend and bought a vintage miniature knife. It's around 1.5" total length with the blade open. The thing is tiny. Later I took my father the get a hearing test at costco for hearing aides. I sat in the booth while he was getting tested. It took a long time and I was getting bored. There was a box of Kleenex to the side of me so I got the bright idea to wipe down my mini knife. When the young lady who was doing the testing saw it she freaked out. She literally said that she didn't feel safe. I though she was joking so I started laughing. Nope, she wasn't joking

[aicolainen]

8< ----
Call me cynical and overgeneralizing, but if you act stupidly with a knife of any size, someone will find a law to use against you. Use your knife for appropriate purposes and take care not to frighten the sheeple, and you'll likely never have a problem.
8< ----

While it's preferable to always know the local laws wherever you are, this is a very good "default" attitude to knife carry that is pretty much globally applicable.

Knife laws here in Norway are ambiguous on paper and wildly unevenly interpreted and enforced, so there's hardly (and sadly) any use in being a responsible citizen that familiarizes oneself with the law. I just default to Bolster's knife law, which is way simpler to understand and adhere to, and it has kept me out of trouble this far.

..Ohh, and I too must try some of them Caly knives.

[crypthomes]

Oh yeah, guys, I know it ain't legal advice. It's just an EDC knife for daily use, for work as well. Just a folder. I was mostly curious what would be around the legal length in OC if peeps were familiar with it, so I can figure out the length for a new knife

[crypthomes]

I got some big knives, military, combat knives, etc. I collect at home, but I know darn well, ain't no way I can actually carry those for EDC outside, prob gonna be hella problems because I would imagine in a stop and frisk since I am a minority, they'll likely confiscate them and whatnot, but yeah gon look around for a 2-2.5", smth like that. Opening up boxes, cutting cardboard and ripping up tape with a key ain't too ideal, but ye, thanks for the comments, gents

[The Mastiff]

Keeping in mind that an attorney's secondary motivation is to stay out of trouble himself or herself.

Bump that up to primary with Doctors and Lawyers. Everything else is a distant second place. No one goes through all the years of education and certifications time and money just to be careless with it unless they find a more lucrative income stream.

Knife laws here in Norway are ambiguous on paper and wildly unevenly interpreted and enforced, so there's hardly (and sadly) any use in being a responsible

I agree with the first part and say that is almost everywhere I've been including where I live now but disagree with the second part strongly.

All laws are applied differently by different district/city/county attorneys ( ones who decide what and who to prosecute) sometimes even in the same cities or counties. Different judges on the same circuit apply the laws and penalties differently as well. Sometimes all your attorney does here is lend you his knowledge of them and help you wait/delay for a different judge just to have you plead guilty hoping to get a lower sentence/fine/etc.. Civil lawsuits are much of the same with regard to where to and where not to file lawsuits.

Not suggesting that any of the attorneys or judges are less than honest but I will claim that the above is the truth in my decades of experiences with both civil and criminal justice system.

I no longer go to places where my rights are not respected. You do need to know the law but that is only a very small part of the whole process.

[Bolster]

By my read, Aicolainen, The Mastiff, and yours truly (Bolster) are all converging on the same legal nugget of wisdom in different ways and with different words: that following the letter of the law is a good start, but insufficient to keep a person out of trouble, given the law's remarkable flexibility to be reinterpreted.

[aicolainen]

Keeping in mind that an attorney's secondary motivation is to stay out of trouble himself or herself.

8< ----

Knife laws here in Norway are ambiguous on paper and wildly unevenly interpreted and enforced, so there's hardly (and sadly) any use in being a responsible

I agree with the first part and say that is almost everywhere I've been including where I live now but disagree with the second part strongly.

8< ----
You do need to know the law but that is only a very small part of the whole process.

I feel like you cut me a bit short in that quote and it lost some important context :)
I consider myself very responsible, and I would never suggest that anyone shouldn't bother to be responsible.
I familiarize myself with all laws and regulations that I consider essential to my integrity, safety and predictability; e.g. work related (electrical installations, ship maneuvering, offshore, Ex/ATEX, etc.), traffic/driving, weapons, knives. In some circumstances I even go as far as studying court cases and draft notes to specific laws.
It's my impression that most people don't do this, and this gets to my point. Why would they? It's hard, time consuming work that isn't likely to pay off unless you find a specific value in just knowing what the actual law says. It's certainly not a sure shot way to avoid legal charges and prosecution, so in the end you'll probably achieve the same outcome just being careful, responsible and using common sense.

In my persistent effort in understanding the laws, which often use uncommon language that needs to be decoded to some extent, I stumbled across a government initiative that looked into the benefits of re-writing the laws into a language that was more accessible to the common man/woman. And to my surprise I found that very high ranking lawyers, judges and prosecutors argued strongly against this initiative. You would think the ultimate goal for a lawmaker, or society even, would be that everyone knew, understood and abided by the applicable laws. That would make life predictable for everyone, which was the motivation to invent laws in the first place.
One can only speculate why these people would be against such an effort. It never materialized.

[RamZar]

In SoCal if you cross into Los Angeles County (very easy to do even if you live in neighboring counties like Orange, San Bernardino, Ventura, etc.) you should limit the blade length of your folder to under 3 inches. The State has a limit of under 2 inches for automatics.