Michigan legality

[jdale]

I know there are a number of makers from here in Michigan, so hopefully someone could answer a legality question. I am looking to make a full tang knife for a friend as a daily carry around kind of knife. What would be the longest blade length I could make and it still be legal to carry in public?

[Doug Lester]

This is something that is not the best thing to try to find out on the Web. You might want to contact the City Attourney's office up there in Lansing. That would even be better than asking the police who, even though we hate to think of it, aren't always that well verced and possibly prejudice against things like the carry of knives. I once was associated with a Sherrif's Deputy who held that he would do anything that he could to convescate a pistol from a civilian whether that person was carrying legally or not.

Doug

[Ray Rogers]

I agree with Doug, check locally. Remember, there are state laws as well as municipal laws of all kinds. The really good news is, none of those laws mean squat when it comes to carrying a knife in public - all that matters at that time is who complained, why they complained, and how the responding police officer feels about it. Legal or not, you might beat the rap but you cannot beat the ride.

If he has a legitimate reason to be carrying a large (4" ?) fixed blade in public then he may get hassled from time to time but should come out OK. BTW, personal defense is not a legitimate reason. If he has a truly legitimate reason - he's game warden who often needs access to a filet knife - then the blade length will probably get overlooked anyway as long as it is appropriate to the purpose. For most anyone else, get a small pocket knife and keep it in your pocket ....

[AUBE]

First off never trust legal advice off the net, as they already mentioned. With that said....

There is no legal blade limit in Michigan. I'm a maker from Michigan (just north of Flint, but living in SE Asia at the moment) and I did some research on the subject awhile back and looked up the law myself, contacted the state police a judge, and a few lawyers to make sure I was reading the law right. After reading the law they agreed with me that as long as you don't have "intent to harm another person" then any length is fine.

Here is the specific law:

"750.226 Firearm or dangerous weapon; carrying with unlawful intent.
Sec. 226.

Carrying firearm or dangerous weapon with unlawful intent?Any person who, with intent to use the same unlawfully against the person of another, goes armed with a pistol or other firearm or dagger, dirk, razor, stiletto, or knife having a blade over 3 inches in length, or any other dangerous or deadly weapon or instrument, shall be guilty of a felony, punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than 5 years or by a fine of not more than 2,500 dollars."


Now the problem is our legal system has went from a "innocent til proven guilty" to a "guilty until proven innocent" setup. So you can have no criminal background, have no intent to harm another person, etc and if the court does not agree with you, you may be in trouble. Expect to have to pay for a lawyer at the least.


Ironically I was caught with a blade over 3" in length years ago and had to go to court. This was before the age of the internet when it was easy for us to look up laws. They tried busting me for "carrying a concealed weapon" even though I was in the process of moving household goods and the knife was in a sheath, in a padded pouch, in a box, and had never been sharpened (think butterknife sharp). To make a long story short I had to go to court for months and pay a bunch of lawyer fees and not once did the lawyers, judge, etc bring up the actual law. I was told numerous times that "carrying a 4" blade is illegal".

Now living in SE Asia the law is written very similar except ANY blade length is illegal if you plan to misbehave with it....but perfectly legal if you don't intend to harm others.b But the entire country is under the assumption carrying a knife is illegal and cops will bust you if they see you with one.

So my experience is it doesn't matter what the law says, it matters what those in power feel like doing. You can fight them (as I did) and win, but even in winning you lose because it just cost you a bunch of money in fees.


(btw don't carry a double edged or a switch blade in Michigan, that is illegal..unless the double edge is modified for "hunting")