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If you know me or have sat in a class where I teach the weapons laws here in Ohio, you’ve probably heard me say something along the lines of, “Ohio weapons laws are stupid”. And they are. They need to be completely overhauled. It seems like every time the legislature adds or changes something they just convolute things even more. But let’s look specifically at knife laws and why they are royally screwed up.
Let’s start by talking about laws in general. In Ohio, there are actually two sets of laws that you have to worry about – state law and local law. Cities, villages and some townships are allowed to pass their own local ordinances that you have to worry about. Now, when the Ohio Legislative Assembly passed Ohio Revised Code 9.68, they made firearm laws easier to deal with. 9.68 is known as a “preemption” law. Once 9.68 became law, it invalidated any local firearm ordinance that was more restrictive than state law. But here’s the problem – it didn’t change knife laws or the ability of local governments to create or keep their own knife laws. So we need to discuss both state and local laws.
Let’s start with state law. I want to cover what it used to be and what it currently is since it changed a few months ago. Understanding what state law used to be will also help when we start talking about local ordinances. Ohio’s Carrying Concealed Weapons statute says: (A) No person shall knowingly carry or have, concealed on the person’s person or concealed ready at hand, any of the following: (1) A deadly weapon other than a handgun.
But what is the legal definition of “Deadly Weapon”? According to Ohio Revised Code 2923.11(A), “Deadly weapon” means any instrument, device, or thing capable of inflicting death, and designed or specially adapted for use as a weapon, or possessed, carried, or used as a weapon. Now, I think we can all agree that knives are capable of inflicting death. But so are hammers, sledge hammers, axes, shovels, crow bars and pipe wrenches. So where do we draw the line between a tool and a deadly weapon?
Well, that’s where the courts come in. The courts throughout the years have had to decide what makes a knife a “deadly weapon”. How did they do that? If you read this case you’ll see a list of court cases where they looked at knives to determine whether or not that knives was considered a deadly weapon. Here’s a list of what the courts said were characteristics of knives that would more than likely be considered deadly weapons: 1) a blade that can easily be opened with one hand, such as a knife with a switch, a spring-loaded blade, or a gravity blade capable of instant one-handed operation; (2) a blade that locks into position and cannot close without triggering the lock; (3) a blade that is serrated; (4) a blade tip that is sharp; (5) an additional design element on the blade, such as a hole, that aids in unfolding the knife with one hand; (6) does not resemble an “ordinary” pocket knife; and (7) is a type of knife considered a weapon for purposes of R.C. 2923.20(A)(3). So basically every knife in the picture at the beginning of the article would be considered a deadly weapon under the old way of determining things.
Earlier this year, SB140 became state law. SB140 did several things, but most importantly for this discussion is that it added this section to the CCW law: (H) For purposes of this section, “deadly weapon” or “weapon” does not include any knife, razor, or cutting instrument if the instrument was not used as a weapon.
So under the new version of the state law, you can pretty much carry concealed any edged instrument so long as you don’t use it as a weapon. That’s great right? Yes and no. Yes if you happen to be in a part of the state that doesn’t have a local ordinance about CCW. But no if you’re in a municipality that has their own knife laws. And here’s the thing – there are over 800 municipalities in Ohio and each of them can, and many do, have their own CCW or knife laws on the books. And those laws weren’t changed by SB140. Most of those laws, like Cleveland’s CCW ordinance are worded exactly like the state statute, but don’t have the new exception we just discussed. So the courts will still use the list of characteristics we discussed earlier to decide if your knife is a deadly weapon.
Well what if your knife isn’t concealed? Can I carry any edged instrument I want then? It depends. Since the is no statewide knife/edged instrument preemption law like there is for firearms, some municipalities have restrictions about certain blade lengths, etc. Like Cleveland’s ordinance 627.11 which bans the carrying of knives with a blade longer than 2.5” in public places. Other municipalities ban knives in parks, like Beavercreek’s Park Ordinance 95.21 – which prohibits possessing knives in parks without “reasonable cause”, whatever that means.
So what does all this mean? It means that we should all be supporting a knife preemption law like HB 243 so that knife laws are easier to understand and follow. Take a look at your daily carry knife. If you’re reading this, I’d be surprised if your knife didn’t have some of the features that would make it a “deadly weapon” under a local ordinance.