what size knife is legal to carry in nj

Quick Legal Facts

Statewide Preemption:

No.

Curtained Behave:

Non an issue.

Schools:

Possession of weapon in or upon any part of the buildings or grounds of whatsoever schoolhouse, higher, university or other educational institution, under circumstances not evidently appropriate for its lawful use, is guilty of a crime of the fourth degree.

Critical Dimensions:

V inch or more than blade length ten inches maximum overall length limits on knives that may be sold to minors.

At a Glance:

New Bailiwick of jersey law prohibits the possession "without any explainable lawful purpose" of whatsoever "gravity knife, switchblade knife, dagger, dirk, stiletto, dangerous knife or ballistic knife." Possession of a weapon in one's home is arguably a "lawful purpose." Pocketknives may be carried outside the home, except by one having unlawful intent, or who possesses the knife for some unlawful purpose. Self-defense beyond the limits of one'southward abode is not a lawful purpose.

Relevant Statutes:

2C:39-1. Definitions

h. "Gravity knife" means any knife which has a blade which is released from the handle or sheath thereof by the force of gravity or the awarding of centrifugal forcefulness.

r. "Weapon" means anything readily capable of lethal use or of inflicting serious bodily injury. The term includes, but is non limited to, all (one) firearms, . . . (2) components which can exist readily assembled into a weapon; (iii) gravity knives, switchblade knives, daggers, dirks, stilettos, or other dangerous knives,. . . and (4) stun guns; . . .

p. "Switchblade knife" ways whatever knife or like device which has a blade which opens automatically by hand pressure applied to a button, spring or other device in the handle of the knife.

"Ballistic pocketknife" means any weapon or other device capable of lethal use and which can propel a knife bract.

2C:39-2. Presumptions

2C:39-3. Prohibited weapons and devices

e. Sure weapons. Whatever person who knowingly has in his possession any gravity knife, switchblade knife, dagger, dirk, stiletto, . . . or . . . ballistic knife, without whatsoever explainable lawful purpose, is guilty of a crime of the quaternary degree.

2C:39-four. Possession of weapons for unlawful purposes

d. Other weapons.Whatsoever person who has in his possession any weapon, except a firearm, with a purpose to use it unlawfully against the person or property of another is guilty of a criminal offense of the tertiary degree.

2C:39-5. Unlawful possession of weapons

d. Other weapons.  Any person who knowingly has in his possession any other weapon under circumstances non manifestly appropriate for such lawful uses as information technology may take is guilty of a crime of the fourth degree.

2C:39-6. Exemptions

2C:39-7. Certain persons not to have weapons or armament

2C:39-9.1. Sale of pocketknife with blade length over five inches or overall length over 10 inches to person under 18

2C:39-9. Manufacture, transport, disposition and defacement of weapons and unsafe instruments and appliances

2C:40-xviii. Knowing violation or failure to perform duty imposed by police intended to protect public prophylactic

Search statutes on the New Jersey Department of Land website.

Restricted Knives:

Gravity knives, automatic knives, dirks, daggers, stilettos, and ballistic knives are bailiwick to pregnant restriction. (See discussion beneath)

Concealed Carry:

Concealment is non an outcome nether New Bailiwick of jersey State police force.

Restrictions on Sale or Transfer:

 2C:39-9 (d) Whatever person who articles, causes to be manufactured, transports, ships, sells or disposes of any weapon, including gravity knives, switchblade knives, ballistic knives, daggers, dirks, stilettos, . . . is guilty of a law-breaking of the fourth caste.

2C:39-9.i A person who sells any hunting, fishing, gainsay or survival knife having a blade length of v inches or more than or an overall length of ten inches or more than to a person under xviii years of age commits a offense of the fourth degree;

Restrictions on Carry in Specific Locations / Circumstances:

Knives may non exist possessed on schoolhouse or educational institution property (Grand through University), or where not "manifestly appropriate."

Statewide Preemption:

No.

Selected New Jersey Municipalities with Pocketknife Restrictive Ordinances:

Camden – Department 133.02 Carrying Concealed Weapons and Department 133.03 Switchblade Knives

Word:

Restrictions on Possession

New Bailiwick of jersey police provides for three classes of restriction on knife possession in Chapter 39 of Title 2C captioned "Firearms, Other Unsafe Weapons and Instruments of Crime."

(1)  2C:39-3. Prohibited weapons and devices

While the word "prohibited" appears in the caption of this section, the knives described are non completely forbidden. Rather, possession of any gravity knife, switchblade knife, dagger, dirk, stiletto, or ballistic knife, without any explainable lawful purpose, is prohibited. In the example of State of New Jersey v. Montalvo, 162 A.3d 270 (2017), the New Jersey Supreme Courtroom held that possession of a machete within one'southward abode for self-defense was lawful. The instance arose from a long-simmering dispute between Mr. Montalvo and a neighbour who occupied an apartment immediately below that of Montalvo. A outburst occurred which led to the neighbor "knocking" on Montalvo'due south door who answered holding a machete behind his legs. The neighbor did non immediately see the machete. The jury establish that Montalvo did not step exterior of his apartment during the confrontation. Defendant Montalvo did use the machete to damage some outdoor piece of furniture belonging to the neighbour along with a porch railing either before or subsequently the neighbor appeared at his door and he was accordingly convicted of a criminal mischief charge. He was also charged with violating 2C:39-4. Possession of weapons for unlawful purposes and 2C:39-five. Unlawful possession of weapons.

The jury found Montalvo not guilty of 2C:39-4 but guilty of 2C:39-5. He was sentenced to confinement for 540 days for the violation of 2C:39-5 and 18 days for the criminal mischief and appealed the 2C:39-five. Unlawful possession of weapons conviction on the basis that the trial Judge had not instructed the jury as to Montalvo's right to continue or possess a weapon for defense in his abode. The New Jersey Supreme Courtroom stated:

Cocky-defense is a potential defense force to a possessory weapons offense. The 2d Amendment of the United States Constitution states, "A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a gratis State, the correct of the people to keep and bear Artillery, shall not be infringed."U.S. Const. amend. II. The Second Amendment "guarantee[s] the individual correct to possess and comport weapons in case of confrontation,"Commune of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, (2008), and fully applies to the States,McDonald v. City of Chicago, 561 U.S. 742, (2010). It extends to "all instruments that plant bearable arms."Heller, supra, 554 U.S. at 582, .

However, the Court express the holding to the dwelling house:

The home is accorded special treatment inside the justification of self-defense. InHeller, supra, the United States Supreme Court emphasized the right to possess weapons in the home, "where the need for defense of self, family unit, and holding is most acute." 554U.S. at 628. New Jersey law reflects that principle. For example, although "[t]raditionally cocky-defense claims require that a person who can safely retreat from the confrontation avail themselves of that means of escape," that requirement is suspended under the "castle doctrine … if the confrontation takes place in one's home or "castle." Land v. Gartland, A.2d 564 (1997) .

It is implicit in the diction of 2C:39-3. Prohibited weapons and devices, that nether New Jersey constabulary automatic knives, every bit well as dirks, daggers, and stilettos, have an explainable lawful purpose. Given the property of State of New Bailiwick of jersey 5. Montalvo, 162 A.3d 270 (2017), i may go on such items in his or her for the lawful purpose of self-defence.

We practise read current New Jersey police force as being intolerant every bit to the possession of such knives exterior of one's home.  The instance of State of New Jersey v. Harmon, 516 A.2nd 1047 (1986) holds that cocky-defence force does non alibi the possession of a weapon exterior of the home except "in those rare and momentary circumstances where an individual artillery himself spontaneously to meet an immediate danger." This affords a significant advantage to the aggressor or robber who selects the time and identify of the assail.

(2) 2C:39-four. Possession of weapons for unlawful purposes

The second class of possessory offenses "prohibits the possession of a weapon with the intent to employ it against the person or holding of some other." Very like statutes are a mutual characteristic in virtually states.

(3) 2C:39-v. Unlawful possession of weapons

This is the most troubling of the New Jersey statutes that apply to knives. It is extremely vague and therefore provides bereft guidance. The statute covers diverse weapons. Sub-department (d) applies to knives along with "other" weapons:

d. Other weapons. Any person who knowingly has in his possession any other weapon under circumstances not patently advisable for such lawful uses every bit it may have is guilty of a criminal offence of the quaternary caste.

A "fourth-degree" crime is a felony under New Jersey law and is punishable by imprisonment for up to xviii months and a fine of up to $10,000! One tin become a felon without whatsoever criminal intent or engaging in whatsoever criminal bear past just possessing a weapon, including a knife, under circumstances "not evidently advisable." The criminal offense is not based on what happened or what was intended, but rather on what could happen considering something with lawful uses, and not otherwise restricted, is slightly inappropriate at some time and identify.

New Jersey is a geographically small land with a population of 9 million. Ane cannot know what circumstances volition occur throughout the day every bit "circumstances" are largely beyond one's control. The variables are infinite, the offense is indefinite, does not require that any harm actually occur, and results in a felony conviction. The constitutionality was upheld by the New Jersey Supreme Court, although one Justice wrote a scathing dissent, in State of New Jersey 5. Lee, 475 A3d 31 (1984):

CLIFFORD, J., dissenting.

If the woeful lack of precision in our public discourse has not even so reached scandalous proportions, it bodes fair soon to do and so. Teetering on the brink of that hyperbole, I view today'southward determination equally making a significant, if unwitting, contribution to the decline of carefulness in speech, thereby advancing an unfortunate trend that our every effort should be bent on retarding.

Non only has the Court swept aside respected authority (State 5. Green,and In re T.Due east.T.,with its property that proof of intent to use a weapon for an unlawful purpose is non required to sustain a violation ofN.J.S.A. 2C:39–5d; it has succeeded in cloaking the statutory linguistic communication "not manifestly advisable" with wholly undeserved respectability. The first, a disregard of established case police force, is ane matter—an affront to the dignity of precedent, but endurable. The second, however, is quite another—an insult to civilized parlance that in this instance depreciates an indispensable characteristic of the law: concise expression and clarity of pregnant.

At the outset I would record my agreement with Judge Antell, dissenting below, that even if we were able to agree on an adequate pregnant of "not manifestly appropriate," its apply presents an insurmountable obstacle to whatsoever coherence in this criminal statute.

If read literally the statutory language would encompass countless situations which the Legislature could not take intended every bit the field of study of prosecution. The workman carrying home a linoleum knife earlier used in his piece of work; the paring pocketknife inadvertently left on an automobile flooring later on being used for a lawful purpose; a stevedore'southward claw or a fisherman'due south gaff thrown into a vehicle and forgotten. A "weapon" could include a brick, a baseball bat, a hammer, a broken canteen, a fishing knife, barbed wire, a knitting needle, a sharpened pencil, a riding ingather, a jagged can, rope, a screwdriver, an ice choice, a tire fe, garden shears, a pitch fork, a shovel, a length of chain, a penknife, a fork, metal piping, a stick, etc. The foregoing just illustrate the variety of lawful objects which are often innocently possessed without wrongful intent, but under circumstances which are clearly not "manifestly advisable" for their lawful use.

. . .

The point is that a phrase similar "non manifestly appropriate" runs the risk, intolerable in a criminal statute, of wild swings of meaning. We should not undertake to justify its apply in this statute past assuming that "nosotros allknow what information technology means. (citations omitted)

Ane tin reduce the threat to liberty from 2C:39-5. Unlawful possession of weapons by selecting a knife without features that suggest weapon usage. In the case of Land of New Jersey v. Riley, 703 A2d 347 (1997), the defendant was convicted of first-degree armed robbery and a violation of 2C:39-five. He "knocked" an elderly homo to the footing and stole $45 from him. Upon arrest at the scene, the defendant was found to have in his possession a folding knife with three blades of which the longest was iv inches. (We surmise information technology would have been a slip-joint "stockman" pattern or like knife.) The knife was not "used" for the robbery. The victim testified he was unaware that the defendant had a knife at the time.

On appeal, both convictions were set aside for the reason that the pocketknife was not a "weapon." It was not one of the knives listed in the statutory definition of "weapon" and was neither used nor intended to be used as a weapon. Accordingly, an essential element of "armed" robbery – use of a weapon to coerce – was missing, and the defendant did not actually have a "weapon" nether manifestly inappropriate circumstances.

Another arroyo to reducing the run a risk of violating 2C:39-5. Unlawful possession of weapons is to avert having in i'southward possession whatsoever "dangerous knife" which is mentioned in 2C:39-1. Definitions, but not defined. The courts have established utilise or intent to use as a weapon as the test for what makes a knife not otherwise restricted, a "dangerous knife":

Evidently the possession of any pocketknife is not an incriminatory offense and a knife, popularly known equally a pocketknife, penknife, or jackknife, commonly carried for personal utility, convenience, or other lawful purposes is not a "unsafe knife" Per se. That is not to say, notwithstanding, that such a knife, irrespective of the length of its blade or the circumstances nether which it is carried, may not exist a lethal weapon and should be excluded as a matter of law from the term "dangerous knife" the possession of which is interdicted by statute. Distilled from the rationale of our relevant statutes and the prevailing decisional police force is a reasonable conclusion that a pocketknife that is not dangerous Per se will be a "dangerous knife" if the purpose of possession is its use as a weapon. State of New Jersey v. Green, 303 A.second 312 (1973).

New Jersey law does non currently recognize a correct to possess even defensive weapons outside of ane's domicile. 2C:39-5. Unlawful possession of weapons is the statute used to enforce this policy. The American Pocketknife & Tool Plant recommends that "personal utility, convenience, or other lawful purposes" per the Light-green case exist considered when selecting a knife for everyday conduct in the State of New Jersey.

Consequences

Violations of whatsoever of the 3 possessory prohibitions are felony-level offenses. A violation of 2C:39-4. Possession of weapons for unlawful purposes is a third-degree matter and carries a penalty of confinement for 3 to five years and up to $15,000. Violations of 2C:39-3. Prohibited weapons and devices and 2C:39-v. Unlawful possession of weapons are 4th-degree crimes and punishable by imprisonment for up to xviii months and a fine of up to $10,000.

Police Enforcement / Military

In that location is an exception for U.S Military and National Guard members in 2C:39-iii (e) relating to knives while the members are on active duty or traveling to or from such active duty.

Updated Feb 20, 2020, by Daniel C. Lawson

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Source: https://www.akti.org/state-knife-laws/new-jersey/