It can be. Carrying a switchblade with a blade of 2 inches or more is a misdemeanor, and carrying a knife that qualifies as a “dirk or dagger” concealed on your body can lead to a misdemeanor or a felony charge. Whether your knife is covered depends on how it opens, whether its blade is exposed and locked, and how you carry it.

This page covers carrying and possession. Using a knife against someone raises different charges, such as assault with a deadly weapon, with their own elements.

What counts as a switchblade

Penal Code section 17235 defines a “switchblade knife” as a knife that has the appearance of a pocketknife, including a spring-blade, snap-blade, or gravity knife, with a blade of 2 or more inches that can be released automatically by a flick of a button, pressure on the handle, a flip of the wrist or other mechanical device, or that is released by the weight of the blade or by “any type of mechanism whatsoever.”

The definition excludes a knife that opens with one hand using thumb pressure applied only to the blade or to a thumb stud attached to the blade, if the knife has a detent or other mechanism that resists opening or that biases the blade back toward its closed position. The notes to CALCRIM No. 2502, the standard jury instruction for this offense, state that butterfly and Tekna knives are prohibited switchblades, citing a 1989 Court of Appeal decision under the former switchblade statute, Penal Code section 653k.

Carrying a switchblade, or having one in your car

Under Penal Code section 21510, it is a misdemeanor to do any of the following with a switchblade that has a blade 2 or more inches long:

  • possess it in the passenger’s or driver’s area of any motor vehicle in any public place or place open to the public;
  • carry it on your person; or
  • sell, offer for sale, expose for sale, loan, transfer, or give it to another person.

The “passenger’s or driver’s area” is the part of a vehicle designed to carry the driver and passengers, including any interior compartment or space in it (Penal Code section 16965). Section 21510 lists only these three acts; it does not mention keeping a switchblade at home. It sets no separate penalty, so the general misdemeanor limits in Penal Code section 19 apply: no more than 6 months in county jail, a fine capped at $1,000, or both.

Under CALCRIM No. 2502, the prosecution must prove you knew you possessed or carried the knife and knew it had the characteristics of a switchblade. It does not have to prove you used or intended to use it as a weapon.

Dirk or dagger: when a knife becomes illegal to conceal

Penal Code section 21310 makes it a crime to carry a dirk or dagger concealed on your person. It is a wobbler. The misdemeanor maximum is one year in county jail. A felony sentence under Penal Code section 1170(h) is 16 months, 2 years, or 3 years, served in county jail unless section 1170(h)(3) sends it to state prison, for example because of a prior serious or violent felony conviction.

A dirk or dagger is a knife or other instrument, with or without a handguard, that is capable of ready use as a stabbing weapon that may inflict great bodily injury or death (Penal Code section 16470). A fixed-blade knife that is capable of ready use as a stabbing weapon can meet this definition. For many everyday knives, the key rule is the next sentence of section 16470: a nonlocking folding knife, a folding knife that is not a prohibited switchblade, or a pocketknife is a dirk or dagger only if its blade is exposed and locked into position. Closed, or open but not locked, it does not meet the definition.

An exception: a knife worn openly in a sheath

A knife carried in a sheath that is worn openly, suspended from your waist, is not “concealed” under the dirk-or-dagger law (Penal Code section 20200). This exception does not apply to the switchblade law, which does not turn on concealment at all.

What prosecutors must prove about your state of mind

In People v. Rubalcava (2000) 23 Cal.4th 322, the California Supreme Court held that carrying a concealed dirk or dagger “does not require an intent to use the concealed instrument as a stabbing weapon.” That does not make it a strict liability offense. The person must knowingly and intentionally carry the instrument concealed, and someone who does not know they are carrying it, or does not know it may be used as a stabbing weapon, is not guilty.

Rubalcava interpreted former Penal Code section 12020. Its dirk-or-dagger provisions were renumbered as sections 21310 and 16470, operative January 1, 2012, in a recodification the Legislature intended to be nonsubstantive (Penal Code section 16005), and decisions interpreting a restated provision remain relevant to it (Penal Code section 16020). The current jury instruction, CALCRIM No. 2501, still cites Rubalcava and lists four elements: you carried the item on your person, you knew you were carrying it, it was substantially concealed, and you knew it could readily be used as a stabbing weapon.

Next steps

Whether a specific knife qualifies as a switchblade or a dirk or dagger, and whether it was actually concealed or exposed and locked, are the facts these cases turn on. The Law Offices of David S. Chesley handles California weapons charges. Call (800) 755-5174 to discuss your situation.