I'm curious if anyone carries a fixed blade knife in Washington.  The RCWs seem to be pretty vague about what types of knives can be carried. I know cities sometimes have their own laws too.  Anyone run into any problems carrying a fixed blade knife?

Outside of camping/hiking...no, not normally.  

There are some stipulations such as 'furtively carry' as well as dirk and dagger in the RCWs....ordinances vary by location...city's have their own more restrictive knife laws that you can run a foul of.

It's occasionally seen in my neck of the woods...ususlly some cheap gas station/flea market knife...folks don't say anything, but it does get noticed....particularly the person wearing it.

$.02 worth.

Boss

On the navy base where I worked knife blade length was limited to 3" but they don't specify fixed or folding.  My EDC knife was the Benchmade Hidden Canyon Hunter.

Attached File


Out here in Kitsap I've seen people in grocery stores, starbucks, or walmart carrying a >6" fixed blade knife in a sheath on their belts.  I don't know what the law says about them and the patchwork laws were probably designed for that purpose.

By the State Constitution they are protected arms, but since nobody wants to be the test case, it's unsettled for the moment.  There was one ruling a few years back where they convicted some guy for concealing a kitchen knife, and he appealed on the grounds that knives were arms under WA Article 1 Section 24.  The appeals court disagreed only because it was a kitchen knife, which are not considered weapons and thus not arms.  We can read into that that a bowie knife is a weapon, and thus a protected arm, but that will take someone getting arrested and challenging the ruling if it goes bad.

In wa I carried a ka-bar TDI in uniform. But other than that, always carried a folding knife of some type.

I always wondered if you carried a folding knife locked open in a sheath, say a spiderco in a custom kydex, is that a legal loophole?

I carry one of my home made knives most days. I don't really worry about"getting caught" carrying a 3.5" fixed blade when I have a 3.5" folder in my pocket.

I figure that worst case, I can tell the cop that I'm a knife maker doing testing for a design. Lol

I carry a Matt Helm/Dauntless Manufacturing Work Knife #2 every day and love it.

Only in the woods.

Folder on the right and a ESEE Izula behind my wallet on the left. Sticks to the magnet on the wallet so 99% of the time its in the same place.

After being forced to use a knife in self defense in 2015, I ran out of fucks on what the law actually says in regard to my well being and safety and do what I think is prudent.  YMMV

City of Seattle v Alberto Montana, decided by the WA Supreme Court in 1996. Montana was arrested with a three inch fixed blade paring knife in downtown Seattle.

https://law.justia.com/cases/washington/supreme-court/1996/63056-9-1.html



I doubt you would get the same result today with our very blue WA courts.

So s purpose built fixed blade fighting knife is ok to carry but a 3" utility type knife isn't?

Interesting.

I carry an Izula 2 daily. It's the perfect size and I beat the crap out of it with how its used. Still sharp. Gets run over a strop weekly.

Outside of camping no. Only on the Marine Corps Birthday, do I carry my KaBar to cut cake. Never had anyone say anything, even in the police department.

That was certainly the precedent set by that case, but I'm not sure how it's fared since then.

I am not a lawyer but I guess theoretically if you absolutely must carry a fixed blade knife, then yes, you may be better off with a military knife since that could give you some protections under the WA State Constitution.

Wouldn't want to be the test case though.