Carry law for everyday carry
Know what you can carry before you leave home
Pick a knife and a place. We apply the statute and show the reason, the source and the date we checked it. Covers 34 places and 34 popular knives and multitools.
Free. Runs in your browser. No account, no tracking of what you pick.
Example · Opinel No.08 Stainless Steel
Folding knife, 85 mm (Opinel) stainless blade with Virobloc locking ring, beech handle, 109 mm closed; about 45 g.
- England & WalesUnclear
Ring locks (e.g. Opinel Virobloc), friction/slip-joint-with-detent designs and locks that were disabled are not settled by any case we found. Retailer advice treats them as lock knives. Treat as needing a good reason.
- GermanyNo restriction found
A locking folder that genuinely needs two hands to open is not an Einhandmesser per the BKA. § 42a does not apply, but event, rail and local ban-zone rules do, and police or courts may judge borderline models differently.
- CzechiaNo restriction found
No national offence for carrying a knife in public was found. The Interior Ministry spokesman says legislation does not limit carrying knives in public spaces. Premises owners and carriers set their own rules.
- FranceReason needed
Any other knife, including Opinel, Laguiole and Swiss-style knives: the government calls them category D (June 2025) or weapons 'by destination' (Feb 2025). Carrying needs a legitimate reason judged case by case; self-defence is not one.
The same pocket knife can be fine in one country and a crime in the next.
Most guides repeat a rule of thumb. “Under three inches” is England. “Twelve centimetres” is half of a German rule. Neither tells you whether your knife locks, opens with one hand or is spring assisted, which is where the law usually decides.
So we read the statutes, wrote each as a list of rules, and run every knife through them.
What makes it different
Verdicts that come from the statute
Each place is a short, ordered list of rules read from the law. A knife is run through that list, so one correction fixes every product at once.
Honest when the maker leaves a gap
Many laws turn on the cutting edge, and few makers publish it. When a length decides the answer and nobody published it, you see “Unclear” and the reason, not a guess.
Dated, sourced, correctable
Every place shows the day we checked it, the official source and what we could not confirm. A public change log records every correction.
Airport rules in the same place
Knives, multitools, power banks and lighters across five regulators, with the cabin and the checked bag side by side.
The law is not a feeling. Every verdict shows its source, its date and what we could not confirm.
How it works
- 01
Pick a place
Choose where you live, or where you are flying to. 34 places so far, from England and Wales to Queensland.
- 02
Pick a knife
Choose one of the products we have specified, or enter the lock, the opening and the lengths of your own.
- 03
Read the reason
You get a verdict, the plain English reason, the rule behind it and a link to the source.
Where it works today
34 places, each linked to the statute and dated. Confidence is shown on every page.
United Kingdom and Ireland
North America
Questions
Is a verdict legal advice?
No. A verdict says whether the main statute we read singles out that kind of knife for carrying on foot in public. It never says carrying is legal. Local bans, transport rules, events, schools and your reason for carrying still apply.
Why not just say “legal” or “illegal”?
Because the honest answer is often “it depends”. In England and Wales a slipjoint under 3 inches needs no reason, while almost anything else needs a good reason. That is a different answer from “legal”.
Where do the knife specifications come from?
From the maker’s own page, cross checked against a second source where we could. We have not handled these products. When a maker does not publish a number, we say so.
How do you make money?
Some links to Amazon may become affiliate links. That never changes a verdict or a recommendation, and every page says when links are paid. The rules are public in the open dataset.
How often is the law checked?
The data was last reviewed 2026-10-27. Each place shows its own date, and anything that changes is logged.
Does it cover my country?
Today it covers 34 places. If yours is missing, we add places only when we can read the primary source, so we would rather be late than wrong.
Check your knife in ten seconds
Free, in your browser, with the source on every answer.