What's the Deal with the City Knife Ordinance?

This week, we took on the city knife ordinance.

We received a question from reader about something he often sees in the police log.

I have read instances in which people are arrested for violating the city knife ordinance. What is that? How is different from state law?

We checked in with the for some answers, this is what we found.

The following information is courtesy of the :

"The City of Salem adopted a City Ordinance concerning knives over 2.5 inches several years ago.

Numerous other Massachusetts cities and towns have the same or similar ordinances.

There is no state law against carrying a knife, although a person could be charged with assault by means of a dangerous weapon...[using] a knife (of any length) or assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon...[using] a knife (of any length) if the circumstances warranted the charges.

The City Ordinance allows a person to be arrested or cited for possession/carrying a knife with a blade longer than 2.5 inches.

The goal was to discourage kids from carrying these knives as they would sometimes become a dangerous weapon in a fight or an assault. This is not a criminal charge or a conviction in that you can be arrested and/or charged with the violation and still answer ‘no’ to the employment/background question ‘Have you ever been convicted of a crime?’

The concern ‘way back when’ at the time the city council was debating the establishment of the ordinance was that the regular working person who needs to carry a bladed tool for work would be charged by overzealous cops.  

This city ordinance, like almost all other city ordinances enforced by the police, leaves an officer a lot of discretion in its enforcement. So the worries of a carpenter or other craftsperson with a bladed tool on their belt or in their pocket was quickly put to rest when the ordinance was passed and enforcement started.

If you notice in the logs, the charge is usually second to another arrest able (criminal) offense. And you’ll see the event usually started with some other type of a call for service (suspicious person, noise complaint, drinking in public, etc).  It is not a primary enforcement or arrest, that is, cops aren’t randomly search people for knives."