Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada Weapons Question for Canadians

Headed north soon.

Quick question for the resident Canadians.

Are spring-assisted pocket knives legal in Canada?

I carry a her shaw and it is spring assisted. Have taken it and others like it across numerous times, but got to thinking it might not be appropriate.

NO, and if caught with such a weapon by CBSA at a crossing, you may be charged, convicted and fined a substantial amount.

One salient point here, remember, IN CANADA, you are a foreigner and DO NOT have *rights* of the type you are used to under the US Constitution.

I would suggest calling 1-800-732-4000 for info. on what is and is not legal to bring into Canada. This, is the *gun control* line and they can-will assist you.

good grief...do you just say anything that you feel like? You can buy the Kershaw speed-safe assisted openers in most any sports or knife store in Canada. At least read what he said.

Assisted openers are legal here, I've had several. Switch-blades, butterfly knives, gravity and inertia are no-nos. There's a bit of room for interpretation on what constitutes an inertia knife.

I wouldn't rule out getting an idiot for a customs agent, but that can happen anywhere. Being right isn't that much of a consolation when some civil servant decides to flip your life upside down. I usually put my knives in my gun case when travelling, but that is nearly always flying. People checking guns into a country never seem to be upset or surprised by a knife.

Tarkio;
Good evening to you sir, hopefully this finds you keeping cool enough in the recent heat wave we've been having.

As has been noted, if you run into the wrong chap/lady at Canada Customs then you may have a less than pleasant exchange. Perhaps the following will be useful in helping you retain your personal tools.

My daily carry blade for more than a year has been a ZT566 for work and a SOG Twitch II for church/dress occasions. I always carry with the clip showing on either my front or back pocket - so in no way am I trying to hide the fact I've got a knife on my person.

The only real kick I've got against assisted openers are that I don't use them for gutting chores for fear plugging the springs with fat and blood - otherwise they've performed as advertised.

One thing that might be of interest to you is that as I understand it, we can't carry a knife for the reason of self defense here.

If asked why you have a knife about your person, the correct response is that you need it for your work and it helps if you can effectively articulate why that's so.

I use mine for cutting hosing, machine belting and other tougher items that are unsafe to cut with a snap blade Olfa type knife for instance. While the purpose of my trip would indeed be pleasure, if I need a tool to make a roadside repair on my vehicle or say for instance while camping, then that would/should lend legitimacy to my carrying a tool while not specifically at work.

Many Canadian cities don't even have a blade length restriction either, so in summer and fall fishing/camping/hunting season it's not unusual to see folks carrying quite large fixed blade knives here when they're at the hardware or grocery store.

A bar or nightclub however may require you to leave your tools either at the bar or in your vehicle - that may include Leatherman tools, etc. - up to the management of the establishment.

Hopefully that was clear enough to be useful information sir. All the best to you this summer.

Dwayne

I very deliberately used the term ...may... in my initial response, as LEOs in Canada, have and often use considerable personal discretion in deciding issues concerning weapons.

Given the much greater sensitivity about this after the atrocity at Canadas National War Memorial, I think that most CBSA staff would object to a knife of this type.

This, is WHY I also gave the contact info. for the RCMP sector who controls such issues as they are THE real authority on what is-is not a *switchblade*.

However, the moron factor never sleeps here and I should have been more explicit.

It never fails to surprise me that people post questions having to do with legal implications on an internet web site. While contacting a government office is no guarantee of getting a correct answer it is a much better option than asking here. It seems SNAPS answer was the most helpful one.

Jim

Spring assisted are legal. The phone number provided by SNAP is for the Canadian Firearm Center, not sure how they can help you about knives.

It is the RCMP and I would just ask them in order to be safe from confiscation.

The term ...spring assisted... can be interpreted in different ways and my attitude is why take a chance.

Some knives WERE prohibited with the Chretien governments gun legislation and the RCMP handle the CFC, so, it seems a sound approach to me.

While the RCMP may well give you the right answer these are the people you are going to have to deal with.

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/contact/menu-eng.html

OP,

Spring assist knives are legal, but any CBSA agent or RCMP member you may contact aren't necessarily going to know the actual letter of the law. Ask for a WRITTEN Reply to be sent to you. When required to sign their name to a document that they may have to take responsibility for at a later date, fewer are likely to feed you BS or offer opinion as fact. If hassled later, you have written proof on government letterhead that you did your due diligence and can offer a legal defense of official misdirection.

No one is actively investigating individuals for possible illegal hardware. Have traveled lots with various pocket and belt knives and multi tools , never given a second glance.
Might be different if I had a trunk full of knives but personal use gear does not get scrutinized. I would suggest if it did come to that , the item would be subject to a subjective toss in the round bin and never see paper work or court.
If you keep refering to a knife as a weapon , you will get attention.
ymmv