Massachusetts Knife Laws (2026)

The Short Version

Massachusetts does not license knives, does not distinguish open carry from concealed, and sets no statewide blade length. The law works by list: General Laws chapter 269, section 10(b) names the knives you may not carry on your person or in your vehicle, and everything not on the list is legal to carry anywhere the state does not specifically forbid. Automatics came off that list on August 27, 2024. Double-edged blades, daggers, dirks, stilettos and ballistic knives are still on it. Boston, and a few other cities, add a 2.5-inch limit of their own.

What Changed in 2024

For 67 years, section 10(b) made it a crime to carry "a switch knife, or any knife having an automatic spring release device by which the blade is released from the handle, having a blade of over one and one-half inches." In Commonwealth v. Canjura, decided August 27, 2024, the Supreme Judicial Court held that switchblades are arms under the Second Amendment, that the Commonwealth could not point to any founding-era tradition of banning them, and that the clause is unconstitutional. The court severed only that clause. The rest of section 10(b) stands. The words are still printed in the statute because the Legislature has not removed them, but they cannot be enforced.

The case began with a Boston arrest in July 2020 and a spring-assisted folding knife. The defendant conceded the knife met the definition and challenged the law itself. That is the whole ruling: it says nothing about blade length for automatics, nothing about an age limit, and nothing about selling them. Those claims circulate online. They are not in the decision.

What You Can Carry

Any folding knife, at any blade length, with any opening method: thumb stud, flipper, assisted, automatic or OTF. Any single-edge fixed blade. Butterfly knives, which are not named anywhere in the statute. Open or concealed makes no difference under state law, and neither does carrying in a car. The only statewide conditions are the list in the next section, the places in section 06, and the general rule that any knife becomes a "dangerous weapon" the moment it is used or carried as one.

What You Cannot Carry

Section 10(b) prohibits carrying, on your person or in your vehicle, a stiletto, a dagger, a dirk knife, any knife with a double-edged blade, a ballistic knife, any knife with a detachable blade that can be propelled by a mechanism, and "a device or case which enables a knife with a locking blade to be drawn at a locked position." That last one covers quick-draw sheaths that open a folder as you pull it. The statute does not define stiletto, dagger or dirk. In practice they are the pointed, double-edged stabbing knives the double-edge clause already catches.

The same section adds a catch-all: anyone arrested on a warrant, or arrested while breaching the peace, who has "a billy or other dangerous weapon" on them or in their car is charged under 10(b) whatever the object is. A legal folder in a bar fight is a dangerous weapon.

Blade Length: No State Limit, but Watch the City

There is no statewide blade length limit in Massachusetts. The 1.5-inch figure people still quote was the automatic-knife limit that Canjura removed, and the 3-inch figure that appears in Google's summary comes from a blog, not the statute.

Cities can write their own rules, because Massachusetts has no preemption law for knives. Boston's is the one that matters. Boston Code 16-45.1 bars carrying "any knife having any type of blade in excess of 2½ inches" on your person or in your vehicle, along with ice picks and dirks. The exceptions are broad: when you are actually engaged in hunting, fishing, work, a trade, or a lawful recreational or culinary activity that customarily involves a knife. Going directly to or from that activity. Or transporting a knife, packaged so it is not easy to reach, directly to or from a store, sharpener or repair shop. Retail and wholesale sellers are exempt. The penalty is a fine of up to $300 per offense. Salem passed a similar 2.5-inch rule in 2011. If you carry in a Massachusetts city you do not know, read its code first.

Where You Cannot Carry

• Schools, colleges and universitiesNo firearm "or other dangerous weapon" in any building or on the grounds of any elementary or secondary school, college or university, including school transport, without written authorization. Knives count. Up to $1,000, up to two years, or both.
  c. 269 § 10(j)
• CourthousesScreened for knives at the door under Trial Court security rules. Leave it in the car.
  Trial Court policy
• AirportsLogan and every other airport follow federal rules at the checkpoint: no knives in the cabin.
  TSA
• Private propertyEmployers, venues and property owners set their own policy. Breaking it gets you removed rather than charged.
  Posted rules

Buying One: The Sale Law Nobody Mentions

Canjura struck the carry ban. It did not touch section 12 of the same chapter, which makes it an offense to manufacture or sell, inside Massachusetts, a switch knife with a blade over 1.5 inches, a ballistic knife, or a quick-draw sheath, punishable by a fine of $50 to $1,000 or up to six months. The section is written for sellers, not buyers. It says nothing about possessing or receiving one, and the reasoning in Canjura would apply to it the day a court is asked. Until then, treat it as unsettled: a Massachusetts resident carrying an automatic is on solid ground, a Massachusetts shop selling them is relying on a case that has not been decided. TEKTO ships from Maine.

Penalties

The knife is confiscated on conviction under section 10.

What the Internet Gets Wrong

Three things, all of them on page one of Google. First, that you must be 21 to carry an automatic in Massachusetts: there is no age rule for knives in the statute or in Boston's code. Second, that automatics must be under 3 inches: there is no such limit. The only length rule is Boston's 2.5 inches, and it applies to every knife. Third, that automatics are banned: that was true until August 27, 2024, and most of the forum threads that rank were written before then. The current law is the list in section 04, nothing more.

TEKTO Knives for Massachusetts

The double-edge clause is the one that matters for an OTF buyer. Several TEKTO OTFs are offered in a Double Edge blade and in single-edge blades, and in Massachusetts you want the single edge: the A5 Spry and A5 Spry Mini in Drop Point or Tanto, the A2 Badger in Tanto, and the A7 Zastava in Spear Point. Leave the Double Edge variants, and the A4, which is double-edged only, at home. The A3 Delta, a side-opening automatic with a drop point, is legal everywhere in the state. In Boston, the A2 Badger Tanto and the A5 Spry Mini both carry 1.85-inch blades, under the city's limit. The full-size A5 Spry and A7 Zastava are not, outside the work and recreation exceptions. Every TEKTO folder is legal statewide.