Mississippi Knife Laws: Four Named Knives, What Concealed Means, and the School Rule

The Short Version

Mississippi's knife law is a concealed weapons statute with four knives in it. Section 97-37-1(1) makes it an offense to carry, "concealed on or about one's person, any bowie knife, dirk knife, butcher knife, switchblade knife," along with metallic knuckles, slingshots, pistols and short-barreled long guns. Nothing in the Code bans owning any knife, nothing restricts open carry, which Article 3, Section 12 of the state constitution protects, and nothing sets a blade length. A 2013 amendment defined "concealed" as "hidden or obscured from common observation" and excluded any knife "carried in a sheath, belt holster or shoulder holster that is wholly or partially visible," which is the rule that lets a fixed blade ride on a belt under a jacket hem. The four named knives may also be concealed at home, at your business, in any motor vehicle, and on the way to hunt, fish or shoot.

The rest of the chapter is about who and where: a convicted felon may not possess the four knives, an adult may not give one to a minor or a drunk, and no knife of any kind goes onto educational property. For a TEKTO customer the F-series folders and the X1 Atlas are unrestricted, and the OTF automatics are lawful to own, to carry openly and to keep in the truck, but not to carry hidden in a pocket on the street.

The Statute: 97-37-1 and the Four Named Knives

Subsection (1) lists the weapons and sets the penalties: a first conviction is "a fine of not less than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) nor more than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), or by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than six (6) months, or both". A second is the same fine and thirty days to six months. A third or subsequent is "confinement in the custody of the Department of Corrections for not less than one (1) year nor more than five (5) years". Anyone with a prior felony conviction who violates the section faces one to ten years. The four knives are not defined in the statute. "Switchblade knife" takes its meaning from ordinary usage and from the school statute's definition, a knife whose blade "opens automatically by the release of a spring or a similar contrivance," which includes every OTF. "Butcher knife" means what it says, and is the reason a kitchen knife in a backpack is a question in this state. "Bowie knife" and "dirk knife" are the ones the courts have had to define.

What Concealed Means Since 2013

Until 2013 the statute forbade carrying the listed weapons "concealed in whole or in part," a phrase that made a knife half out of a pocket a concealed weapon. The 2013 session, which also made open carry of handguns lawful, replaced it with subsection (4): "'concealed' means hidden or obscured from common observation and shall not include any weapon listed in subsection (1) of this section, including, but not limited to, a loaded or unloaded pistol, carried upon the person in a sheath, belt holster or shoulder holster that is wholly or partially visible, or carried upon the person in a scabbard or case for carrying the weapon that is wholly or partially visible." A bowie knife in a sheath on a belt, with the sheath's top showing below a jacket, is not concealed. AKTI notes that a pocket clip may qualify under the same logic and that no court has decided it. Until one does, an automatic in a pocket is a knife we would carry in view or leave in the car.

Bowie Knife, Dirk Knife and Summerall v. State

The leading case is Summerall v. State, 41 So.3d 729 (Miss. Ct. App. 2010). Summerall, a convicted felon, was found with a sheath knife of about four inches in his pocket. Officers called it a dirk, a jury agreed, and he was sentenced to ten years under 97-37-5. The Court of Appeals rejected his argument that "dirk" was unconstitutionally vague, then reversed the conviction because the knife was not one: a dirk, the court held, is a knife with at least one sharpened edge tapering to a point that is designed primarily as a stabbing weapon, and the court declined to extend the word to every fixed blade of a given length. The holding tells you how the named knives work. A double-edged dagger is a dirk. A single-edged hunting or utility knife of ordinary size is not, though a very large single-edged blade with a clip point will be called a bowie knife, which the courts have never defined and AKTI considers no clearer. Carry a fixed blade in a visible sheath and the question does not arise.

The Exceptions: Home, Car and Sports

Subsection (2) provides that "it shall not be a violation of this section for any person over the age of eighteen (18) years to carry a firearm or deadly weapon concealed within the confines of his own home or his place of business, or any real property associated with his home or business, or within any motor vehicle." The vehicle exception is unconditional: a bowie knife under the seat is lawful. Subsection (3) adds that it is no violation to carry a concealed deadly weapon "while engaged in a legitimate weapon-related sports activity or is going to or returning from such activity," meaning "hunting, fishing, target shooting or any other legal activity which normally involves the use of a firearm or other weapon." 97-37-9 supplies affirmative defenses for officers, mail carriers, the military and church security, and for "any person who is traveling and is not a tramp," the journey exception the statute has carried since the nineteenth century. Between the vehicle exception and the sports exception, a Mississippian who hunts has almost no occasion to conceal a named knife unlawfully.

Switchblades: Legal to Own, Not to Hide

Mississippi never banned the switchblade. It may be made, sold, bought and owned, and it may be carried openly, in a visible sheath, in any vehicle and on the way to the woods. What it may not be is "concealed on or about one's person" in public, because "switchblade knife" is one of the four names in 97-37-1, and what it may not be is in the hands of a convicted felon under 97-37-5 or a minor or an intoxicated person under 97-37-13. The school statute, 97-37-17(1)(c), defines the term as a knife "containing a blade or blades which open automatically by the release of a spring or a similar contrivance," which is also the only statutory definition in the Code and covers an OTF as plainly as a side-opener. Assisted openers are not addressed anywhere.

Minors and Felons

Two statutes handle the people rather than the places. 97-37-5 makes it a felony, up to ten years, for a person convicted of a felony to possess "any bowie knife, dirk knife, butcher knife, switchblade knife, metallic knuckles, blackjack, or any muffler or silencer for any firearm," which is the statute Summerall was convicted under. 97-37-13 makes it unlawful to "sell, give or lend" any of the same knives to a minor or to a person intoxicated or in the habit of getting intoxicated, with a fine of up to $1,000 and up to a year, and 97-37-15 makes a parent or guardian who knowingly permits a minor under 18 to possess or carry one of them concealed liable as well. Mississippi sets no minimum age to own a pocketknife or carry one openly. The named knives are the ones the youth statutes reach, through the adult who supplies or allows them.

Schools: 97-37-17

Section 97-37-17 is broader than the concealed carry statute and reaches every knife. Subsection (4) makes it a misdemeanor to "possess or carry, whether openly or concealed, any BB gun, air rifle, air pistol, bowie knife, dirk, dagger, slingshot, leaded cane, switchblade knife, blackjack, metallic knuckles, razors and razor blades (except solely for personal shaving), and any sharp-pointed or edged instrument except instructional supplies, unaltered nail files and clips and tools used solely for preparation of food, instruction and maintenance on educational property." The penalty is up to $1,000, six months, or both. "Educational property" is any public or private school building, bus, campus, grounds, recreational area or athletic field, from kindergarten through university. The phrase "any sharp-pointed or edged instrument" is the one to notice: an ordinary pocketknife is inside it, and the drop-off exception for parents in the firearms subsection does not extend to knives. In Mississippi the school rule is every knife, every campus, including the parking lot.

Where You Cannot Carry

• Educational property, K-12 through university, including buses, grounds and athletic fieldsNo knife of any kind, openly or concealed. Misdemeanor, up to $1,000 and six months.
  97-37-17(4)
• Public streets and places, with a named knife concealedA bowie knife, dirk knife, butcher knife or switchblade hidden from common observation, outside the home, business, vehicle and sports exceptions. Misdemeanor, felony on a third offense.
  97-37-1
• CourthousesMississippi courts bar weapons from court facilities under security rules, with screening at the entrance. Leave it in the car, where the statute allows it.
  Court security
• Airports and federal propertyNo knives past the checkpoint at Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers or Gulfport-Biloxi under federal rules, and none in a federal building or courthouse under 18 U.S.C. 930.
  TSA
• Tribal landThe Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians governs its reservation and casinos under its own code. Check before you carry.
  Tribal codes
• Private property and workplacesAn owner may bar knives and an employer may set a policy. The remedy is being asked to leave or being disciplined, and after that, trespass.
  Trespass

Penalties

The concealed carry statute is unusual in escalating by count: the same bowie knife is a fine the first time and a prison term the third.

What the Internet Gets Wrong

Four things. First, that Mississippi bans switchblades. It restricts concealing them and bars felons and minors from them. Owning one and carrying it openly is lawful. Second, that "in whole or in part" is still the rule. It was replaced in 2013 by a definition that excludes a partly visible sheath. Third, that any fixed blade is a dirk. Summerall says a dirk is a stabbing knife designed as one, and reversed a ten-year sentence over a 4-inch sheath knife to say so. Fourth, that a pocketknife is fine at school because it is not a bowie or a switchblade. The school statute reaches "any sharp-pointed or edged instrument," and the parking lot is educational property.

TEKTO Knives for Mississippi

The F2 Bravo and F4 Echo are folders, outside 97-37-1 entirely, and the X1 Atlas is a single-edged 3.30-inch fixed blade that is not a dirk under Summerall and rides lawfully in its Kydex sheath on a belt. The A5 Spry is a switchblade under Mississippi law: lawful to own, lawful openly and in a visible sheath, lawful in any vehicle and on the way to the deer stand, and not lawful hidden in a pocket on a Jackson sidewalk. Choose the single-edged Spry. The double-edge Spry and the A7 Zastava are dirks as well as switchblades. Nothing goes onto school property, down to the pocketknife.