Nevada Knife Laws: No Banned Knives, the Machete Rule, and Clark County's 3-Inch Line

The Short Version

Nevada's state knife law is short and mostly permissive. NRS 202.350 bans no knife, names one knife you may not conceal, the machete, and lets anyone carry anything openly. The old ban on automatic knives with blades over 2 inches was repealed in 2015, and dirks and daggers came off the concealed list at the same time. What the statute keeps is a catch-all: carrying concealed any "other dangerous or deadly weapon" is a category C felony, and a county sheriff may issue a permit for a concealed weapon other than a firearm. Nevada courts treat an object as a deadly weapon when it is designed as one or used as one, which is why an ordinary folder in a pocket is not a problem and a concealed dagger is a question.

The rule that actually catches people is local. Nevada does not preempt city or county knife ordinances, and unincorporated Clark County, which is where the Las Vegas Strip sits, bars carrying a concealed knife with a blade of 3 inches or more without the sheriff's written permission. For a TEKTO customer: every knife we make is legal to own and carry openly in Nevada, the single-edged OTFs are legal in a pocket statewide, and on the Strip the concealed knife should be the A5 Spry Mini or A2 Badger at 1.85 inches, or carried where it can be seen.

The Statute: 202.350

Subsection 1 of 202.350 has four paragraphs. Paragraph (a) bans making, selling or possessing a blackjack, slungshot, billy, sand-club, sandbag or metal knuckles. (b) covers machine guns and silencers. (c) nunchaku and trefoils possessed "with the intent to inflict harm". (d) is the concealed carry rule: a person shall not "carry concealed upon his or her person any: (1) Explosive substance, other than ammunition or any components thereof; (2) Machete; or (3) Pistol, revolver or other firearm, other dangerous or deadly weapon or pneumatic gun." A concealed machete is a gross misdemeanor for a first offense and a category D felony after that. A concealed explosive, firearm or "other dangerous or deadly weapon" is a category C felony, one to five years.

Subsection 8 defines "concealed weapon" as one "carried upon a person in such a manner as not to be discernible by ordinary observation," and subsection 3 gives the county sheriff discretion to issue, "upon written application by a resident of that county showing the reason or the purpose for which a concealed weapon is to be carried," a permit for a concealed weapon other than a firearm. That permit is the lawful route for a Nevadan who wants to carry a dagger or other designed weapon out of sight. Peace officers and the military on duty are exempt under subsection 4.

Switchblades: Legal Since 2015

Until 2015, 202.350 made it a crime to possess a "switchblade knife," defined as an automatic knife "any blade of which is 2 or more inches long," and listed "dirk, dagger or machete" as knives that could not be concealed. The 2015 session struck the switchblade provision and the dirk and dagger from the statute, leaving the machete alone on the concealed list and no knife on the banned list. An OTF or side-opening automatic of any length is now legal to make, sell, own and carry in Nevada under state law, openly or concealed, subject to the catch-all discussed next and to local ordinances. The 2-inch switchblade definition survives in one place, 202.265, the school statute, where it still reads: "a spring-blade knife, snap-blade knife or any other knife having the appearance of a pocketknife, any blade of which is 2 or more inches long and which can be released automatically by a flick of a button, pressure on the handle or other mechanical device," excluding "a knife which has a blade that is held in place by a spring if the blade does not have any type of automatic release," which is the assisted opener.

Daggers and the "Other Dangerous or Deadly Weapon" Catch-All

Removing dirks and daggers from the list did not make concealing them safe. Paragraph (d)(3) still reaches any "other dangerous or deadly weapon," and that phrase is a felony, not the gross misdemeanor the machete carries. The statute does not define it. Nevada's courts, in the deadly weapon cases under the sentencing enhancement and the concealed weapon statute, ask whether the object is designed as a weapon and readily capable of causing substantial harm when used as designed, or whether it was used as one in the circumstances. A dagger, a push dagger or a double-edged fighting knife is designed as a weapon. A utility folder, a hunting knife or a single-edged OTF with a drop point is designed to cut, and becomes a deadly weapon only in the manner it is used. AKTI concludes that concealment "is not problematic" for knives other than machetes, and for ordinary knives we agree. For a double-edged knife we do not: carry it openly, or get the sheriff's permit under subsection 3, because the alternative is a felony charge that turns on a definition the statute does not supply.

Schools, Colleges and Child Care: 202.265

NRS 202.265 provides that a person shall not carry or possess, "while on the property of the Nevada System of Higher Education, a private or public school or child care facility, or while in a vehicle of a private or public school or child care facility," an explosive, "a dirk, dagger or switchblade knife," a nunchaku or trefoil, a blackjack, billy club or metal knuckles, a pneumatic gun, a firearm, or a paintball gun. A violation is a gross misdemeanor. The exceptions are peace officers, school security guards and anyone with written permission from the university branch president, the principal or the child care facility's designee. The list is specific: an ordinary folder, a fixed blade that is not a dagger, and an assisted opener are not named, and AKTI notes the 2-inch measurement excludes the unsharpened tang. None of that matters for a student, because every district and the university system bar knives by policy. It matters for a parent picking up a child with an OTF in a pocket, which is a gross misdemeanor on that property and in that parking lot.

Brandishing: 202.320

NRS 202.320 is Nevada's brandishing statute, and it names knives first: "a person having, carrying or procuring from another person any dirk, dirk-knife, sword, sword cane, pistol, gun or other deadly weapon, who, in the presence of two or more persons, draws or exhibits any of such deadly weapons in a rude, angry or threatening manner not in necessary self-defense, or who in any manner unlawfully uses that weapon in any fight or quarrel, is guilty of a misdemeanor." Two or more witnesses, a rude or angry draw, and no necessity: that is the offense, and it does not require the knife to be a dagger, because "other deadly weapon" covers a pocketknife used that way. Up to six months and $1,000, and the knife is confiscated under 202.340.

Clark County and the Strip

Nevada's preemption statutes, NRS 244.364 and 268.418, reserve the regulation of firearms to the state and say nothing about knives, so a county or city may regulate them. The one that matters to most visitors is the Clark County Code, which provides that it is unlawful, within the unincorporated area of the county, "for any person to carry upon his person a concealed weapon, not permitted in accordance with state law, of any description, including a knife with a blade of three inches or more, capable of being concealed, without first having received written permission therefor from the sheriff." The Las Vegas Strip is not in the City of Las Vegas. It runs through the unincorporated towns of Paradise and Winchester, and Spring Valley, Enterprise, Sunrise Manor and Summerlin South are unincorporated as well. A 3.5-inch folder in a pocket on the Strip is a county offense that the same knife on Fremont Street, inside the city, is not. AKTI notes no knife ordinance in Las Vegas, Reno or Carson City. Henderson and North Las Vegas have their own codes, and we would read them before carrying a large knife there. Our rule for the Strip is simple: a concealed knife under 3 inches, or any knife clipped where it can be seen.

Where You Cannot Carry

• School, college and child care property, and school busesNo dirk, dagger or switchblade of 2 inches or more. Gross misdemeanor. School and university policies bar all knives.
  202.265
• Unincorporated Clark County, including the StripNo concealed knife with a blade of 3 inches or more without the sheriff's written permission. Open carry is not restricted by the ordinance.
  Clark County Code
• Courthouses and public buildings with screeningCourt security refuses knives at the door. Many public buildings in Clark and Washoe counties screen as well. Leave it in the car.
  Court security
• CasinosPrivate property with security that can and does bar knives. The remedy is being asked to leave, then trespass. Nothing in state law exempts a casino floor from 202.320 either.
  Trespass
• Airports and federal propertyNo knives past the checkpoint at Harry Reid International or Reno-Tahoe under federal rules, and none in a federal building or courthouse under 18 U.S.C. 930.
  TSA
• Tribal landReservations such as Pyramid Lake and the Moapa River Reservation are governed by tribal codes. Check before you carry.
  Tribal codes

Penalties

Penalty ranges are set by NRS 193.130 (category C felony, one to five years and up to $10,000. Category D, one to four years and up to $5,000), 193.140 (gross misdemeanor, up to 364 days and $2,000) and 193.150 (misdemeanor, up to six months and $1,000).

What the Internet Gets Wrong

Four things. First, that Nevada bans switchblades over 2 inches. It did until 2015. The 2-inch rule now lives only in the school statute. Second, that Nevada has a 3-inch concealed carry limit. The state has none. Clark County's unincorporated area does, and the Strip is in it, which is how the rumor started. Third, that daggers are fine to conceal because the 2015 amendment removed them from the list. The catch-all for an "other dangerous or deadly weapon" is still there and is a felony, which is worse than the gross misdemeanor the old list carried. Fourth, that Las Vegas and the Strip are the same jurisdiction. They are not, and the knife that is legal in a pocket on Fremont Street can be an offense two miles south.

TEKTO Knives for Nevada

For the Strip and the rest of unincorporated Clark County, the A5 Spry Mini and the A2 Badger are the answer: 1.85-inch blades, well under the county's 3-inch concealed line, and legal automatics under state law since 2015. Everywhere else in the state, the full-size A5 Spry in drop point or tanto is legal in a pocket. Choose a single-edged blade, because a double-edged knife concealed is the gray area under 202.350. The X1 Atlas fixed blade is a hunting and utility knife, not a dagger, and belongs on a belt in the open where the statute never applies. None of them goes onto school property, into a courthouse or into an argument.