Vermont Knife Laws: No Carry Rules, the 2025 Switchblade Repeal, and the Intent Statute

The Short Version

Vermont has the lightest knife law in the Northeast. There is no concealed carry statute for knives and there never has been. In State v. Rosenthal, decided in 1903, the Vermont Supreme Court struck down a Rutland ordinance that required a permit to carry weapons, holding that the Legislature had not given cities that power and that the state constitution's right to bear arms stood in the way. There is no open carry rule, no blade length, no permit and no banned knife. The one knife-specific statute Vermont had, the ban in 13 V.S.A. 4013 on switchblades with blades of 3 inches or more, was repealed effective July 2, 2025, and the section now covers zip guns only.

What Vermont has instead is a definition and three places. 13 V.S.A. 1021 defines a "deadly weapon" as a firearm or anything that, "in the manner it is used or is intended to be used," is capable of causing death or serious bodily injury. 4003 makes it a crime to carry one "with the intent to injure another." 4004 bars one from school buildings and buses, and 4016 from courthouses. For a TEKTO customer every knife we make is a Vermont knife, OTF automatics and the double-edged A7 Zastava included, and the two lines to remember are the school door and the Massachusetts border.

The Deadly Weapon Definition and 4003

Section 1021 defines "deadly weapon" as "any firearm, or other weapon, device, instrument, material, or substance, whether animate or inanimate, which in the manner it is used or is intended to be used is known to be capable of producing death or serious bodily injury," and Chapter 85 uses "dangerous weapon" interchangeably. The test is manner of use. In State v. Kuzawski (2017) the Supreme Court upheld a conviction in which the weapon was a box cutter held against a child. The court's point was that the object does not decide the question, the use does. Section 4003 is the only carry statute, and it reads in full: "A person who carries a dangerous or deadly weapon with the intent to injure another shall be imprisoned for not more than two years or fined not more than $2,000.00, or both. It shall be a felony punishable by not more than 10 years of imprisonment or a fine of $25,000.00, or both, if the person intends to injure multiple persons." Without the intent, carrying a knife is not an offense in Vermont at all.

Switchblades: Repealed July 2, 2025

Until 2025 13 V.S.A. 4013 made it an offense, punishable by up to 90 days and $100, to possess or sell "a weapon commonly known as a switchblade knife, the blade of which is three inches or more in length." It was one of the mildest switchblade laws in the country. In 2025 the repeal was folded into S.109, a court and criminal procedure bill. Governor Phil Scott signed it, and the repeal took effect July 2, 2025. The act also directs the court to order the expungement of convictions under the old section entered before July 1, 2025. Section 4013 now reads only that "a person who possesses, sells, or offers for sale a weapon commonly known as a 'zip' gun shall be imprisoned not more than 90 days or fined not more than $100.00, or both." An OTF of any length is lawful to make, sell, own and carry in Vermont, and AKTI's Quick Facts entry listing a 3-inch automatic limit is the one line on its page the 2025 act made obsolete.

Schools and Courts: 4004 and 4016

Section 4004(a) makes it an offense to "knowingly possess a firearm or a dangerous or deadly weapon while within a school building or on a school bus," with no intent element, punishable by up to a year and $1,000 for a first offense and up to three years and $5,000 for a subsequent one. Subsection (b) reaches the rest of "school property," but only possession "with the intent to injure another person," up to three years for a first offense and five after that. The exceptions are law enforcement acting in the course of duty and possession authorized by the school board, or by the superintendent or principal under delegated authority, for a specific occasion or instructional purpose. Because the definition of deadly weapon turns on manner of use, a pocketknife in a backpack in a school building is a fact question the statute does not resolve. School board policies, which Title 16 lets boards adopt and enforce, resolve it by barring every knife. Section 4016 makes it an offense to possess a dangerous or deadly weapon in a courthouse, up to a year and $500, with an exemption for certified officers. Screening at the door refuses knives of any size.

Minors: 4007

Vermont sets no minimum age to carry a knife. AKTI reads the statutes as leaving a law-abiding person "aged 16 or older" unrestricted. The one youth statute, 13 V.S.A. 4007, makes it an offense for "a person, other than a parent or guardian," to sell or furnish "a dangerous weapon" to "a child under 16 years of age," punishable by a fine. A parent handing a child a pocketknife is outside it by its terms. A shop selling a fifteen-year-old a fixed blade is the case it is written for, and because "dangerous weapon" is judged by manner of use, a knife sold as a tool is a defensible sale and one sold to a child as a weapon is not.

Preemption: Rosenthal and 2291

Vermont has no knife preemption statute in the modern sense, and does not need one. Municipal powers in Vermont are enumerated in 24 V.S.A. 2291, and the regulation of weapons possession is not among them. In State v. Rosenthal (1903) the Supreme Court voided a Rutland ordinance that required a permit from the chief of police to carry a pistol or other dangerous weapon, because the city had no such power and because, the court said, the people's right "to bear arms for the defence of themselves and the State" under Chapter 1, Article 16 of the Vermont Constitution did not permit it. Firearms are separately preempted by 24 V.S.A. 2295. AKTI lists Vermont as a state with constitutional preemption, and no Vermont city or town has a knife ordinance in force.

Where You Cannot Carry

• School buildings and school busesNo dangerous or deadly weapon, with no intent required. Up to a year and $1,000, more on a second offense. School board policies bar every knife on the whole campus.
  13 V.S.A. 4004
• CourthousesNo dangerous or deadly weapon. Up to a year and $500. Screening at the door. Leave it in the car.
  13 V.S.A. 4016
• Airports and federal propertyNo knives past the checkpoint at Burlington International under federal rules, and none in a federal building or courthouse under 18 U.S.C. 930.
  TSA
• Massachusetts and New YorkVermont's southern and western neighbors restrict automatics and double-edged knives with serious penalties. A knife lawful in Brattleboro is not necessarily lawful in Greenfield, and an OTF lawful in Bennington is a crime in Hoosick Falls.
  AKTI
• 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

Vermont has no knife offense that does not require either intent to injure or a specific building.

What the Internet Gets Wrong

Three things. First, that Vermont bans switchblades over 3 inches. It did, with a 90-day maximum, until July 2, 2025. It no longer does, and prior convictions are being expunged. Second, that Vermont has a concealed carry rule. It has none for knives and never has, and the 1903 Rosenthal decision is why no city has one either. Third, that "deadly weapon" means a list of knives. In Vermont it means anything used or intended as one, box cutter included, and nothing carried as a tool. The rule that catches people is the school building: a knife in a backpack in the hallway is an offense without any intent at all.

TEKTO Knives for Vermont

Every TEKTO knife is a Vermont knife, and since July 2, 2025, that includes every automatic without a length to check. The A5 Spry in any blade style and the A7 Zastava with its double-edged spear point are lawful in a pocket, lawful on a belt and lawful in the car. The A3 Delta is a 3.60-inch side-opening automatic with a button lock and safety. The X1 Atlas fixed blade in MagnaCut is the knife for the Greens and the Northeast Kingdom. None of them goes into a school building or a courthouse, and none of them crosses into Massachusetts or New York without reading those pages first.