Wisconsin Knife Laws: No Banned Knives, No Blade Limit, No Local Rules, and the Two Lines That Are Left

The Short Version

Wisconsin rewrote its knife law in one act, and the old version of this page, written five years later, still described the state as if it had not. On February 6, 2016 Governor Walker signed Assembly Bill 142 as 2015 Wisconsin Act 149, in force from February 8. The act repealed 941.24, the 1959 statute that banned switchblades and, as courts had read it, butterfly knives. It added one sentence to the concealed-weapon statute, 941.23(1)(ap): "Notwithstanding s. 939.22 (10), 'dangerous weapon' does not include a knife," so that carrying any knife concealed stopped being a crime for anyone who may own a gun. It created 941.231, which makes it a Class A misdemeanor for a person barred from possessing a firearm to go armed with a concealed knife that is a dangerous weapon, and it amended 66.0409 to preempt every local knife ordinance in the state and to forbid disorderly conduct tickets for carrying a knife. Nothing in the act set a blade length, an age, or a permit. What is left is narrow. 948.61 makes a "dangerous weapon" on the premises of a grade 1-12 school a Class A misdemeanor, and whether a given knife is one depends on the definition in 939.22(10): "any device designed as a weapon and capable of producing death or great bodily harm" or any other device "which, in the manner it is used or intended to be used, is calculated or likely to produce death or great bodily harm." Cities and counties may still ban knives inside their own buildings. And a knife drawn in anger is a dangerous weapon under the same definition, which is where the assault statutes begin. For everyone else, every TEKTO knife is legal to own and carry, openly or in a pocket, anywhere in Wisconsin outside a school.

What Act 149 Changed in February 2016

Before 2016 Wisconsin had a switchblade ban and a concealed-carry statute that applied to any "dangerous weapon," knives included, so a folding knife in a pocket was a Class A misdemeanor if a prosecutor could call it a dangerous weapon, and an automatic knife was a crime to own at all. Two things happened in a span of three months. On November 24, 2015 the Court of Appeals decided State v. Herrmann, 2015 WI App 97, holding that the switchblade statute violated the Second Amendment as applied to a man who kept a spring-assisted knife in his home for protection. And on February 6, 2016 the Governor signed Act 149, which Knife Rights had drafted and lobbied for, and which did four things to the statutes. Section 941.24, "Possession of switchblade knife," was repealed outright. The Wisconsin jury instruction for the offense was withdrawn with it. The concealed-weapon statute got its new paragraph (1)(ap) excluding knives from "dangerous weapon," which means the elements of carrying a concealed weapon, a weapon on the person or within reach, awareness of it, and concealment, can no longer be satisfied by a knife. Section 941.231 was created for people who are prohibited from possessing a firearm. And 66.0409, the firearms preemption statute, was retitled "Local regulation of weapons" and extended to "any knife," with two additions: subsection (3)(c), which lets a political subdivision bar knives in its own buildings, and subsection (6), which forbids local disorderly conduct charges for "carrying or going armed with a firearm or a knife, without regard to whether ... the knife is concealed or openly carried," unless "other facts and circumstances that indicate a criminal or malicious intent" apply. The statutes as published on October 1, 2026 carry all of these changes, and nothing since has moved them.

Carrying a Knife: Open, Concealed, Any Length, No License

There is no Wisconsin statute on open carry of a knife, and since Act 149 there is none on concealed carry either, for anyone who may lawfully own a firearm. 941.23(2) still makes it a Class A misdemeanor to carry "a concealed and dangerous weapon," but 941.23(1)(ap) takes knives out of that phrase for this section, so the offense cannot be charged for a knife, however it is carried and whatever it looks like. The carry license created in 2011 is beside the point: 175.60(1)(j) defines the "weapon" a licensee may carry as "a handgun, an electric weapon ... or a billy club," and a knife needs no license because no statute requires one. No section of the Wisconsin Statutes sets a blade length. The 3-inch figure that still circulates for Milwaukee was a city ordinance, and under 66.0409(2) no city, village, town or county may "enact or enforce an ordinance or adopt a resolution that regulates the sale, purchase, purchase delay, transfer, ownership, use, keeping, possession, bearing, transportation, licensing, permitting, registration, or taxation of any knife" unless it is "the same as or similar to, and no more stringent than, a state statute." The Supreme Court read that language in Wisconsin Carry, Inc. v. City of Madison, 2017 WI 19, to withdraw "all authority to legislate on the possession, bearing, or transportation of any knife or any firearm" from municipalities, down to their transit agencies. The practical rule for an adult who may own a gun is that a knife in Wisconsin is carried the way a flashlight is: on a belt, in a pocket, in a jacket, in a glove box, at any length, in every city.

Switchblades, OTFs and Butterfly Knives

Wisconsin is one of the states where the automatic knife question has a one-word answer. The repealed 941.24 read: "Whoever manufactures, sells or offers to sell, transports, purchases, possesses or goes armed with any knife having a blade which opens by pressing a button, spring or other device in the handle or by gravity or by a thrust or movement is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor." That reached OTFs, side-opening automatics, gravity knives and, as read by police and prosecutors, balisongs. Act 149 repealed the section in full and replaced it with nothing. There is no Wisconsin statute today that names a switchblade, an automatic knife, a gravity knife or a butterfly knife, no restriction on who may buy one, no restriction on a retailer selling one, and no carry rule that treats one differently from a slipjoint. The same goes for disguised knives such as pen, comb and belt buckle knives, and for a ballistic knife under state law, though federal law restricts the ballistic knife everywhere, as our ballistic knife guide explains. The only place an automatic knife's design matters is the "dangerous weapon" definition in 939.22(10), which asks whether a device is "designed as a weapon and capable of producing death or great bodily harm," and that definition is used by the school statute and by 941.231, not by any general possession or carry offense. An OTF in a pocket in Madison is as lawful as a pocketknife. An OTF in a high school hallway is a dangerous weapon for the purposes of 948.61, and so, on a prosecutor's argument, is a double-edged dagger. That is a question about where, not what.

Schools: What Counts as a Dangerous Weapon

948.61(2) provides that "any person who knowingly possesses or goes armed with a dangerous weapon on school premises is guilty of" a Class A misdemeanor, or "a Class I felony, if the violation is the person's 2nd or subsequent violation of this section within a 5-year period." "School" means a public, private, parochial or tribal school "which provides an educational program for one or more grades between grades 1 and 12," and "school premises" means "any school building, grounds, recreation area or athletic field or any other property owned, used or operated for school administration." Colleges are not covered. "Dangerous weapon" has the meaning in 939.22(10) minus firearms, plus BB and pellet guns and starter pistols. So the question for a knife is whether it is "any device designed as a weapon and capable of producing death or great bodily harm," or "any other device or instrumentality which, in the manner it is used or intended to be used, is calculated or likely to produce death or great bodily harm." A dagger, a push dagger or a double-edged OTF is designed as a weapon on any reading. A utility folder or a hunting knife is a tool by design and becomes a dangerous weapon when it is used or meant to be used as one. A Wisconsin Lawyer article on Act 149 by a public defender notes that courts have applied the two tests "to distinguish deadly weapons from tools, looking at both design and use," and that no appellate decision settles a pocketknife in a backpack. The statute's exceptions matter more than that line. Subsection (3)(e) exempts a person who "drives a motor vehicle in which a dangerous weapon is located onto school premises for school-sanctioned purposes or for the purpose of delivering or picking up passengers or property," provided "the weapon may not be removed from the vehicle or be used in any manner". Subsection (3)(f) exempts a knife used "while legally hunting in a school forest" where the board allows it. (3)(a) covers weapons used "solely for school-sanctioned purposes." A person under 17 who violates the section goes to juvenile court under chapter 938. Whatever the criminal line, every district's code of conduct bars knives for students, so the rule for a parent is a knife in the car and a rule for a student is no knife at all.

Where You Cannot Carry

• Grade 1-12 school premisesA dangerous weapon knowingly possessed on school buildings, grounds, recreation areas, athletic fields or administrative property is a Class A misdemeanor, a Class I felony on a second offense within five years. A knife left in the car during drop-off or a school event is exempt if it stays in the car.
  948.61
• County and municipal buildings that post a knife rule66.0409(3)(c) lets a political subdivision prohibit knives "in a building, or part of a building, that is owned, occupied, or controlled" by it. Brown County bars edged weapons in specified county buildings under Code 3.335, with signs at the courthouse door. Other counties and cities have similar ordinances. Look for the sign.
  66.0409(3)(c)
• State Capitol and state buildings941.235 makes it a Class A misdemeanor to go armed with a firearm in a state or local government building and says nothing about knives. Building rules and posted notices decide in practice. We found no state rule barring a knife from the Capitol.
  941.235
• CourthousesNo state statute, but every county courthouse screens at the door, and the county may bar knives by ordinance under 66.0409(3)(c). Expect to leave a knife in the car.
  Court security
• Airports and federal propertyNo knives past the checkpoint at Milwaukee Mitchell, Madison or Green Bay under federal rules, and none in a federal building or courthouse under 18 U.S.C. 930.
  TSA
• Private property and workplacesPreemption binds governments, not owners. A business may post a no-weapons rule and an employer may set a policy. The remedy is being asked to leave or discipline, and after that, trespass.
  Trespass

The One Carry Crime Left: 941.231

941.231 reads in full: "Any person who is prohibited from possessing a firearm under s. 941.29 who goes armed with a concealed knife that is a dangerous weapon is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor." The people it reaches are the people 941.29 reaches: anyone convicted of a felony in Wisconsin or of an out-of-state offense that would be a felony here, anyone adjudicated delinquent for a felony-level act, anyone found not guilty of a felony by reason of mental disease, anyone under a mental-health commitment order with a firearm restriction, and anyone subject to a domestic abuse, child abuse or harassment injunction that carries one. Two things about the section are open. "Dangerous weapon" is not defined in it. The general definition in 939.22(10) is the obvious candidate, and under it a knife "designed as a weapon," a dagger or a double-edged automatic, is covered, while a utility folder is covered only if it is used or intended as a weapon. The Wisconsin Lawyer article on Act 149 argues the section is vague on both "knife" and "dangerous weapon" and that no court has yet construed it. And the section reaches only concealed carry. No Wisconsin statute bars a felon from owning a knife or from carrying one openly. A person in that category who wants to stay clear of the question carries a single-edged folder or fixed blade openly on a belt and leaves daggers and automatics alone. The penalty is the Class A maximum in 939.51(3)(a): "a fine not to exceed $10,000 or imprisonment not to exceed 9 months, or both."

Minors

Wisconsin sets no age for owning, carrying or buying a knife. 948.60(1), the statute on dangerous weapons and minors, defines "dangerous weapon" for its own purposes as "any firearm, loaded or unloaded; any electric weapon ...; metallic knuckles or knuckles of any substance which could be put to the same use with the same or similar effect as metallic knuckles; a nunchaku or any similar weapon ...; a cestus or similar material weighted with metal or other substance and worn on the hand; a shuriken or any similar pointed star-like object intended to injure a person when thrown; or a manrikigusari or similar length of chain having weighted ends." No knife of any kind appears in that list, so neither the possession offense in 948.60(2)(a) nor the sale and transfer offense in 948.60(2)(b) applies to a knife. Some summaries, including the American Knife and Tool Institute's, say it is unlawful to transfer a dangerous weapon to a minor as the term is defined in 939.22(10). The statute uses its own narrower definition, and knives are outside it. A 15-year-old may buy a folder at a hardware store and carry it, openly or concealed, with no state law in the way. The school statute applies to minors as it does to adults, with juvenile court for anyone under 17, and a parent's rules apply to everyone.

Preemption and Disorderly Conduct

The part of Act 149 that changed the most for everyday carry is the one no one quotes. 66.0409(2) bars every political subdivision from regulating "the sale, purchase, purchase delay, transfer, ownership, use, keeping, possession, bearing, transportation, licensing, permitting, registration, or taxation of any knife" beyond what state law does, which voided Milwaukee's blade-length ordinance and every other local knife rule in the state on the day the act took effect. The Supreme Court in Wisconsin Carry v. Madison held that the statute leaves municipalities "entirely powerless" to legislate on the subject, even through a transit commission's rule for its buses. Subsection (6) then closes the back door: "Unless other facts and circumstances that indicate a criminal or malicious intent on the part of the person apply, no person may be in violation of, or be charged with a violation of, an ordinance of a political subdivision relating to disorderly conduct or other inappropriate behavior for loading a firearm, or for carrying or going armed with a firearm or a knife, without regard to whether the firearm is loaded or the firearm or the knife is concealed or openly carried. Any ordinance in violation of this subsection does not apply and may not be enforced." A fixed blade on a belt in a grocery store is not a municipal disorderly conduct citation in Wisconsin. The one local power that survives is subsection (3)(c), buildings the local government owns, occupies or controls, which is why a county courthouse can post a knife rule and a county park cannot.

Penalties

What the Internet Gets Wrong

Four things, and the old version of this page was vague on three of them. First, that Wisconsin has a blade-length limit, usually quoted as 3 inches: it never did at the state level, the figure was Milwaukee's ordinance, and 66.0409 voided it in 2016. Second, that you need a concealed-carry license for a knife, or that a license covers one: the license is for handguns, electric weapons and billy clubs, and since Act 149 no license is needed to carry a knife concealed. Third, that switchblades or butterfly knives are banned or "gray": 941.24 was repealed in full in February 2016, and no replacement exists. Fourth, that any knife at school is a felony: a first offense is a Class A misdemeanor, the felony is for a repeat within five years, and the statute reaches a "dangerous weapon," which a utility folder is only when used or intended as one. The old page also said "from what we can see, knives are not included in the list of 'dangerous weapons'," which was half right: the exclusion is in 941.23 for concealed carry, and a knife can still be a dangerous weapon under 939.22(10) at a school, in the hands of a person barred from firearms, or in an assault.

TEKTO Knives for Wisconsin

Every TEKTO knife is legal to own, buy and carry in Wisconsin, openly or concealed, at any age, with no license, in every city and county. The A5 Spry, A5 Spry Mini, A2 Badger, A7 Zastava and A4 OTFs and the side-opening A3 Delta and Delta Mini were the knives 941.24 banned until February 2016 and are now as lawful as a pocketknife. Nothing in Wisconsin law restricts their sale or their carry. The X1 Atlas, a 3.30-inch MagnaCut fixed blade, goes on a belt or under a jacket with no concealment rule to think about, and for a deer camp in the Northwoods it is the one to pack. The F1 Alpha, F2 Bravo, F3 Charlie and F4 Echo folders are the everyday carry for anyone who wants a knife that no one will mistake for a weapon by design, which is the question that matters in the two places Wisconsin still draws a line: a grade 1-12 school, where every knife stays in the car, and the pocket of a person who may not own a firearm, where a concealed OTF or dagger is the one Wisconsin knife crime left.