Can you wear a sgian dubh in Boston?

[SteveB]

Interesting....

I live in Boston and commute on the MBTA, and have never been bothered about my sgian dubh during the last fifty years. I wear the sgian every time I am in a tartan kilt, which is every day that ends in a "y".

I guess an old man in a kilt doesn't raise much on the radar screen.

I am also employed in a retail establishment that sells knives. The ever popular folding pocket knife. The City of Boston regulation is that a folding knife must have a blade less than 2.5". We also sell fixed blade knives that are legal and longer. Several for outdoor sports have six inch single edge blades. We have a large carribean immigrant population that regularly purchases their favourite lawn and garden tool from us... the 18 or 22 inch machete.

Sale of any knife is restricted to persons over eighteen years of age with a government issue photo I.D. (Boston city regulation)
Sale of Pepper Spray is restricted to persons over eighteen years of age with government issue photo I.D. (State regulation)
Sale of aerosol paint is restricted to persons over eighteen years of age with photo I.D. (Boston city regulation)
The list goes on...

Slainte

[Brother Falldown]

Here in Arizona I believe our toughest restriction is that handguns must be worn in plain sight (unless of course you obtain a concealed weapons permit). Swtich blade knives are prohibited, but I'm not aware of any other bladed instrument restrictions.

[Fit2BKilted]

Here in Arizona I believe our toughest restriction is that handguns must be worn in plain sight (unless of course you obtain a concealed weapons permit). Swtich blade knives are prohibited, but I'm not aware of any other bladed instrument restrictions.

Arizona is sounding like a State I'd be happy to emmigrate to---although, it still seems odd that the authorities would remain touchy about knives or bladed weapons of any description when compact firearms are commonly available! ;-)

[Zardoz]

Switch-blade knives are covered by very specific laws. In the US it mostly started in the late 50's, when films like Rebel Without a Cause and High School Confidential, and the Broadway play West Side Story and 12 Angry Men all featured switchblades used by gangs or "the criminal element", this prompted the US Switchblade Act of 1958, limiting their import and sale.