Knife Law & Shipping Restrictions
Automatic and out-the-front (OTF) knives are not legal everywhere. Some states ban them outright, some cap the blade length, and a few allow you to own one but make it an offence for a shop to sell you one. This page sets out exactly where we will and will not ship them, and why. If your state is not on the “we cannot ship” list, you can order normally.
Where we ship automatic knives
Click any red state to see the law behind it.
California
Cal. Penal Code §21510
California allows an automatic knife only if the blade is under two inches. Every OTF we stock is longer than that, so there is nothing in our range we could lawfully sell you there. This is a length rule rather than a ban — a sub-2″ automatic is lawful in California, we simply do not carry one.
Summarised for guidance, not legal advice. Check the current statute if it matters to you.
Connecticut
Conn. Gen. Stat. §53-206
Connecticut caps automatic blades at one and a half inches. No production OTF comes close, so the same position applies as California: a length rule we cannot meet with the knives we sell.
Summarised for guidance, not legal advice. Check the current statute if it matters to you.
Maryland
Md. Criminal Law §4-105
Maryland is unusual. You may lawfully own a switchblade there, but the statute makes it a misdemeanour for a retailer to sell, barter, display or offer to sell one, carrying up to twelve months. The restriction falls on us, not on you — which is why we cannot ship even though possession is lawful.
Summarised for guidance, not legal advice. Check the current statute if it matters to you.
Minnesota
Minn. Stat. §609.66
Minnesota prohibits possession, sale and manufacture outright. It is one of only four US jurisdictions that still ban automatics completely.
This one may change. Knife Rights is challenging the 1959 ban in federal court — Knife Rights v. Minnesota, US District Court for the District of Minnesota, before Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz. Oral argument on cross-motions for summary judgment was heard on 18 April 2026 and reporting from the hearing had the court sceptical of the state's position that switchblades are not ‘in common use’. No ruling yet. If the ban falls, we will open Minnesota.
Summarised for guidance, not legal advice. Check the current statute if it matters to you.
New Jersey
N.J.S.A. 2C:39-9(d)
New Jersey allows possession where you have a lawful purpose, but makes manufacture, sale and transfer unlawful. As in Maryland, the offence sits with the seller, so we cannot ship into the state.
Summarised for guidance, not legal advice. Check the current statute if it matters to you.
New Mexico
N.M. Stat. §30-7-8
New Mexico makes it unlawful to carry a switchblade anywhere off your own property. It is one of the four jurisdictions with a standing ban.
Summarised for guidance, not legal advice. Check the current statute if it matters to you.
New York
N.Y. Penal Law §265.01
Owning an automatic knife in New York is lawful, but carrying one requires a hunting or fishing licence or another lawful purpose, and New York City layers its own rules on top. There is enough grey area that we would rather not put a customer in it.
Summarised for guidance, not legal advice. Check the current statute if it matters to you.
Washington
RCW 9.41.250
Washington makes it a gross misdemeanour to manufacture, sell, dispose of or possess a knife whose blade is released automatically by a spring or other mechanical device. The only carve-out is for assisted-opening knives — those built with a bias toward closure that you must overcome by hand — which an OTF is not. The other exemption covers law enforcement.
A repeal came close and failed. SB 5534 would have removed the spring-blade prohibition and passed the Washington Senate 46–2, but it stalled in the House, went to the Senate Rules ‘X’ file on 26 February 2026 and was recorded dead on 12 March 2026. Until a repeal passes, possession remains a criminal offence for the buyer, so we stopped shipping here in August 2026.
Summarised for guidance, not legal advice. Check the current statute if it matters to you.
Washington, D.C.
D.C. Code §22-4514
The District prohibits automatic knives for civilians. It is the fourth of the jurisdictions with a standing ban.
Summarised for guidance, not legal advice. Check the current statute if it matters to you.
Chicago, Illinois
Chicago Municipal Code
Illinois as a whole allows automatic knives to holders of a valid FOID card, and we ship to the rest of the state on that basis. Chicago runs its own prohibition on top of state law, so orders to a Chicago address are declined even though an Illinois address elsewhere is fine.
Summarised for guidance, not legal advice. Check the current statute if it matters to you.
A guide, not legal advice. Knife law changes and city rules can be stricter than state law. Check your local law before ordering.
We cannot ship automatic knives here
Nine jurisdictions, plus one city. Checkout will decline the order.
- California — automatic blades must be under 2″. Ours are longer, so we have nothing lawful to sell you there.
- Connecticut — automatic blades capped at 1½″. Same position as California.
- Maryland — you may lawfully own one, but state law makes it an offence for a retailer to sell, barter or display one.
- Minnesota — possession, sale and manufacture are all prohibited.
- New Jersey — possession is allowed with a lawful purpose, but sale and transfer are not.
- New Mexico — carry is unlawful anywhere off your own property.
- New York — ownership is lawful, but carry requires a hunting or fishing licence. Too much grey area for us.
- Washington — RCW 9.41.250 makes it a gross misdemeanour to manufacture, sell, dispose of or possess an automatic knife. The only carve-out is for assisted-opening knives, which an OTF is not. A repeal (SB 5534) passed the state Senate 46–2 but died in February 2026.
- Washington, D.C. — unlawful for civilians.
- Chicago, Illinois — the rest of Illinois is fine; the city has its own ban.
We ship, but read this first
Your order will go through. These rules still apply to you.
- Illinois — you need a valid FOID card. We cannot check it, so you are confirming you hold one. Not Chicago.
- Kentucky and West Virginia — you must be 21 or older, not 18.
- Colorado — concealed carry limited to a 3½″ blade.
- North Dakota — blade length capped at 5″.
- Delaware — legal since July 2025. Up to 3¾″ without a licence.
- Hawaii — legal since May 2024. Open carry only; concealed carry is still restricted.
- Virginia — you may own and buy one, but concealed carry of an automatic is prohibited.
- Massachusetts — the Supreme Judicial Court struck the ban down in Commonwealth v. Canjura (2024) as a Second Amendment violation. Lawful to buy and own; Boston sets its own carry rules.
- Everywhere else — no state-level restriction on automatic knives.
Federal law
The Federal Switchblade Act (15 U.S.C. §§ 1241–1245) restricts introducing switchblade knives into interstate commerce. It is aimed at manufacturers and importers rather than at a shop selling a knife to a customer, and it carries a set of express exceptions — among them common and contract carriers handling shipments in the ordinary course of business, sales and transport under Armed Forces contracts, members of the Armed Forces acting in the course of duty, a person with one arm carrying a blade of three inches or less, and knives built with a spring, detent or other mechanism creating a bias toward closure that must be overcome by hand.
We ship on that basis and in line with the state rules above. If you are buying on behalf of a law enforcement agency or a military unit and need something we would not normally ship to your state, contact us before ordering rather than placing the order and hoping.
You must be 18 or older — 21 in some states
You must be at least 18 to buy anything from C&S Knifes LLC. We confirm that when you enter the site and again at checkout. Kentucky and West Virginia set 21 as the minimum for an automatic knife, and where a higher age applies, it applies to you.
Cities and counties set their own rules
State law is not the whole picture. Chicago is the example we block outright, but it is not the only city with its own ordinance — New York City, Denver and Philadelphia all come up regularly. We cannot check every local rule in the country, so this part is down to you. If you are not certain, look it up before you order.
What you agree to at checkout
Before you can place an order you confirm that you are 18 or older, that what you are buying is legal for you to purchase, own and receive where you live, and that you accept responsibility for complying with the law that applies to you. We keep a record of that confirmation with your order.
We reserve the right to refuse or cancel any order we believe would breach the law. If we cancel for that reason, we refund you in full.
Not sure? Check with AKTI first
The American Knife & Tool Institute maintains the best free state-by-state summary of knife law in the country, and it is the source we work from ourselves. If you are not certain where you stand, start there. It will usually answer the question faster than we can, and it covers carry and possession rules that our list does not — ours only tells you whether we are able to ship to you.
If AKTI does not settle it, or you are not sure how it applies to your situation, ask us before you order and we will give you a straight answer. We would far rather answer the question than cancel the order afterwards.
This page is general guidance, not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for checking the law where you live. Knife law changes — Hawaii changed in 2024, Delaware in 2025, and Massachusetts is still unsettled. We review this page periodically; last reviewed August 2026.