Indiana Knife Laws
Indiana puts no limit on carrying a knife concealed and bans only the ballistic knife. Automatic knives became legal in 2013. The wrinkle is preemption: Indiana relies on a constitutional uniformity clause rather than a knife statute, which is weaker, and Indianapolis still has a sharp-object ordinance whose standing is doubtful. Do not assume the city rule is dead.
This is not legal advice, and we are not lawyers. It is a plain reading of published summaries and the statutes they cite, kept current on a fixed schedule. Local ordinances are frequently stricter than state law and are not all captured here. Check the statute, and check your city, before you carry.
Indiana knife law at a glance
| Concealed carry blade limit | No limits on concealed carry. |
|---|---|
| Automatic and switchblade knives | Legal since 2013, when the 1957 ban was removed. |
| Knife types banned outright | Ballistic knives. Note that the heading of the ballistic knife statute mentions a blade that opens automatically, but the section reaches ballistic knives only. |
| Statewide preemption | Yes, through the state constitution’s uniformity clause rather than a knife statute, which is a weaker footing. Indianapolis still has a sharp-object ordinance whose standing is doubtful. |
| The statutes | Indiana Code 35-47-5-2, 35-47-5-2.5 and 35-47-5-12 — read them |
Source last revised 18 June 2024
Next review 15 November 2026
How fresh this is, and how you can tell
Two dates sit above, and they are not the same thing. Checked by us is the last time a person went back to the sources and confirmed this page still matches them. Source last revised is when the American Knife and Tool Institute last updated its own Indiana page. A 2021 revision date is not automatically wrong — it usually means nothing has changed since — but it does mean nobody had looked recently, and that is exactly the gap this page exists to close.
Crossing the Indiana state line
Knife law stops at the border and the next state does not have to agree with this one. If you drive, these are the states you are most likely to carry into, and what changes when you do.
| State | Automatic knives | Concealed blade limit |
|---|---|---|
| Michigan | Legal | No blade length governs. The restriction is on the type: daggers, dirks, stilettos and double-edged non-folding stabbing instruments may not be carried concealed. |
| Ohio | Legal | No blade length stated in the statute. |
| Kentucky | Legal with conditions | No blade length governs from 21, or with a concealed weapon license. Open carry is unrestricted. Kentucky courts have never drawn a clean line on what counts as an ordinary pocketknife, and one jury treated a five to six inch blade as a deadly weapon, so carry conservatively. |
| Illinois | Legal with conditions | No statewide blade length. Chicago bars any knife with a blade longer than two and a half inches. |
A knife that is lawful in your pocket at home can be unlawful the moment you cross, and nobody stops you at the line to tell you. The map for all fifty states covers the rest.
Common questions about Indiana knife laws
What size knife is legal to carry in Indiana?
No limits on concealed carry.
Are switchblades legal in Indiana?
Legal since 2013, when the 1957 ban was removed.
Which knives are banned outright in Indiana?
Ballistic knives. Note that the heading of the ballistic knife statute mentions a blade that opens automatically, but the section reaches ballistic knives only.
Does Indiana have knife preemption?
Yes. Indiana has statewide preemption, which means a city cannot write its own stricter knife ordinance. One rule covers the whole state, and that is most of what preemption is worth.
Can I keep a knife in my car in Indiana?
Where a state has a concealed carry limit, a knife in a glovebox or a door pocket is generally treated as concealed. Read the concealed line above and apply it to the vehicle. If that line says concealment is not the issue in this state, the vehicle is not the issue either — but where you drive to still is, because schools and courthouses are barred everywhere.
Where this comes from
Two independent sources, cross-checked against each other, and the statute text where they disagree. The automatic knife column is the American Knife and Tool Institute’s state automatics table, checked against Knife Rights’ own switchblade legality table and their legislative update log. Everything on a state page is quoted or closely tracked from that state’s AKTI page, and we print the date AKTI last revised it so you can see for yourself how fresh the underlying work is.
Where a source is older than a change we know about, we say so on the page rather than quietly leaving the old answer up. That is the whole reason this is checked every two months.
Elsewhere on Popular EDC
The knife law map for all fifty states, the knife steel comparison chart for choosing the blade itself, and every Popular EDC tool in one place.
Data updated September 2026. Indiana knife law checked against the published sources on 15 September 2026, and due for review again on 15 November 2026.