Massachusetts Knife Laws
Massachusetts does not care about concealment. It cares about type, and the list is long: stilettos, daggers, dirk knives, double-edged knives and ballistic knives. The automatic knife ban fell on 27 August 2024, when the Supreme Judicial Court held it unconstitutional.
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.
Recent change. 2024 – Commonwealth v. Canjura struck down the switchblade carry ban.
Massachusetts knife law at a glance
| Concealed carry blade limit | Concealment is not the issue. |
|---|---|
| Automatic and switchblade knives | The one-and-a-half-inch automatic restriction was struck down on 27 August 2024 in Commonwealth v. Canjura. |
| Knife types banned outright | Stilettos, daggers, ballistic knives, dirk knives, double-edged knives, and devices that let a locked-blade knife be drawn already locked. |
| Statewide preemption | No. |
| The statutes | M.G.L. chapter 269 sections 10, 10G, 12 and 12F — read them |
Source last revised 29 May 2025
Last known change 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 Massachusetts 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 Massachusetts 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 |
|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire | Legal | No restrictions on open or concealed carry. |
| Vermont | Legal | No blade length governs and concealment is not an issue. |
| New York | Legal with conditions | State law applies the same whether the knife is concealed or not. |
| Connecticut | Legal with conditions | Four inches on the cutting edge for a knife you may carry, and one and a half inches if it is an automatic. Concealment itself is not the issue; the blade is. |
| Rhode Island | Legal | Three inches, which is one of the tightest lines in the country. A dagger, dirk, stiletto, sword cane or bowie knife may not be carried concealed at any length. |
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 Massachusetts knife laws
What size knife is legal to carry in Massachusetts?
Concealment is not the issue.
Are switchblades legal in Massachusetts?
The one-and-a-half-inch automatic restriction was struck down on 27 August 2024 in Commonwealth v. Canjura.
Which knives are banned outright in Massachusetts?
Stilettos, daggers, ballistic knives, dirk knives, double-edged knives, and devices that let a locked-blade knife be drawn already locked.
Does Massachusetts have knife preemption?
No. Massachusetts has no statewide preemption, so a city or county can be stricter than the state code, and several are. Check your local ordinance as well as the statute.
Can I keep a knife in my car in Massachusetts?
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. Massachusetts knife law checked against the published sources on 15 September 2026, and due for review again on 15 November 2026.