Minnesota Knife Laws
Minnesota bans the switchblade outright, which puts it in a small group of states. Making, transferring or possessing one is barred. Beyond that the state sets no blade length and does not treat concealment as the issue. There is no statewide preemption, so a Minnesota city can add rules on top of the ban.
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.
Minnesota knife law at a glance
| Concealed carry blade limit | No blade length governs, and concealment is not the issue. |
|---|---|
| Automatic and switchblade knives | Forbidden. Making, transferring or possessing a switchblade is barred. |
| Knife types banned outright | Switchblade knives. |
| Statewide preemption | No. Local governments may set their own knife rules on top of the state’s. |
| The statutes | Minnesota Statutes 609.02 and 609.66, including subdivisions 1d and 1g — read them |
Source last revised 25 August 2026
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 Minnesota 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 Minnesota 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Wisconsin | Legal | No blade length governs. A knife may be carried openly or concealed. Someone already barred from having a firearm can be charged for a concealed knife that counts as a dangerous weapon. |
| Iowa | Legal | Five inches. A dagger, razor, stiletto, switchblade or any knife with a blade over five inches is a dangerous weapon and may not be carried concealed. |
| South Dakota | Legal | No state blade length governs; concealed carry is lawful unless you carry with intent to commit a felony. The city rule is what is likely to catch you. |
| North Dakota | Legal with conditions | Five inches. A blade of five inches or more, and any switchblade or gravity knife, counts as a dangerous weapon for concealed carry. A North Dakota concealed weapon license lifts that. |
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 Minnesota knife laws
What size knife is legal to carry in Minnesota?
No blade length governs, and concealment is not the issue.
Are switchblades legal in Minnesota?
Forbidden. Making, transferring or possessing a switchblade is barred.
Which knives are banned outright in Minnesota?
Switchblade knives.
Does Minnesota have knife preemption?
No. Minnesota 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 Minnesota?
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. Minnesota knife law checked against the published sources on 15 September 2026, and due for review again on 15 November 2026.