Wisconsin Knife Laws
Wisconsin repealed its switchblade statute on 6 February 2016, and the repeal covered spring-assisted knives too. There is no blade length and a knife may be carried openly or concealed. Preemption arrived the same month and does something useful: it stops a city using a disorderly conduct charge for simply carrying a knife. Someone already barred from having a firearm can still be charged for a concealed knife.
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.
Wisconsin knife law at a glance
| Concealed carry blade limit | 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. |
|---|---|
| Automatic and switchblade knives | Legal since 6 February 2016, when the switchblade statute was repealed. The repeal covered spring-assisted knives too. |
| Knife types banned outright | None outright. |
| Statewide preemption | Yes, since February 2016, which also stops a city using a disorderly conduct charge for simply carrying a knife. |
| The statutes | Wisconsin Statutes 939.22, 941.20, 941.23, 941.231, 948.60, 948.61 and 66.0409 — read them |
Source last revised 14 February 2023
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 Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Minnesota | Restricted or banned | No blade length governs, and concealment is not the issue. |
| 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. |
| Illinois | Legal with conditions | No statewide blade length. Chicago bars any knife with a blade longer than two and a half inches. |
| 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. |
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 Wisconsin knife laws
What size knife is legal to carry in Wisconsin?
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.
Are switchblades legal in Wisconsin?
Legal since 6 February 2016, when the switchblade statute was repealed. The repeal covered spring-assisted knives too.
Which knives are banned outright in Wisconsin?
None outright.
Does Wisconsin have knife preemption?
Yes. Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin?
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. Wisconsin knife law checked against the published sources on 15 September 2026, and due for review again on 15 November 2026.