Knives
ORC 2923.12(H) — the test changed from what it is to what you did with it
Ohio's knife law was rewritten in 2021 and most of what is written about it online still describes the old version. The change was not a longer list of permitted knives. It was a change in what the question is.
Who handles this in Ohio: Ohio State Bar Association lawyer referral; and legal aid programs and the state offices, listed in the Ohio directory.
Since April 2021 the carrying section says that for its purposes a knife, razor or cutting instrument is not a deadly weapon or a weapon if the instrument was not used as a weapon. The same carve out went into the section on unlawful transactions, and the ban on manufacturing and selling automatic, spring blade and gravity knives was repealed.
- The old test asked what the knife was: how it opened, how long the blade ran, whether it looked like a weapon.
- The current test in that section asks what it was used for.
- Blade length is not the line. Ohio never had a blade length limit in statute, and the 2021 change removed the design questions that stood in for one.
- An automatic or out the front knife is no longer contraband to make, sell or carry on that basis alone.
Three words in that carve out do most of the work: for this section. The knife exception was written into the carrying section and the transactions section. It was not written into the general definitions, which still say a deadly weapon is anything capable of inflicting death that is either designed or specially adapted for use as a weapon, or possessed, carried, or used as one. Wherever an offense reaches for that general definition rather than the carrying section, the 2021 carve out is not there.
| Where the question comes up | Which definition applies | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| Where the question comes upCarrying concealed, ORC 2923.12 | Which definition appliesThe carve out applies | What that meansNot a weapon unless it was used as one |
| Where the question comes upUnlawful transactions, ORC 2923.20 | Which definition appliesThe carve out applies | What that meansMaking, selling and furnishing are no longer barred on design |
| Where the question comes upA school safety zone, ORC 2923.122 | Which definition appliesThe general definition | What that meansA knife can be a deadly weapon there on the ordinary test |
| Where the question comes upA deadly weapon element or specification on another charge | Which definition appliesThe general definition | What that meansThe carve out does not follow the knife into another offense |
Nothing in the general definition makes a knife a deadly weapon by default either. It is a definition with elements, and the elements have to be proved like any others. A knife is one if it is capable of inflicting death and it is either designed or specially adapted for use as a weapon, or it was possessed, carried or used as one.
Knives are preempted. Cameras are not. That is why the two answers behave differently. Since September 2022 the statewide uniformity section reaches knives as well as firearms, so a municipal knife ordinance inconsistent with state law is unenforceable. That is the opposite of how camera enforcement works, where home rule leaves cities their own authority and the answer changes across a county line.
Federal buildings, courthouses, secured areas of airports and private property with its own rules are all separate questions that this section does not touch, and a knife that is lawful to carry down a street is not therefore lawful everywhere on that street's route.
Sources for this section (7)
- ORC 2923.12 — Carrying concealed weapons
- Ohio S.B. 140 (2021) — Removed knives from the weapon definitions in the carrying and transactions sections unless used as a weapon, and repealed the ban on manufacture and sale of automatic and gravity knives
- ORC 2923.20 — Unlawful transactions in weapons
- ORC 2923.11 — Definitions, including deadly weapon and dangerous ordnance
- ORC 2923.122 — Weapons in a school safety zone
- ORC 9.68 — Statewide uniformity for firearms and, since 2022, for knives
- Ohio Const. art. XVIII, § 3 — Home rule, the authority of municipalities to govern their own local affairs
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Ohio attorney.