Kansas Knife Laws & What the State Allows

Kansas treats knife owners with more freedom than most states do. If you live here or plan to carry a knife while passing through, the law is more relaxed than in places like New York or California, where blade length and mechanism type can lead to criminal charges.

But relaxed does not mean lawless. There are still two types of edged weapons you cannot own, rules that apply to convicted felons, and a preemption statute that keeps cities from writing their own knife restrictions. The picture is friendly, but it has boundaries.

Knife Carry Rules in Kansas

• Kansas removed most knife restrictions in 2013 when Governor Sam Brownback signed House Bill 2033 into law.

• You can carry any knife, concealed or open, with no blade length limit.

• Switchblades, gravity knives, balisongs, daggers, stilettos, Bowie knives, machetes, and swords are all legal.

• Throwing stars and ballistic knives remain illegal to own, sell, or carry.

• Local governments cannot pass their own knife ordinances, though schools, jails, and juvenile facilities can still restrict knives on their premises.

• Convicted felons face additional restrictions on possessing certain named knife types.

• A 2020 Kansas Supreme Court ruling struck down a vague portion of the felon-in-possession statute.

How Kansas Got Here: The 2013 Overhaul

Before 2013, Kansas had a long list of banned or restricted knives. Switchblades, dirks, daggers, stilettos, and gravity knives were all classified as prohibited weapons. If you wanted to carry a concealed knife, the blade could not exceed four inches. These rules had been on the books for decades, and they were enforced.

That changed when the Kansas legislature passed House Bill 2033. The vote was lopsided: 40-0 in the Senate and 95-26 in the House. Governor Sam Brownback signed the bill on April 16, 2013, and it took effect on July 1 of that year.

The bill did two things at once. It amended K.S.A. 21-6301, which had banned the manufacture, purchase, and sale of switchblades. Those restrictions were eliminated. It also amended K.S.A. 21-6302, removing the prohibition on carrying automatic and gravity knives and getting rid of all statewide concealed carry restrictions for knives. After July 1, 2013, blade length no longer mattered under state law.

What You Can Legally Carry

The list of legal knives in Kansas is long enough that it is easier to talk about what is banned. But for the sake of being thorough, here is what falls within the law.

There is no blade length restriction for any of these. You can carry a 12-inch fixed blade concealed on your person if you want to, and you will not violate state law.

What Remains Illegal

Kansas still prohibits two categories of edged weapons.

• Throwing stars are illegal to own, carry, sell, buy, transfer, or use.

• Ballistic knives fall under the same prohibition.

K.S.A.21-6301(a) covers both of these. A violation can result in imprisonment for up to two years or a fine of up to $600. There is no exception for collectors or hobbyists. If you possess either of these items in Kansas, you are committing a criminal offense.

Statewide Preemption of Local Ordinances

One of the more practical provisions of the 2013 law is the preemption clause found in K.S.A. 12-16,134. It prevents any municipality from enacting or enforcing its own ordinance, resolution, regulation, or tax related to the transportation, possession, carrying, sale, transfer, purchase, gift, licensing, registration, or use of a knife.

This means that if you are traveling from Wichita to Topeka to Kansas City, you do not need to worry about running into different knife rules in each city. The state law applies uniformly.

There are three exceptions to this preemption, though. The definition of “municipality” under the statute does not include unified school districts, jails, or juvenile correctional facilities. Those locations retain the authority to restrict knives on their premises.

So, while a city council cannot ban you from carrying a switchblade on its streets, a school district absolutely can prohibit knives inside school buildings or on school grounds.

Rules for Convicted Felons

Under K.S.A. 21-6304, Kansas law makes it a crime for a convicted felon to possess certain weapons, including specific types of knives. The statute names daggers, dirks, switchblades, stilettos, and straight-edged razors. A felon found in possession of any of these faces a severity level 8 nonperson felony charge.

The 2020 Supreme Court Ruling

The statute also contained a residual clause that extended the prohibition to “any other dangerous or deadly cutting instrument of like character.” On July 17, 2020, the Supreme Court of Kansas struck that clause down as unconstitutionally vague.

The case was State v. Harris. Christopher M. Harris, a convicted felon, had been observed during an altercation and was found carrying a pocket knife with a 3.5-inch serrated blade. He was charged under the residual clause because a standard pocket knife does not fall neatly into the named categories of dagger, dirk, switchblade, or stiletto.

The court reversed his conviction. The reasoning was that the phrase “any other dangerous or deadly cutting instrument of like character” invited varying and unpredictable enforcement decisions. Officers and prosecutors inconsistently applied the language, and defendants could not reasonably know what conduct was prohibited.

After this ruling, the felon-in-possession statute still applies to the named knife types. A convicted felon in Kansas cannot legally possess a dagger, dirk, switchblade, or stiletto. But the catch-all language that would have covered something like a common pocket knife is no longer enforceable.

Who Is Exempt From Weapon Restrictions

Kansas provides exemptions for a few categories of people regarding weapon restrictions.

• Law enforcement officers acting in their official capacity.

• Wardens and security personnel at correctional institutions.

• Members of the armed services or the Kansas National Guard while performing official duties.

These exemptions apply to the general weapon statutes, not specifically to the knife provisions. Since most knife carry is already legal for the general public, the exemptions matter most in the context of restricted locations like correctional facilities.

Carrying Knives in Practice

Kansas law is permissive. You are legally allowed to walk down the street in Overland Park with a sword strapped to your back. That does not mean a police officer will not stop and talk to you about it. Legality and social norms can be far apart, and open carry of large blades often prompts calls to law enforcement, even in states with friendly laws.

If you carry a knife for everyday use, a folding knife or a fixed blade of reasonable size is unlikely to attract attention. Carrying a machete into a grocery store is a different matter, even if both are technically lawful.

Also worth noting is that no new amendments to the knife statutes have been enacted since the 2020 Supreme Court ruling. The legal framework has remained stable, and the core provisions from the 2013 overhaul continue to govern knife ownership and carry in Kansas.

Where Kansas Stands on Knife Carry

Kansas allows nearly every type of knife to be owned and carried, openly or concealed, with no restrictions on blade length. The 2013 overhaul removed decades of prohibitions and established statewide preemption, preventing local governments from filling the gap with their own rules.

Throwing stars and ballistic knives are the two exceptions. Convicted felons still face restrictions on named knife types, though the residual clause that once expanded those restrictions was struck down in 2020.

If your situation involves a prior felony conviction or if you plan to carry a knife into a school, jail, or juvenile facility, the rules get tighter, and you should consult a qualified attorney. For everyone else, Kansas is about as open as a state gets on this front. Know the two things that are banned, respect the restricted locations, and you will be on solid ground.