Arkansas Knife Laws: Purpose, Not the Knife, and the 3-Inch Definition

The Short Version

Arkansas asks one question about a knife: why are you carrying it? A.C.A. 5-73-120(a) provides that "a person commits the offense of carrying a weapon if he or she possesses a handgun, knife, or club on or about his or her person, in a vehicle occupied by him or her, or otherwise readily available for use with a purpose to attempt to unlawfully employ the handgun, knife, or club as a weapon against a person." Without that purpose there is no offense, whatever the knife, however it is carried. Subsection (b) defines "knife" as "any bladed hand instrument three inches (3") or longer that is capable of inflicting serious physical injury or death by cutting or stabbing, including a dirk, a sword or spear in a cane, a razor, an ice pick, a throwing star, a switchblade, and a butterfly knife," which means the statute names the switchblade and the balisong only to say that they, too, are lawful absent the purpose. Subsection (c) presumes a lawful purpose at home, in your vehicle, at your business and on a journey.

The rules that remain are about places: 5-73-122 bars a "loaded firearm or other deadly weapon" from publicly owned buildings, which covers courthouses, public schools and the Capitol, as a Class C misdemeanor. For a TEKTO customer every knife we make is lawful to own and carry in Arkansas, open or concealed, including the OTF automatics and the double-edged A7 Zastava.

The Statute: 5-73-120 and the Purpose Element

Before 2013 Arkansas law made it an offense to carry a knife "with a purpose to employ it as a weapon against a person," and courts and police read the old wording broadly. Act 746 of 2013 rewrote the section so that the offense requires "a purpose to attempt to unlawfully employ" the knife, handgun or club "as a weapon against a person," and the Attorney General and the courts have since treated the carrying of a weapon without that purpose as lawful. The practical effect, as AKTI describes it, is that "there is no general restriction" on carrying a knife for anyone without unlawful intent. Concealment is not mentioned anywhere in the section. A violation is a Class A misdemeanor under subsection (d).

The purpose element is what the state must prove, and it is proved by circumstances: a knife drawn in an argument, a knife carried to a confrontation, a knife and a threat. A knife in a pocket during a traffic stop, with nothing else, is not evidence of it, and the presumptions in subsection (c) make that explicit for the places where most knives are found.

What Counts as a Knife: The 3-Inch Line

Subsection (b)'s definition has a floor: "three inches (3") or longer." A bladed instrument under 3 inches is not a "knife" for purposes of the carrying statute, so the statute cannot reach it even with unlawful purpose, though the assault statutes still can. Arkansas does not say how the 3 inches is measured. AKTI recommends its own protocol, tip to the forward edge of the handle, which gives the longer figure. The examples in the definition, "a dirk, a sword or spear in a cane, a razor, an ice pick, a throwing star, a switchblade, and a butterfly knife," are a list of what the statute considers knives, not a list of banned items, and it is easy to read it the wrong way. An OTF with a 3.5-inch blade is a knife under 5-73-120 and lawful to carry. A Spry Mini at 1.85 inches is not a knife under the statute at all.

The Presumptions: Home, Car, Business and the Journey

Subsection (c) lists twelve circumstances in which "it is permissible to carry a weapon," that is, in which a lawful purpose is presumed. Three matter to every knife owner: "the person is in his or her own dwelling, in his or her personal vehicle, in his or her place of business, or on property in which he or she has a possessory or proprietary interest," and "the person is carrying a weapon when upon a journey, unless the journey is through a commercial airport when presenting at the security checkpoint in the airport or is in the person's checked baggage and is not a lawfully declared weapon." The journey exception is old Arkansas law. In Riggins v. State (1986) the Supreme Court explained it as the traveler's need to defend against the perils of the road, and it covers a trip beyond your own county. The rest of the list covers officers, the military, security guards, hunters with handguns, concealed handgun licensees, prosecutors and judges. None of the presumptions is needed for an ordinary knife carried for an ordinary reason, because the purpose element already does the work. They matter when the facts are ambiguous.

Public Buildings: 5-73-122 and the Deadly Weapon

5-73-122(a)(1) makes it a Class C misdemeanor to knowingly carry or possess "a loaded firearm or other deadly weapon in any publicly owned building or facility or on the State Capitol grounds." "Deadly weapon" is defined in 5-1-102(4) as "a firearm or anything manifestly designed, made, or adapted for the purpose of inflicting death or serious physical injury," or "anything that in the manner of its use or intended use is capable of causing death or serious physical injury." A dagger or a push dagger is manifestly designed to injure. A pocketknife is not, and is a deadly weapon only in the manner it is used. AKTI suggests the two statutes should be read together so that a knife under 3 inches is outside 5-73-122 as well, and cautions that Arkansas has not said so. The exceptions are for officers, security guards, the military, shooting matches and trade shows, and for concealed handgun licensees in parking lots and municipal parks. None speaks to knives. The rule we give is to leave the fixed blade and the automatic in the car at the courthouse, the DMV and the school, and to carry a pocketknife into a public library without worry.

Where You Cannot Carry

• Publicly owned buildings and facilities, and the Capitol groundsNo deadly weapon. Class C misdemeanor. Courthouses, city halls, public schools and state offices are all included. A knife left in your vehicle in the lot is lawful under 5-73-120(c).
  5-73-122
• Public and private schoolsPublic schools are public buildings under 5-73-122, and every district and private school bars knives by policy. Leave it in the car.
  5-73-122
• CourtroomsOnly officers, court officers and bailiffs may be armed. Screening at the door refuses knives.
  5-73-122(b)
• Airports and federal propertyThe journey presumption stops at the security checkpoint. No knives past TSA at Clinton National or Northwest Arkansas National, and none in a federal building or courthouse under 18 U.S.C. 930.
  5-73-120(c)(4)
• Correctional facilitiesFurnishing a knife to an incarcerated person is a Class D felony, and no knife enters a jail.
  5-73-131
• Private property and workplacesAn owner may bar knives and an employer may set a policy. The remedy is being asked to leave or being disciplined, and after that, trespass.
  Trespass

Minors and Local Rules

Arkansas sets no minimum age to own or carry a knife and has no youth carry statute. What it regulates is supply. 5-73-109 makes it a Class A misdemeanor to furnish a deadly weapon to a minor, and a knife designed as a weapon, or one the adult knows will be used as one, is a deadly weapon under 5-1-102. A parent handing a child a pocketknife is not what the section is aimed at. On local law, Arkansas preempts local firearm ordinances under 14-16-504 and says nothing about knives, so a city may regulate them. AKTI lists no statewide preemption. We know of no Arkansas city ordinance that restricts an ordinary knife, but check the code where you live and treat the state rules on this page as the floor.

Penalties

Misdemeanor and felony ranges are set by 5-4-401 and fines by 5-4-201.

What the Internet Gets Wrong

Three things. First, that Arkansas bans switchblades and butterfly knives because 5-73-120 names them. It names them as examples of a "knife," and a knife is lawful to carry without unlawful purpose. Second, that Arkansas has a 3-inch limit. The 3 inches is the floor of the definition: a knife under 3 inches cannot be the subject of the carrying offense, and a knife over 3 inches is lawful without the purpose. Third, that concealment matters. The statute never mentions it. The rule that catches people is 5-73-122, a deadly weapon in a public building, which is usually a fixed blade worn into a courthouse or a county office, and the fix is the parking lot.

TEKTO Knives for Arkansas

Every TEKTO knife is an Arkansas knife. The A5 Spry in any blade style and the A7 Zastava with its double-edged spear point are lawful in a pocket here, because the statute cares about your purpose and not your knife. The A2 Badger at 1.85 inches is under the 3-inch definition entirely. The X1 Atlas fixed blade in MagnaCut is the knife for the Ozarks and the Buffalo, on a belt or in a pack, and it is the one we would leave in the truck at the courthouse.