Missouri Knife Laws: No Banned Knives, Concealed Carry Since 2017 and the Seventeen Places

The Short Version

Missouri's knife law is short and most of it is about where you are. No knife is banned: switchblades, OTFs, gravity knives, butterfly knives, daggers, dirks, stilettos, bowies, throwing knives and throwing stars are all legal to own, buy and carry, openly or concealed, with no permit and no length limit. The concealed-carry offense in 571.030.1(1) once applied everywhere. Since January 1, 2017, it applies only when a knife is carried concealed "into any area where firearms are restricted under section 571.107," a list of seventeen kinds of place written for concealed handguns: police stations, polling places, jails, courthouses, government meetings, bars, airport secure areas, schools and colleges, child care facilities, casinos, amusement parks, churches, posted private property, large stadiums and hospitals. An "ordinary pocketknife with no blade more than four inches in length" is not a "knife" under the chapter, so the concealed rule never reaches it. Two other place rules apply to any "weapon readily capable of lethal use," open or concealed: 571.030.1(8) for churches, polling places and government buildings, and 571.030.1(10) for schools, and the Missouri courts have said a pocketknife is readily capable of lethal use. A concealed carry permit holder is exempt from all three. Exhibiting any knife "in an angry or threatening manner" is a class E felony. That is the whole of it, with one caveat: Missouri preempts local firearm regulation and not knife regulation, so St. Louis and Kansas City can have rules of their own.

What Changed in 2012 and 2017

Two amendments made the Missouri of this page. House Bill 1647 in 2012 rewrote 571.020, the prohibited weapons statute, so that a switchblade knife is an offense only "in violation of federal law," alongside machine guns, short-barreled rifles and silencers in the same clause. The federal Switchblade Act, 15 U.S.C. 1241 to 1245, prohibits manufacturing for or shipping in interstate commerce, importing, and possession on federal land and in Indian country. It says nothing about owning or carrying a switchblade inside a state. The practical effect is that a Missouri resident may buy an automatic from a Missouri dealer, own it, carry it and have it sharpened without violating 571.020, and the "less than 3 inches" rule that the old version of this page attached to switchblades was never Missouri law. It is a garbled reading of the federal exemption for a person with one arm carrying a knife with a blade of three inches or less. The second change was Senate Bill 656 of 2016, the permitless carry law, effective January 1, 2017. Before it, 571.030.1(1) made it an offense to carry "concealed upon or about his or her person a knife" anywhere, which is why the old page said concealed carry of anything but a 4-inch pocketknife was illegal. The bill added the words "into any area where firearms are restricted under section 571.107," and from that day concealed carry of a knife on an ordinary Missouri street stopped being an offense. The statute has been amended several times since, most recently with effect from August 28, 2026, and the knife provisions read as quoted on this page.

Knife, Pocketknife and Readily Capable of Lethal Use

Three phrases do the work. 571.010(12) defines a "knife" as "any dagger, dirk, stiletto, or bladed hand instrument that is readily capable of inflicting serious physical injury or death by cutting or stabbing a person with the instrument," and then takes something out: "for purposes of this chapter, 'knife' does not include any ordinary pocketknife with no blade more than four inches in length." A folding knife with a 3.5-inch blade is therefore not a knife under chapter 571, and the concealed-carry offense in 571.030.1(1), which is written for "a knife," does not touch it. A 4.5-inch folder, a fixed blade, a dagger or a bowie is a knife. The third phrase is "any other weapon readily capable of lethal use," which appears in subdivisions (1), (4), (8) and (10) as a catch-all after the named items. The Court of Appeals held in State v. Meyers, 333 S.W.3d 39 (2010), that an ordinary pocketknife is a weapon readily capable of lethal use for the exhibiting offense in subdivision (4), and the same words carry the same meaning in the place rules. So the pocketknife exclusion protects a small folder from the word "knife" and from nothing else: in a church, a government building or a school, where the statute reaches any weapon readily capable of lethal use, a 3-inch folder is inside the rule. Concealment itself follows the ordinary test, whether the weapon is "discernible by ordinary observation," which the Court of Appeals applied in State v. Raff-Covington, 410 S.W.3d 268 (2013). Whether a clipped knife is concealed is a jury question.

The Seventeen Places

571.107.1 lists the places a concealed carry permit does not open to a concealed firearm, and since 2017 the same list is where a knife may not be carried concealed by anyone without a permit. In the statute's order: a police, sheriff or highway patrol office or station without the chief's consent. Within 25 feet of a polling place on election day. A jail, prison or detention facility. A courthouse, including its courtrooms and offices. A meeting of a city, county or other local governing body, or of the General Assembly. A government building or part of one that has been posted against concealed carry. An establishment licensed to serve liquor by the drink, without the owner's consent and with an exception for restaurants that mostly sell food. The secure area of an airport. Any place federal law prohibits firearms. A college, university or K-12 school facility without the required consent. A child care facility without the manager's consent. A riverboat casino. The gated area of an amusement park. A church or place of worship without the consent of the person in charge. Private property posted with a sign of at least eleven by fourteen inches with one-inch lettering. A sports arena or stadium seating 5,000 or more. A hospital open to the public. Carrying a knife concealed into any of them is a class B misdemeanor under 571.030.1(1), with two exceptions in the statute itself. 571.030.3 says the rule does not apply when the weapon is being transported "not readily accessible," which is a knife in a locked case in the trunk. And 571.030.4 says it does not apply to the holder of a valid Missouri concealed carry permit, a pre-2013 endorsement, or a permit from another state. For the posted-private-property item, the penalty is the civil one in 571.107.2, removal and a citation, rather than the misdemeanor.

Switchblades, OTFs and Butterfly Knives

571.010(21) defines a switchblade knife as one with "a blade that folds or closes into the handle or sheath" that "opens automatically by pressure applied to a button or other device located on the handle" or "opens or releases from the handle or sheath by the force of gravity or by the application of centrifugal force." That covers side-opening automatics, OTFs, gravity knives and, by the centrifugal-force clause, butterfly knives. Under 571.020.1(6) possessing, making, transporting, repairing or selling one is a class D felony only when it is done "in violation of federal law," and the Switchblade Act regulates interstate commerce, importation and federal property, not a knife bought and carried inside Missouri. The American Knife and Tool Institute reads the clause the same way: owning, carrying, repairing and over-the-counter sale by a Missouri dealer do not violate it, and a switchblade with a blade of 4 inches or less is an ordinary pocketknife besides. Assisted-opening knives are outside the definition, since the blade is started by hand and the opening device is on the blade rather than the handle, and the 2009 federal amendment exempts them from the Switchblade Act in any case. For carry, an automatic follows the same place rules as every other knife: legal openly or concealed on the street, a class B misdemeanor concealed in one of the seventeen places, and inside the government building, church and school rules whatever its blade length, because those rules turn on "readily capable of lethal use" rather than on the word "knife."

St. Louis, Kansas City and Local Rules

Missouri's preemption statute, 21.750, occupies "the entire field of legislation touching in any way firearms, components, ammunition and supplies." It does not mention knives, so a city or county may regulate them, and the two big cities have long had weapons ordinances of their own. Secondary sources describe a St. Louis ordinance against carrying certain knives concealed and blade-length rules in some smaller municipalities. We did not read the St. Louis or Kansas City codes for this page and cannot tell you what they say today. The state rules on this page are the floor. If you carry a knife that is not an ordinary pocketknife in St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield or Columbia, read the city code or ask the police department's legal unit before you rely on the 2017 change.

Where You Cannot Carry

• Government buildings, churches and polling places, open or concealed571.030.1(8) makes it an offense to carry "a firearm or any other weapon readily capable of lethal use into any church or place where people have assembled for worship, or into any election precinct on any election day, or into any building owned or occupied by any agency of the federal government, state government, or political subdivision thereof." Unlike the concealed rule, this one does not care whether the knife is hidden, and because a pocketknife is readily capable of lethal use under Meyers, the 4-inch exclusion does not help. A folder in a pocket at the license office or the county clerk's counter is, read literally, a class B misdemeanor. The exemptions are the permit holder in 571.030.4 and the not-readily-accessible rule in 571.030.3. Arrests for a pocketknife in a city hall are rare. The statute still says what it says.
  571.030.1(8)
• Schools, school buses and school functions571.030.1(10) covers "a firearm, whether loaded or unloaded, or any other weapon readily capable of lethal use" in any school, on any school bus, or at any school-sponsored function, K-12 and, through the 571.107 list, colleges as well. The penalty clause grades the offense by whether "the firearm" is loaded. For a knife the grade that fits is the lower one, a class A misdemeanor. Permit holders, school officers and protection officers, and parents driving through to drop off a student are exempt. Students in school-sanctioned shooting or ROTC programs may take part but may not carry a weapon into the school. School district conduct codes add suspension and expulsion.
  571.030.1(10)
• The seventeen 571.107 places, concealedCourthouses, jails, police stations, polling places, bars, airports, child care facilities, casinos, amusement parks, posted property, stadiums and hospitals, plus the schools and churches above. Class B misdemeanor for a concealed knife without a permit.
  571.107
• AirportsNo knives past the checkpoint at Lambert or Kansas City International under federal rules. The secure area is also a 571.107 place.
  TSA
• Private propertyOwners may post against concealed weapons with the statutory sign. The consequence is removal and a citation under 571.107.2. Any posted knife rule is enforced by asking you to leave, then trespass.
  571.107.2

Minors and Felons

Missouri sets no minimum age for owning, buying or carrying a knife. The age rules in chapter 571 are written for firearms, and the one age in 571.030 is the nineteen-year threshold for carrying a concealable firearm in a car. A 16-year-old with a folder, a fixed blade or an OTF is breaking no state law on the street, and the same place rules apply to a minor as to an adult. Schools are where a minor meets the law, under subdivision (10) and the district's own code. For a person with a felony conviction, Missouri's unlawful possession statute, 571.070, covers firearms. No state statute bars a felon from owning or carrying a knife, and the rules on this page apply to a felon as they apply to anyone else, except that a felon cannot hold the concealed carry permit that would exempt a knife from the place rules.

Penalties

What the Internet Gets Wrong

Four things, and the old version of this page had two of them. First, that it is illegal to carry anything but a 4-inch pocketknife concealed in Missouri: that was the law until December 31, 2016. Since Senate Bill 656 the concealed-carry offense applies only inside the 571.107 places, and a dagger under a jacket on a Columbia sidewalk is lawful. Second, that a switchblade is legal only if the blade is under 3 inches: there is no such rule. The 3-inch figure is the federal one-armed-person exemption, and Missouri's switchblade clause reaches only conduct that violates federal law, which carrying a knife in Missouri does not. Third, that the 4-inch pocketknife rule is a blade limit: it is an exclusion from the word "knife," not a cap, and a 5-inch folder is legal to carry concealed on the street like everything else. Fourth, that the pocketknife exclusion makes a small folder legal everywhere: the government building, church and school rules use "any other weapon readily capable of lethal use," the courts have put a pocketknife inside those words, and a 3-inch folder in a county office is an offense for anyone without a permit. That last one is the rule people get wrong in the other direction.

TEKTO Knives for Missouri

Every TEKTO knife is legal to own and carry in Missouri, openly or in a pocket, on the street, with no permit. The F1 Alpha, F2 Bravo, F3 Charlie and F4 Echo are all under 4 inches, so they are ordinary pocketknives under 571.010 and outside the concealed-carry rule even in the seventeen places. The OTFs, the A5 Spry, A5 Spry Mini, A2 Badger, A7 Zastava and A4, and the A3 Delta side-opener are switchblade knives that Missouri does not prohibit, and at under 4 inches they are ordinary pocketknives too. The Double Edge A4 is a knife by any reading, and the Spry's 3.50 inches is on the right side of the line. The X1 Atlas is a 3.30-inch fixed blade, which is a "knife" under the chapter because the pocketknife exclusion is for folders: legal openly or concealed on the street since 2017, a class B misdemeanor concealed in a courthouse, bar or stadium without a permit. The rule that applies to all of them, pocketknives included, is the one for government buildings, churches and schools: leave the knife in the truck, locked and out of reach.