What knives can you carry in Hawaii?

From Hawaii Firearms Coalition, Sept 10, 2021

A recent post on Stolen Stuff Hawaii (since deleted) has shown us that very few people understand Hawaii's knife laws.

A person may legally carry on themselves any knife that is not a butterfly knife, switchblade, dagger, dirk or deadly or dangerous weapons. According to Hawaii law, a "deadly and dangerous weapon" is one designed primarily as a weapon or diverted from normal use and prepared for combat.

To determine whether a knife is considered a weapon, it’s recommended that you check the original packaging and/or (if purchased online) the seller's website to see if the words weapon, self-defense, fighting, combat, or similar are used for describing the knife. If they are, that knife could be considered a weapon under Hawaii's law.

Hawaii's laws does not differentiate between open or concealed carrying, and both are legal as long as the knife is not listed as prohibited.

A common misconception in Hawaii is that the size of a knife is used to determine the legality, with lengths of 3-6 inches often being cited. Hawaii has no restriction on blade length in its laws. This allows people to carry larger knives such as cane knives or machetes when hiking or camping to clear trails and campsites.

Hawaii's knife laws are covered in HRS134-51, HRS134-52 and HRS134-53.

HIFICO lawyer Alan Beck currently has a lawsuit that is on appeal at the 9th Circuit that seeks to overturn Hawaii's ban on butterfly knives. We look forward to hearing the results and will keep you updated as soon as we find anything out.