Question about double edged knives.

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First off, I hope I posted this in the right forum. Apologies if not.

I have a large knife I really like and it has about a third of the back edge sharpened. I know this makes it illegal to carry in MA. If I were to take a stone to the back edge and make it totally dull, would this make it legal to carry or would it still be a double edged knife?

Of course google was no help with this and I kind of think it might come down to a cop or judges opinion instead of firm legal grounds. I was thinking about grinding down bayonet lugs to get past the AWB.
Thanks in advance all.
 
Knives are modified all the time. As a matter of fact, the number of "ghost knives" is so large and prevalent, the laws are specifically void of any manufacturer language. If you modify your knife to be compliant, there is nothing in the law that uses the knife's original state for compliance. That said, dulling it won't do. You need to remove any semblance of an edge. A dull knife is still a knife. Heck, if you grind both sides down to nothing and just have a pointy end, it is still considered a knife and it has to be compliant.
 
Not sure I have ever seen a definitive answer on this question but I know many people have taken a sharpened swedge to an unsharpened one and have never heard of anyone having an issue, but that is no where near saying it will cover you legally.
 
IANAL Disclaimer... Put some fishing and hunting gears in your car and claim you're on your way to hunt or fish if you ever get stopped.
 
Massachusetts knife law is a mess. What I've been able to glean from the thin case record is:
  • At least one court ruling stated that the purpose of the law is "to outlaw the carrying of those knives which are primarily designed for stabbing human beings or for other unlawful objectives."
  • Another court ruling stated that a double-edge blade need not be double-edged for all of its length -- a point sharpened on both sides suffices.
  • Another court ruling stated that 'one of the prerequisites for a weapon to be considered a "dirk knife" is that its blade folds into its handle,' so a Scottish Dirk is not a dirk, but the same case (Commonwealth vs. Ismael Garcia) defined a dagger as "any blade of relatively short length primarily designed or modified for stabbing."
  • In December of last year, another ruling stated that double-edged blades are "dangerous and unusual weapons" not subject to Second Amendment protections" under Heller.
So as far as I can tell, if you were charged with carrying your modified knife, it would be up to the whim of the arresting officer, the prosecutor, and the jury. Even if the jury determined it was no longer double-edged, they could still find it was a dagger and convict you.
 
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There was also a court case where one of the resident NES lawyers got someone out of a knife conviction using their LTC as a defense.
Choose your lawyer wisely.
 
Cite, please?

I know of Boston, Salem, and Worcester (LTC gives you a pass).

What others do you know of?

Asking for a friend.

I have looked up other towns when friends have moved into them, but could not list them all off the top of my head, but I have found some kind of rule in most of the towns I looked at. Some were just repeats of state law, others had rules about knives and selling to people under 18. A lot of variation.
 
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