The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

Am I allowed to use and transport to and from my permission a 4" bladed lock knife? The shoot is on private land with no public access.
Is having it on my person for the purpose of skinning/gutting good enough reason?

You're going hunting and you want good reason to have a hunting knife?

Its not particularly the hunting part its the transporting with it in my pocket.
I wont be hunting while Im in the car

From Gov site.

Lock knives
Lock knives are not classed as folding knives and are illegal to carry in public without good reason.
Examples of good reasons to carry a knife or weapon in public can include:

taking knives you use at work to and from work
taking it to a gallery or museum to be exhibited
if it’ll be used for theatre, film, television, historical reenactment or religious purposes, for example the kirpan some Sikhs carry
if it’ll be used in a demonstration or to teach someone how to use it

Mine stays in my rucksack, in the boot, until I get where I need it. Have a non locking folder in my pocket daily.

.

I remember a discussion about a Russian rifle that has a permanently
affixed bayonet, he could carry the rifle legally and get arrested for the
bayonet.

ozone
.

ozone wrote:.

I remember a discussion about a Russian rifle that has a permanently
affixed bayonet, he could carry the rifle legally and get arrested for the
bayonet.

ozone
.

Wasn't that in Scotland?.

ozone wrote:.

I remember a discussion about a Russian rifle that has a permanently
affixed bayonet, he could carry the rifle legally and get arrested for the
bayonet.

ozone
.

Madness. The theory was that a bayonet is a made offensive weapon.

However - so is the steel or brass buttplate on every old service rifle. They are not there for comfort. They are there for use as a club to crack skulls.

Would be an easy one to defend at court if anybody was daft enough to prosecute.

Then of course you have "lawful authority or reasonable excuse" - I would contend that the FAC is lawful authority in this case.

And to be pedantic.....although we often say our firearms are not "weapons" - old service rifles actually fit the UK legal definition of an "made" offensive weapon !

it's no problem. length of knife is irrelevant.

You need good reason, your good reason is that you are going hunting and need it for skinning. that's all the good reason you need.

as for keeping it in the boot etc, your car is not an extension of your home, it is more the equivilent of a backpack, so where it is stored while you are travelling to the permission is the same as any other. pocket is fine. the boot is not a magical safe location in your car. You might find a the police being more accepting of you having a knife with you and having it in the boot, but that is just their perception, with no legal grounding as far as i'm aware. Normally I have a locking blade in with stuff in my shooting kit as that is what I carry into the range, so it makes sense for it to be there, but if you are just wandering around a field with a rifle or shotty, then you are not really going to have much of a bag, so it makes sense it is in your pocket.

Gazza wrote:Am I allowed to use and transport to and from my permission a 4" bladed lock knife? The shoot is on private land with no public access.
Is having it on my person for the purpose of skinning/gutting good enough reason?

The UK is a funny old place. Honest citizens agonize over such matters as whether they're 'allowed' to go about their business with a bladed tool they intend to use; or whether just having a handy Swiss folding tool kit is technically breaking the law because it has a locking 2 1'2" blade among all the doodads for hooking out boy scouts from horses hooves 'n' such.

Meanwhile real thugs wander about with Jif lemons full of acid and butterfly knives and don't give it a second thought.

"Work" reasons extend to lawful sport and past times and per the express defences in s139 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1988. By virtue of the same Act, folding pocket knives with a cutting edge of less than 3"/7.6cm are exempt and no "good reason" is required for possession in public. However, Harris v DPP 1992 and R v Deegan assert that a locking folding knife, regardless of blade length, is a fixed blade.