In Michigan, you can openly carry almost any knife and conceal an ordinary folding pocket knife, but concealing a dagger, dirk, stiletto, or any double-edged nonfolding stabbing instrument — or carrying one in a vehicle at all — is a felony under MCL 750.227, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $2,500 fine. The knives legal to carry in Michigan therefore depend less on what you own than on how and where you carry it. The sections below walk through the specific rules.
Open Carry Is Broadly Legal
Michigan has no statute prohibiting the open carry of knives. Because MCL 750.227 restricts only concealed carry of certain blade types and carry inside vehicles, openly carrying those same knives on your belt or in a visible sheath is lawful. That includes daggers, large fixed-blade knives, and knives that would be classified as dangerous weapons if hidden from view. The legal line rests on visibility: a double-edged knife in a sheath on your hip is legal, while the same knife tucked under your jacket is a felony.
One qualifier matters. Under MCL 750.226, openly carrying any dangerous weapon becomes a felony if you do so with intent to use it unlawfully against another person. The statute specifically covers knives with blades over three inches, along with daggers, dirks, stilettos, and razors. The penalty matches the concealed carry violation: up to five years in prison and a $2,500 fine.1Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 750.226 – Firearm or Dangerous or Deadly Weapon or Instrument; Carrying With Unlawful Intent; Violation as Felony; Penalty A large knife carried for camping or utility work is fine. The same knife carried in anger toward a confrontation crosses the line.
Which Knives You Cannot Conceal
The concealed carry ban in MCL 750.227 applies to a specific category of blades. You cannot carry concealed on your person a dagger, dirk, stiletto, any double-edged nonfolding stabbing instrument regardless of blade length, or anything else classified as a dangerous weapon. A violation is a felony punishable by up to five years imprisonment, a fine of up to $2,500, or both.2Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 750.227 – Carrying Concealed Weapons; Carrying; Penalty
Two exceptions exist. You can keep these weapons in your own home, your place of business, or on land you possess. And a “hunting knife adapted and carried as such” is exempt from the concealed carry prohibition.2Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 750.227 – Carrying Concealed Weapons; Carrying; Penalty The hunting knife exception means a single-edged hunting knife can be carried concealed if you are genuinely carrying it to hunt. A double-edged knife gets no such break.
Standard folding pocket knives sit outside this prohibition entirely. A typical single-edge folding knife is not a dagger, dirk, stiletto, or double-edged stabbing instrument, so concealing one in your pocket is legal. Michigan imposes no blade-length limit for concealed carry of ordinary pocket knives. The restriction targets blade design, not blade size.
The Vehicle Rule Is Stricter Than You Expect
This is where most people get tripped up. MCL 750.227 bans carrying a dagger, dirk, stiletto, or double-edged nonfolding stabbing instrument in any vehicle you operate or occupy “whether concealed or otherwise.” That last phrase is critical: even an openly visible dagger sitting on your passenger seat is illegal.2Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 750.227 – Carrying Concealed Weapons; Carrying; Penalty
The Michigan Court of Appeals made this even more restrictive in People v. Payne (1989), ruling that the hunting knife exception does not apply to double-edged knives transported in vehicles. You can legally own a double-edged knife and keep it at home, and you can open-carry it on foot, but you cannot drive it anywhere. If you buy a dagger at a retail store, technically you cannot transport it home in your car. Hunters and collectors get caught by this regularly.
Single-edged knives that do not qualify as dangerous weapons face no vehicle restriction. Your everyday pocket knife, or a kitchen knife being transported in a box, is fine in your car.
Rules for Specific Knife Types
Switchblades and Automatic Knives
Michigan repealed its switchblade ban effective October 11, 2017. The old law, Section 226a of the Penal Code, had prohibited selling or possessing any knife with a blade that opens by a button press or spring mechanism.3Michigan Legislature. 2017-SFA-0245 – Repeal of Switchblade Prohibition Owning, buying, and open-carrying automatic knives is now legal. If a switchblade has a double-edged blade, however, it falls under the concealed carry and vehicle prohibitions of MCL 750.227 just like any other double-edged stabbing instrument.2Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 750.227 – Carrying Concealed Weapons; Carrying; Penalty
One wrinkle for travelers: federal law still restricts shipping switchblades across state lines under the Federal Switchblade Act. Exceptions exist for military contracts, common carriers acting in the ordinary course of business, and spring-assisted knives that require manual force to open the blade.4GovInfo. United States Code Title 15, Chapter 29 – Manufacture, Transportation, or Distribution of Switchblade Knives
Butterfly Knives
Butterfly knives (balisongs) are legal to own and open-carry in Michigan. They function as folding knives with a split handle, and no Michigan statute specifically targets them. The risk with a balisong is concealed carry: a prosecutor could argue it qualifies as a dangerous weapon under MCL 750.227. A single-edged balisong is harder to classify as a double-edged nonfolding stabbing instrument, but a jury could still find it falls under the broader “any other dangerous weapon” language.
Throwing Knives and Stars
Michigan has no statute banning throwing knives or throwing stars, and ownership is legal. Carry is riskier than you might assume. In People v. Lynn (1998), the Michigan Supreme Court upheld a conviction for carrying throwing knives in a vehicle, finding that a jury could properly classify them as double-edged nonfolding stabbing instruments under MCL 750.227. The court held that if a jury determines a throwing knife meets that description, no further analysis of dangerousness is required. Treat throwing knives as falling under the same concealed carry and vehicle prohibitions as a dagger.
Ballistic Knives
Ballistic knives, which have a detachable blade propelled by a spring mechanism, are banned under federal law. Possessing, manufacturing, selling, or importing one carries up to ten years in federal prison.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1245 – Ballistic Knives Michigan state law does not separately address ballistic knives, but the federal prohibition makes them effectively illegal everywhere in the country.
Places You Still Cannot Carry
MCL 750.237a creates weapon-free school zones covering all K-12 school buildings, grounds, playing fields, and vehicles used by schools to transport students. The statute defines “weapon” with language that “includes, but is not limited to, a pneumatic gun.” Because this is an open-ended definition rather than an exhaustive list, knives fall within its scope.6Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 750.237a – Individual Engaging in Proscribed Conduct in Weapon Free School Zone Carrying any knife on school property, regardless of type or how it is carried, creates serious criminal exposure.
Federal property adds another layer. In any federal building — courthouses, federal office buildings, VA facilities — possessing a dangerous weapon is a crime under 18 U.S.C. § 930. The statute excludes pocket knives with blades under two and a half inches from the definition of “dangerous weapon,” so a small folding knife clears the bar, but anything larger does not.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 930 – Possession of Firearms and Dangerous Weapons in Federal Facilities
Post offices are stricter. Regulations at 39 CFR 232.1 prohibit carrying any dangerous or deadly weapon on postal property, whether openly or concealed, with no pocket-knife exception.8eCFR. 39 CFR 232.1 – Conduct on Postal Property
If you fly out of a Michigan airport, TSA prohibits all knives in carry-on luggage. You can pack knives in checked baggage as long as they are sheathed or securely wrapped.9Transportation Security Administration. Knives Amtrak follows a similar rule: knives are banned from carry-on bags and from your person while on the train, but sheathed knives may travel in checked luggage on routes that offer checked baggage service.
The prohibited premises list that Michigan State Police publishes for concealed pistol license holders — hospitals, sports arenas, bars, churches, large entertainment venues, day care centers, college classrooms — applies to concealed pistols, not knives.10State of Michigan: Michigan State Police. Prohibited Premises Carrying a pocket knife into a hospital or stadium is not automatically a crime the way it would be on school grounds. Individual facilities may still ban weapons through posted policies.
Local Ordinances May Add Restrictions
Michigan has no preemption law preventing cities and counties from passing their own knife restrictions. A 2019 bill (HB 5286) would have prohibited local governments from adopting knife ordinances more restrictive than state law, but it did not become law. A city can therefore ban open carry of certain knives or impose blade-length limits that go beyond state law. If you regularly carry a knife, check the local ordinances in your city or county, particularly in larger municipalities that are more likely to have weapons regulations on the books.
A Concealed Pistol License Does Not Cover Knives
A common misconception is that a Michigan concealed pistol license (CPL) authorizes concealed carry of knives. It does not. The CPL statute deals exclusively with pistols. MCL 750.227 treats concealed carry of dangerous knives as a separate prohibition with no licensing option. No permit exists in Michigan that would let you legally conceal a dagger, dirk, or double-edged knife on your person or carry one in your vehicle. The only paths around the concealed carry ban are the statutory exceptions: your own home, your workplace, your own land, or a legitimate single-edged hunting knife carried for hunting.