Opinel for EDC legal question

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Laurentius

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Aug 13, 2009
2,432
626
Knowhere
Apologies if this particular one has been raised before.

I am not usually concerned about legality as I have a good reason whenever I carry a fixed blade or a locker, and otherwise make do with an SAK except for situations where there is a real rather than a remote possibility of it being confiscated.

I do feel cheated, from a safety perspective by the interpretations put on a sub 3" folder.

Opinels make very nice cheap sub 3" lockers. Now it is easy to remove the locking collar so for all intents it is a non locker. I wouldn't want to subject one to hard use without something more substantial to hold it in place however.

The legal question comes if I were to carry the collar in another pocket or somewhere in my baggage and only put it on to lock the knife when actually using it be legal? I imagine that being caught in the act of using a locking knife (providing it is a proper use) would be sufficient justification for having it on ones person at that point in time. It's the carriage I am wondering about? I think if you were merely found with the knife on your possession without the collar, that would not be a problem, but otherwise proving that you only put the collar on to actually use the knife might be more of a problem.

It's probably not worth the bother to adopt this as EDC practice but it has been a question that has been rolling round in my mind for some time, so I thought I would post it.
 

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