On-campus knife carry- how small is small enough?

[Berger.Fan222]

How would anyone know? And one's experience limited to one or a few campuses can't be extended to all the college campuses in the country.

The bottom line is that you don't know and you can't possibly know.

Most likely, one CAN know for sure for the school of interest. For example, (since UGA was referenced above), the UGA campus police crime laws are available back to 2010, before the law was passed on small knives on campus.

https://www.police.uga.edu/crime-stats/daily-log

The crime reports show you are 200 times more likely to get arrested for underage possession of booze or possession of drugs than for a pocket knife, and that 100% of the pocket knife arrests were in conjunction with an arrest for booze, drugs, drunk and disorderly, assault, or some other crime. On occasion, they tack on a weapons charge if they find one when you are arrested for something else, but they do not arrest only for small pocketknives or multitools.

 

[Frank Ettin]

Yes, after interacting personally with law enforcement, including a number of campus police officers,...

So what? An anecdote is not evidence.

Unless you can cite legal authority your views of what is or is not legal are worthless.

....I ride my bike on the sidewalks too when it is unsafe to ride in the street. ....

Again so what? Your getting away with something isn't evidence that it's legal or a good idea.

.... You really gonna criticize folks for riding a bike on the sidewalk in places where it is unsafe to ride in the street?....

No. But I am going to criticize you for being intransigently ignorant and for spouting nonsense that could get someone into trouble.

Obviously you don't know what you're talking about.

....
https://www.police.uga.edu/crime-stats/daily-log

The crime reports show you are 200 times more likely to get arrested for underage possession of booze or possession of drugs than for a pocket knife, and that 100% of the pocket knife arrests were in conjunction with an arrest for booze, drugs, drunk and disorderly, assault, or some other crime. .....

How is that relevant to the OP's situation?

Furthermore, nothing in that report changes what the law and school rules are and is no guarantee that one's experiences in the future will necessarily track with those past results.

 

[Speedo66]

Looking pragmatically at this, if you're in college you'll be heading out into the job market soon. On the one in a million chance you get arrested and convicted of carrying a weapon on campus, is this something you'd like a human resources person to come across?

Regardless of "everyone does it" or "the cops don't care", a conviction for illegal weapons possession will definitely have a chilling effect on your job prospects. Much more than, say, riding your bike on the sidewalk. lol

 

[Berger.Fan222]

It will be up to the campus police to decide what they should be doing and how they will be using their resources. That is not your call. And campus police agencies will be making those kinds of decisions without consideration of your opinions in the matter.

Maybe you don't trust the discretion of campus police.

I do.

Sure political winds may blow in a different direction, and they may suddenly start filing charges against students, faculty, and visitors for no other crime than a 2.5" blade as part of a multitool. But spending thousands of days on college campuses has given me a high level of confidence that even among the highest levels of liberal insanity, they are not anywhere close to this yet.

I've cited the UGA log proving my point. Please cite any counter examples you may have or admit you have nothing but theoretical speculation.

 

[Frank Ettin]

....spending thousands of days on college campuses has given me a high level of confidence ......

What complete hogwash.

There's a difference between getting away with a crime and doing things legally. You apparently can't tell the difference.

Experiential and historical information at best might help one guess the odds of getting caught committing a crime. But long odds of getting caught is not the same thing as not committing a crime at all. Knowing that getting caught might be unlikely isn't helpful if one's goal is not committing a crime (or clearly staying within the rules).

And even if the OP is satisfied with probabilities, he still needs experiential and historical information for the school he is attending.

 

[hso]

Bingo!

Research the law, decide if there's a suitable knife that meets code. Just because you're not aware of some sort of sweep on campus for knives doesn't mean that a simple interaction for some other, public intoxication, common campus infraction won't result in a charge added for an illegal knife.

Make the effort to actually check the law, know the blade length limits, understand if it can be a felony or misdemeanor charge and then make an informed decision about what you are going to do knowing that you may be charged if picked up for a different reason.