Indiana Knife Laws (2026): Carry, Blade Rules, and School Bans

Indiana has no general statewide statute restricting the open or concealed carry of an ordinary knife. Its knife-specific statutes are narrow: a ban on knives with a detachable, projectile-ejecting blade, and a ban on possessing a knife on school property. Indiana's handgun-licensing chapter, Indiana Code § 35-47-2, is scoped to handguns by its own title and definitions and does not reach knives at all.

Jurisdiction scope: This page covers Indiana state law only, principally Indiana Code §§ 35-47-5-2, 35-47-5-2.5, 35-31.5-2-180, 35-47-6-1.3, 20-33-8-16, and 35-44.1-3-5. It does not cover Indiana's general battery, criminal recklessness, or intimidation statutes, which can apply to a knife used as a weapon regardless of how it was carried.

Can you own a knife in Indiana?

Indiana bans owning one specific category of knife outright. IC 35-47-5-2 provides:

It is a Class B misdemeanor for a person to manufacture, possess, display, offer, sell, lend, give away, or purchase any knife with a detachable blade that may be ejected from the handle as a projectile by means of gas, a spring, or any other device contained in the handle of the knife.

This is Indiana's version of a ballistic-knife ban: a knife whose blade launches from the handle as a projectile. It does not reach ordinary fixed-blade or folding knives, switchblades, or gravity knives, none of which are banned to own under Indiana law.

IC 35-47-5-2 was amended by Public Law 289-2013, SEC. 21. As the section reads today, it reaches only the detachable, projectile-ejecting blade type quoted above; it does not name or ban a switchblade, gravity knife, or any other automatically-opening knife.

Can you carry a knife openly or concealed in Indiana?

Indiana has no general statute restricting open or concealed carry of an ordinary knife; IC 35-47-2 is a handgun chapter by its own terms. Indiana's handgun-licensing chapter, IC 35-47-2 ("Regulation of Handguns"), governs who may carry a handgun without a license and how a handgun license is obtained, and every section in that chapter is scoped to handguns and firearms dealers. It does not define or mention knives, and it is not the statute that would criminalize knife carry if one existed.

Indiana's two dedicated knife statutes are narrower than a general carry ban: the detachable-blade ban above applies to that one knife type regardless of location, and the school-property ban below applies only to specific places. Outside of those two statutes and the general "deadly weapon" language discussed below, Indiana has no statute criminalizing the carry of an ordinary pocketknife, fixed blade, or switchblade on your person, openly or concealed.

School property, buses, and the statute's own knife definition

IC 35-47-5-2.5 makes it a Class B misdemeanor to recklessly, knowingly, or intentionally possess a knife on school property, a school bus, or a special purpose bus. The offense is elevated to a Class A misdemeanor for a person with a prior unrelated conviction under the same section, and to a Level 6 felony if the offense results in bodily injury to another person.

This statute defines "knife" for its own purposes only:

As used in this section, "knife" means an instrument that: (1) consists of a sharp edged or sharp pointed blade capable of inflicting cutting, stabbing, or tearing wounds; and (2) is intended to be used as a weapon. (b) The term includes a dagger, dirk, poniard, stiletto, switchblade knife, gravity knife, or throwing star.

Indiana's general definitions chapter, IC 35-31.5-2-180, cross-references this same language and states expressly that it applies "for purposes of IC 35-47-5-2.5" only, not to Indiana criminal law generally. The school-property statute does not apply to a knife the school corporation itself provided or authorized for an authorized purpose, or to a knife secured in a motor vehicle.

Airports and other controlled-access areas

A separate statute, IC 35-47-6-1.3, makes it a Class A misdemeanor to knowingly or intentionally enter an area of an airport where access is controlled by inspection of persons and property while possessing, or having access to property containing, a firearm, an explosive, or "any other deadly weapon." This statute uses Indiana's general "deadly weapon" definition (IC 35-31.5-2-86), which turns on how an item is used, could ordinarily be used, or is intended to be used to cause serious bodily injury, rather than the school-property statute's named-type list. Whether an ordinary carried knife qualifies under this definition depends on those use-and-intent facts; the statute does not name knives specifically the way the school-property statute does.

Two more place-based statutes can reach a knife under the same general "deadly weapon" definition. IC 20-33-8-16 makes a student's mandatory one-year expulsion track firearm- and destructive-device-only, but it separately allows a school to expel a student for up to one year, at its discretion, for bringing a "deadly weapon" to school or school property. IC 35-44.1-3-5 makes carrying a "deadly weapon" into a correctional facility without authorization a Level 5 felony, and makes delivering one to an inmate a Level 5 felony version of trafficking with an inmate. Neither statute names knives specifically; both turn on the same use-and-intent "deadly weapon" test as the airport statute above.

Does Indiana preempt local knife ordinances?

Indiana's firearms-preemption chapter, IC 35-47-11.1, is scoped to firearms and ammunition. Its own cross-referenced definitions, including IC 35-47-1-2.5's definition of "ammunition" stated as applying "for purposes of IC 35-47-11.1," confirm the chapter does not reach knives. Some knife-retailer and aggregator sites list Indiana among states with statewide knife preemption, but no knife-specific preemption statute exists in Indiana's code, and that claim should not be relied on.

Federal law: what it does and does not reach

Federal law does not ban an individual from owning or carrying a switchblade. The Federal Switchblade Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1241 to 1245, instead regulates interstate commerce in switchblade knives, barring their manufacture, sale, transport, or introduction into interstate commerce, and, in 15 U.S.C. § 1245, makes it a federal offense to knowingly possess, manufacture, sell, or import a ballistic knife in or affecting interstate commerce or within federal territorial jurisdiction. 15 U.S.C. § 1244 is captioned "Exceptions" and provides that the chapter "shall not apply to" the knives it lists, exempting them from the Act's prohibitions in 15 U.S.C. §§ 1242-1243 rather than changing the switchblade definition in 15 U.S.C. § 1241(b). Since a 2009 amendment, that exemption in § 1244(5) has covered any knife with a spring, detent, or other closure-bias mechanism that requires hand, wrist, or arm exertion to overcome the bias and assist opening, the carve-out that keeps modern assisted-opening folding knives legal in interstate commerce. A separate exception, § 1244(4), lets a person with only one arm possess and carry a switchblade with a blade three inches or less. None of this changes what Indiana allows for ordinary carry within the state; Indiana's own narrower statutes above govern that question.

Disclaimer: This article provides general legal information about Indiana's knife laws as of September 2026. It is not legal advice. Consult a lawyer licensed in Indiana for advice about a specific situation. Indiana's knife-specific statutes are narrow, but general weapons and violent-crime statutes can still apply to how a knife is used.

For a state-by-state comparison, see knife laws by state. Indiana's self-defense statutes are covered separately on the Indiana self-defense laws page.

Statutes cited reflect their in-force version as of 2026-09-18. Last updated: 2026-09-18.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it legal to carry a knife in Indiana?

No general Indiana statute restricts carrying an ordinary knife, openly or concealed. Indiana's handgun-licensing chapter does not reach knives, and its two dedicated knife statutes are narrow: a ban on detachable-blade knives that eject as a projectile, and a ban on possessing a knife on school property.

Are switchblades legal in Indiana?

A switchblade is not banned to own or carry generally in Indiana. IC 35-47-5-2, which now bans only a detachable, projectile-ejecting blade type, was amended by Public Law 289-2013, SEC. 21. A switchblade is named specifically only in the school-property possession statute, IC 35-47-5-2.5, which bans possessing a switchblade, along with other named knife types, on school property, a school bus, or a special purpose bus.

Does Indiana have a knife blade length limit?

Indiana's code contains no statewide blade-length limit. The state's knife-specific statutes are defined by knife type (a detachable, projectile-ejecting blade, or the named list in the school-property statute), not by a blade-length measurement.

Does Indiana preempt local knife ordinances?

Indiana's state preemption statute, IC 35-47-11.1, is scoped to firearms and ammunition by its own definitions and does not reach knives, despite some aggregator sites listing Indiana as a knife-preemption state.