Mississippi Knife Laws (2026): Concealed Carry and School Rules

Mississippi bans concealed carry of a bowie knife, dirk knife, butcher knife, or switchblade knife under Miss. Code § 97-37-1, with broad exceptions for a person's own home, business, or vehicle and for legitimate hunting, fishing, or target-shooting activity. On school property, the rule is far stricter and reaches almost anyone: a separate statute makes it a misdemeanor for any person, not just a student, to carry nearly any knife there, openly or concealed.

Jurisdiction scope: This page covers Mississippi state law only, principally Miss. Code §§ 97-37-1, 97-37-5, 97-37-17, 97-37-19, 45-9-51, and 45-9-53. It does not cover Mississippi's enhanced concealed-carry permit statute (§ 45-9-101) in detail, or local municipal ordinances.

Can you carry a knife openly in Mississippi?

Yes, for the general concealed-carry statute's purposes. Miss. Code § 97-37-1 is, by its own terms, a concealed-carry statute; it does not restrict open carry of a bowie knife, dirk knife, butcher knife, or switchblade knife. Subsection (4) reinforces this by defining "concealed" to exclude a weapon carried in a sheath, belt holster, shoulder holster, scabbard, or case that is wholly or partially visible, so even a knife technically covered by a case is not "concealed" for purposes of this section if that case is visible. Open carry of an ordinary knife elsewhere in Mississippi is not restricted by a separate statewide statute outside the school-property rule discussed below.

Concealed carry: named types and broad exceptions

Miss. Code § 97-37-1(1) provides, in relevant part: "Except as otherwise provided in Section 45-9-101, any person who carries, concealed on or about one's person, any bowie knife, dirk knife, butcher knife, switchblade knife, metallic knuckles, blackjack, slingshot, pistol, revolver, or any rifle with a barrel of less than sixteen (16) inches in length, or any shotgun with a barrel of less than eighteen (18) inches in length, machine gun or any fully automatic firearm or deadly weapon, or any muffler or silencer for any firearm ... shall, upon conviction, be punished." A 2023 act, House Bill 912 (Chapter 461), would delete "slingshot" and the muffler-or-silencer clause from this subsection, but that amendment does not take effect until ten days after the Mississippi Attorney General publishes a bulletin notice under Section 25-43-2.101 stating that the United States Supreme Court has rendered binding precedent making it reasonably probable the act would be upheld as constitutional, or until the Supreme Court rules in favor of the Texas Attorney General and the State of Texas on Texas House Bill 957 in an appeal from Paxton v. Richardson (N.D. Tex. 4:22-cv-00143); through the 2026 Regular Session neither trigger had occurred, so subsection (1) reads as quoted above. The statute does not define "switchblade knife" within its own text; a separate section, § 97-37-17, defines the term for its own purposes (discussed below) as a knife whose blade or blades open automatically by release of a spring or similar contrivance, which reflects the term's common meaning but is not itself binding language within § 97-37-1.

Two exceptions cover most day-to-day carrying. Subsection (2) provides that it is not a violation for anyone over 18 to carry a concealed firearm or deadly weapon within their own home or place of business, on real property associated with either, or within a motor vehicle. Subsection (3) exempts anyone engaged in, or traveling to or from, a "legitimate weapon-related sports activity," defined as "hunting, fishing, target shooting or any other legal activity which normally involves the use of a firearm or other weapon."

Penalties escalate with prior convictions under this section. A first conviction carries a fine of $100 to $500, up to 6 months in county jail, or both. A second conviction carries the same fine range plus 30 days to 6 months in county jail. A third or subsequent conviction is punished by 1 to 5 years in the custody of the Department of Corrections. Anyone previously convicted of any felony who is convicted under this section faces 1 to 10 years in custody instead.

Felons cannot possess these knives at all

Miss. Code § 97-37-5 makes it unlawful for a person convicted of a felony, under Mississippi law, another state's law, or federal law, to possess a firearm, or a bowie knife, dirk knife, butcher knife, switchblade knife, metallic knuckles, blackjack, or firearm muffler or silencer, unless the person has received a pardon, federal relief from disability under 18 U.S.C. § 925(c), or a state certificate of rehabilitation. Unlike § 97-37-1, this ban does not depend on concealment; simple possession of one of these knives by a person with a qualifying prior felony violates the statute. Conviction is a felony, punishable by a fine of up to $5,000, 1 to 10 years in state custody, or both.

Threatening display: a separate, lighter offense

Miss. Code § 97-37-19 makes it an offense to "brandish or wield" a dirk, dirk-knife, sword, sword-cane, any deadly weapon, or other weapon that § 97-37-1 bans carrying concealed, in the presence of another person, in a threatening manner not in necessary self-defense, or to unlawfully use it in a fight or quarrel. The "any deadly weapon" clause widens this offense beyond the specific items § 97-37-1 lists. This offense is punished by a fine of up to $500, up to 3 months in county jail, or both, considerably lighter than the concealed-carry offense itself, and applies regardless of whether the weapon was loaded, charged, or in condition to be discharged.

Educational property: a broader rule than the section's title suggests

Miss. Code § 97-37-17 is titled "Possession of weapons by students," but its actual knife-specific offense is not limited to students. Subsection (4) provides: "It shall be a misdemeanor for any person to possess or carry, whether openly or concealed, any BB gun, air rifle, air pistol, bowie knife, dirk, dagger, slingshot, leaded cane, switchblade knife, blackjack, metallic knuckles, razors and razor blades (except solely for personal shaving), and any sharp-pointed or edged instrument except instructional supplies, unaltered nail files and clips and tools used solely for preparation of food, instruction and maintenance on educational property." The reach of that last clause, "any sharp-pointed or edged instrument," is broad enough to cover most ordinary knives, not just the named types, subject only to the food-preparation, instructional-supply, and unaltered-nail-file carve-outs. A violation is punished by a fine of up to $1,000, up to 6 months in jail, or both. Separately encouraging or aiding a minor under 18 to do the same is its own misdemeanor under subsection (5), with the same penalty range.

"Educational property" is defined broadly under subsection (1)(a) to include public and private school buildings, buses, campuses, grounds, athletic fields, and related property, plus the Oakley Youth Development Center. Subsection (7) exempts weapons used for school-sanctioned ceremonial or educational purposes, Armed Forces personnel, law enforcement and campus private police, home-schooled students, competitors in organized shooting events, people authorized under § 97-37-7's official-duty provisions, mail carriers, and, under paragraph (g), "any weapon not prescribed by Section 97-37-1 which is in a motor vehicle under the control of a parent, guardian or custodian ... which is used to bring or pick up a student at a school building, school property or school function." That exemption turns on whether the item is prescribed by § 97-37-1 at all, not on whether it is a firearm: § 97-37-1 prescribes a bowie knife, dirk knife, butcher knife, switchblade knife, metallic knuckles, blackjack, slingshot, pistol, revolver, a short-barreled rifle or shotgun, a machine gun, a fully automatic firearm, a muffler or silencer, and, as a residual category, any other "deadly weapon." An ordinary pocketknife is not one of those named items and is not per se a deadly weapon, so it is ordinarily exempt when it is in a parent's, guardian's, or custodian's vehicle at school pickup or dropoff, even though § 97-37-17(4) would otherwise reach it as a "sharp-pointed or edged instrument" on educational property. A pistol, a revolver, metallic knuckles, a blackjack, or an item that qualifies as a deadly weapon on the facts is prescribed by § 97-37-1 and is not covered by this exemption. The felony provisions of this same section, subsections (2) and (3), cover firearms and explosives specifically and carry heavier penalties (up to 3 years and a $5,000 fine), separate from the knife-focused misdemeanor in subsection (4).

Does Mississippi preempt local knife ordinances?

Only for firearms, not knives. Miss. Code § 45-9-51(1) provides that "no county or municipality may adopt any ordinance that restricts the possession, carrying, transportation, sale, transfer or ownership of firearms or ammunition or their components," subject to the exceptions catalogued in § 45-9-53, such as regulating the discharge of firearms within specified distance and acreage limits, land-use and zoning regulation, and emergency regulation during insurrection, riots, or natural disasters. Section 45-9-51 is scoped to firearms and ammunition only, and its discharge carve-out in § 45-9-53(1)(b) does refer to regulating "the discharge of firearms or other weapons," a broader phrase than firearms alone, but neither section names knives specifically. Mississippi preempts local firearms regulation only, so a county or municipality may adopt its own knife ordinance.

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 restricts interstate commerce in switchblade knives, barring their manufacture for, or introduction, transport, and sale in, 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. Sections 1242 and 1243 do not apply to certain knives and people, listed as exemptions in 15 U.S.C. § 1244. A 2009 amendment, § 1244(5), exempts any knife with a spring, detent, or other closure-bias mechanism that requires hand, wrist, or arm exertion on the blade itself to overcome the bias and assist opening, the carve-out that keeps modern assisted-opening folding knives legal in interstate commerce. A separate exemption, § 1244(4), covers a person with only one arm possessing or carrying a switchblade with a blade three inches or less. Neither exemption changes what Mississippi's own § 97-37-1 or § 97-37-5 independently ban; state law governs carry and possession within Mississippi on its own terms.

Disclaimer: This article provides general legal information about Mississippi's knife laws as of September 2026. It is not legal advice. Consult a lawyer licensed in Mississippi for advice about a specific situation. Because Mississippi's firearms preemption statute does not reach knives, local ordinances can add restrictions beyond the statewide rules described here.

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

All statutes cited on this page are current through the 2026 Regular Session. Miss. Code § 97-37-1 is quoted as currently in force; 2023 House Bill 912 (Chapter 461) would amend subsection (1) but has not taken effect under its own § 7 contingency clause. Last updated: 2026-09-18.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it legal to carry a knife concealed in Mississippi?

Not for a bowie knife, dirk knife, butcher knife, or switchblade knife, under Miss. Code 97-37-1, unless an exception applies. Broad exceptions cover an adult's own home, business, associated property, or vehicle, and anyone engaged in or traveling to or from hunting, fishing, target shooting, or similar legitimate weapon-related sports activity. A knife carried in a visibly worn sheath or case is not 'concealed' under the statute's own definition.

Can a convicted felon carry a knife in Mississippi?

Not a bowie knife, dirk knife, butcher knife, or switchblade knife. Miss. Code 97-37-5 makes possession of these knives by a person with a qualifying felony conviction a separate felony, up to $5,000 and 1 to 10 years, regardless of concealment, unless the person has a pardon, federal relief from disability, or a state certificate of rehabilitation.

Can you bring a knife onto Mississippi school property?

Almost never, and the rule applies to any person, not just students. Miss. Code 97-37-17(4) makes it a misdemeanor for anyone to possess or carry, openly or concealed, a bowie knife, dirk, dagger, switchblade knife, or virtually any other sharp-pointed or edged instrument on educational property, with narrow exceptions for food-preparation tools, unaltered nail files and clips, and instructional supplies.

Can a parent carry a knife in the car during school pickup or dropoff in Mississippi?

For an ordinary knife, generally yes. Miss. Code 97-37-17(7)(g) exempts 'any weapon not prescribed by Section 97-37-1 which is in a motor vehicle under the control of a parent, guardian or custodian ... which is used to bring or pick up a student.' The exemption turns on whether the item is prescribed by section 97-37-1 at all, not on whether it is a firearm. An ordinary pocketknife is not one of the items section 97-37-1 prescribes and is not per se a deadly weapon, so it is ordinarily exempt in that setting, even though section 97-37-17(4) would otherwise reach it as a sharp-pointed or edged instrument on educational property. A bowie knife, dirk knife, butcher knife, switchblade knife, pistol, revolver, or any item that qualifies as a deadly weapon on the facts is prescribed by section 97-37-1 and is not covered by this exemption.

Does Mississippi preempt local knife ordinances?

No, not for knives. Miss. Code 45-9-51 preempts local firearms regulation by name and does not mention knives, so a county or municipality may adopt its own knife ordinance.

Is it illegal to brandish a knife in Mississippi?

Yes, in a threatening manner. Miss. Code 97-37-19 makes it a separate, lighter offense, up to $500 and 3 months in county jail, to brandish or wield a dirk, sword, sword-cane, any deadly weapon, or other weapon covered by the concealed-carry statute in the presence of another person in a threatening way not amounting to necessary self-defense, or to unlawfully use it in a fight.