Brookpark - concealed weapons charge for open carry of knife

[Bruenor]

Curious how large his fixed blade knife was.. didn't seem to matter it wasn't concealed and that he was doing nothing wrong.
http://www.cleveland.com/brook-park/ind ... _from.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Carrying a concealed weapon, Snow Road: A Cleveland man, 45, was arrested at about 4:30 p.m. May 25 after police found him carrying a knife in a sheath outside Subway, 15007 Snow.

Police had been called to Solid Gold Lounge, which is next to Subway, about a woman sleeping in a pickup truck. As it turned out, the woman was tired but not too intoxicated. As officers left the bar property, they saw the man smoking near a side door to Subway. His knife was visible.

Looks like Brookpark has the 2.5" blade limit. I'm sure arbitrary length limit makes a knife much safer.

549.10 SWITCHBLADE KNIVES; BLADES EXCEEDING TWO AND ONE- HALF INCHES.
(a) No person shall have in his possession or under his control a knife having a blade two and one-half inches in length or longer. However, this section shall not apply to any person if it appears that he was at the time engaged in a lawful business calling, employment or occupation, or that the circumstances in which he was placed justified a prudent man in possessing such a weapon for the defense of his person, family or property.
(b) Whoever violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor of the fourth degree.

[bignflnut]

Defining concealed must be an interesting exercise...if there's just a sheath and a handle....is that concealed?
Does any of this apply to firearms? If only the grip is exposed, is it no longer open carry (I guess a magnet stuck to the belt buckle and the barrel?)

[JustaShooter]

Defining concealed must be an interesting exercise...if there's just a sheath and a handle....is that concealed?

No. At least, not according to an Ohio Supreme Court ruling where, when asked to define concealed, ruled that if it was discernible to normal observation that it was not concealed (I don't have the citation handy, so I may not have the wording exact.)

[schmieg]

Wasn't it Cleveland a few years back that charged the guy for carrying a concealed weapon for having his gun in an openly worn flap holster?

[Brian D.]

Wasn't it Cleveland a few years back that charged the guy for carrying a concealed weapon for having his gun in an openly worn flap holster?

That was early on after CHLs were created in 2004, and maybe in a Cleveland suburb. Definitely Cuyahoga County.

[schmieg]

Wasn't it Cleveland a few years back that charged the guy for carrying a concealed weapon for having his gun in an openly worn flap holster?

That was early on after CHLs were created in 2004, and maybe in a Cleveland suburb. Definitely Cuyahoga County.

And, as I recall, he didn't fight it, but took a deal reducing it.

[Brian D.]

Maybe there's more to this Brookpark story. It does point out the fact that we could use state preemption on local "weapons" laws, like we have with firearms. Maybe form a grassroots advocacy group, call it Ohio Knife Rights Association. Yep, OKRA.

[djthomas]

Remember, this is being reported by the Cleveland news media, and in particular cleveland.com. Their police blotters are frequently inaccurate and often incomplete. BPPD may have reported that they charged the guy with "SWITCHBLADE KNIVES; BLADES EXCEEDING TWO AND ONE- HALF INCHES" and the millennial contractor ("special" in news parlance) working the police beat blog said to himself "oh, that's that concealed weapons thingy. I'll just shorten that up."

Another possibility is that he was charged with CCW because while his knife was initially visible he caused it to become concealed at some point during the encounter. Without seeing the actual report we just don't know for sure.

[Suckerspawn]

The way I read it, visible vs. concealed is not part of the ordinance. It is just possession.