[Coda]

Originally Posted by Yokuutsu

But here's the thing, let us say someone has a plastic keychain that happens to be the same or similar shape to stabby cat and is painted metallic since some stabby cats are painted metallic pink and stuff. They get arrested because they got a keychain. What? But I can carry a machete around (big knife, can be argued for) and everything's fine? That's weird and makes no sense. The cat, whether it is plastic or stabby....may never be used, but unless this place becomes a jungle, there is no real reason to need a machete in this area.

Note: Down the street, they don't need a reason to arrest...they can just do it because they don't like your face.

At that point it boils down to the officer making a call on just how appropriate it is. Is it worth the trouble to make an arrest that's going to get overturned in court on a borderline case? Probably not. But if you're brandishing your faux-stabby cat threateningly, then the officer has unambiguous grounds to arrest you.

For what it's worth, brandishing said machete will get you arrested too. They can't tack on an illegal possession charge, but it IS still a deadly weapon even if it's one that's legal to carry.

So really, the laws are about discouraging people from having such things because they tend to escalate situations more than they resolve them, because it means that you're going to get in more trouble if you have one of those when you do something else illegal.