Legal Question in Criminal Law in Michigan

You should review Michigan's concealed pistol and carrying weapon's laws on its website, which cover knives, mace, and a variety of other items. The fact that you are experienced with throwing knives or know how to handle one safely has no bearing on the legalities.

There is no "permit" that allows a person to legally carry knives, mace, swords, or other non-pistol type weapons, for any reason.

In Michigan, you are allowed to carry a knife for self-defense purposes, as long as your "intent" is not to harm others. For example, if you flash a knife in a threatening manner while in a verbal altercation, that would be illegal. However, if you are simply walking through a store, and your knife fell to the ground, and a police officer saw it, you are not engaged in illegal activity. You are carrying the knife, but without any intent to use it to harm or threaten someone else. This law applies to standard knives and/or hunting knives only. Laws regarding double edged and specialty knives are different and essentially make it illegal to carry a weapon like that.

Also, remember that when engaged in a self-defensive activity, you are only legally allowed to use force that is equal or lesser to the force that is being used against you. If someone starts a fight with you, and is only using fists, it would be illegal to defend yourself with a knife (barring extreme circumstances, such as you being a tiny female, facing a large male or group of males). You also cannot defend yourself with a gun if the attacker is not armed (obviously a person does not always know if an aggressor is armed or not, or what he is planning to do, so there are exceptions made when reasonable).