Do not buy telescopic batons, stun devices, daggers, or pepper spray to carry for self-defense — keeping them in the car also counts as carrying

Controlled knives such as daggers and switchblades, if found carried out, can bring detention for under 5 days. Taking them into stations, malls, or buses brings detention for 5 to 10 days. Police batons may only be held by police; an individual’s are confiscated and detention is possible. Actually drawing them also often costs you: someone hit once with an empty hand pulled a knife he had hidden in advance and stabbed, and got 4 years for excessive defense.

Cost

No money. If you already bought them, leave them at home; do not take them out, and do not put them in the car. If something happens, step back and call the police first; only strike back if you cannot get away.

Benefit

First, Public Security Administration Punishment Law Article 38. Illegally carrying crossbows, daggers, or other state-controlled implements: detention for under 5 days, and a further fine of up to 1000 yuan may be imposed. When circumstances are relatively light, a warning or a fine of up to 500 yuan. Taking them into a public place or public transport: detention for 5 to 10 days, and a further fine of up to 1000 yuan may be imposed. Criminal Law Article 130 is heavier. Illegally carrying controlled knives into a public place or public transport, endangering public safety with serious circumstances, brings up to 3 years. Which knives are controlled knives is listed in five classes in the Ministry of Public Security’s 2007 identification standard. Class one is the dagger: hilt, guard, and blood groove, tip angle under 60 degrees. Class two is the triangular scraper. Class three is the spring knife with a self-locking device, commonly called a jump knife. Class four is a knife with tip angle under 60 degrees and blade over 150 millimeters. Class five is a knife with tip angle over 60 degrees and blade over 220 millimeters. Unsharpened martial-arts and craft gift knives with the tip rounded off do not count. The police baton is police equipment. The People’s Police Law provides that police equipment may only be held and used by police. Others who hold it: confiscation, detention for up to 15 days or a warning, and a further fine of up to 5 times illegal gains may be imposed. The railway banned-items list treats batons, tear gas, stun devices, and defense devices as controlled implements. On trains these may not be carried or checked as luggage. The road-passenger banned-items list likewise treats tear gas and stun devices as controlled implements; they may not be carried on long-distance coaches. Whether stun devices may be held in ordinary life: the Shanghai municipal procuratorate published a 2013 case. Four people sold stun devices to drivers at an intersection and were sentenced for illegally buying and selling police equipment to fixed-term imprisonment from 1 year 3 months down to 6 months. The procuratorate cited two Ministry of Public Security circulars. On those circulars, “this kind of stun device is a state-controlled implement and also a kind of police equipment.” The procuratorate also wrote that such stun devices “are prohibited items domestically; individuals are banned from producing, selling, and holding them.” Prosecutors separately said high-concentration spray defense products are police equipment and ordinary residents generally cannot buy them. Leaving them in the car can still be found: someone drove through a checkpoint with controlled knives, was found by officers, and got administrative detention. When they are actually used, see the guidance on justifiable defense. It lists “whether a lethal instrument was used or prepared” as one factor distinguishing defense from mutual fighting. Official case: Yang argued with someone who threatened to bring people for revenge; he went home and hid two knives on himself. The other person came back and hit his face once with an empty hand; he stabbed the chest and abdomen with a knife; the other person died. The court found a defensive character, but the other side had only hit with empty hands and he stabbed vital parts, so it was excessive defense. He was sentenced to 4 years for intentional injury (nationwide; Public Security Administration Punishment Law in force from 1 January 2026)

Notes

The beneficiary is you. Carrying a knife does not automatically defeat justifiable defense. In Procuratorial Case No. 45, student Chen was attacked by 9 people, drew a fruit knife he had on him to strike back, and was still found to have acted in justifiable defense. The procuratorate wrote that what matters for the finding is not whether a tool was carried but whether there was intent to fight mutually. The cost falls in two places. One: the item itself is unlawful; being found with it in ordinary life is already punished, whether or not it was used. Two: with a knife at hand, a punch or shove is easier to answer with a stab; injury at serious level or above can become excessive defense. No nationwide ban text for stun devices or pepper spray was found. The two Ministry of Public Security circulars are named only in the Shanghai procuratorate case in this book. That individuals may not hold stun devices is supported by that procuratorate case. For pepper spray, prosecutors only said “high-concentration spray” cannot be bought; whether low-concentration anti-wolf sprays on the market count the same, this book found no unified finding. Neither trains nor long-distance coaches allow carrying them. Whether telescopic batons sold online count as police batons, this book also found no nationwide unified identification text. When something really happens, first see Section 8, item 10 (in a conflict, call the police and do not strike). When there is nowhere to retreat, see Section 8, item 11 (an unavoidable attack may be met with force). Being cornered for money outdoors is in Section 13, item 36 (strangers demanding money in the wild).

Sources · 9

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