It depends on where you live, and has to do with the "Home Rule" thing...

go to www.municode.com and see if your city has a municipal code - if it does then it MIGHT have further restrictions on what kind of knife you can carry. Denver is the most restrictive in their municipal code, IIRC any knife that can be opened with one hand by any device is illegal. I could be wrong and please, for God's sake don't cut and paste sections of code. Point is check your municipality for legality. by state code the definition of a "switchblade" is any blade released by a lever on the HANDLE (how spring assist gets around this definition that has been around since 1968).

yes, if you drive INTO a municipality with an illegal knife, you will get cited for it if caught.

California has even gone so far as to ban any knife over 1.5 inches that LOCKS into position. Clearly California is a safe place to be with such enilightened law protecting them.

But don't depend on state law to protect you, municipal code usually goes a lot farther and is generally a lot looser with definitions.

check you municipal code!!!!